Old Habits Die Hard

Old Habits Die Hard

 

i'm now old news

"and that's the way it was,

and i was"

When Cronkite 

shared his stories in black and white

shed a tear for Kennedy's assassination

 

and the nuns still dressed in black and white

like cold penguins

across the icebergs of our adolescent minds

 

and then the shots,

and we were sent home to grow up in a day

 

and life was never the same,

and a young lad became an old crony

and the news became a computerized google thing

and i became a key master

a master blaster of insignificant words

bad penmanship

and embarrassment

to those chilled nuns' expressions

impressions

 

headlines

with lines in my head

that should have stayed there

 

i'm now old news

it's all my blues

 

and i have no guitar on which to play them

just keyboard

and screen with too much color

intruding on my once content black and white world.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

7/3/19

Reviews

[Robert Trakofler]

Hey Jacob so few things were ever are as simple as black and white the myriad shades of grey in between were also discernible to the colors on your RCA TV it took a different eye to see them back then but I'm sure you were a master! and this poem was masterful technicolor musings:)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Bb....
j.

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Hi Jacob this is really good, I loved it,hope you are well.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Julie,
j.

[kentuck14]

I remember a book I read years ago called . . . I believe something like . . . "We Are What We Knew Then."
The events we have experienced one way or another always stay with us and form our view of the world, unless something even greater changes how we think. Interesting write, Jacob.
T

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i still have my 60's ideals, Tom...never changed...so i guess i am a dinosaur...
thanks for your insights, my friend,
j.

[NotUsinganymore]

Interesting poem and some weird phrases I've never heard. I enjoyed it.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, JungLee...
j.

[LE Berry]

After a certain point in life we are all a living collection of old habits, some which comfort and some which plague. We're comprised of our memories as well. Fine pointed piece of truth jacob erin

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insightful words LE...
j.

[LE Berry]

thoughts such as these deserve response jacob...

[Ted Kniffen]

At my age, old habits are the only kind I have. The Bay of Pigs...Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the U.N. The nuclear clock moving to a minute to twelve...drills in class on diving under our desks and putting our arms over our heads in case of an atomic attack... that whole Kennedy episode playing out in black and white and even real life to shake us to the core...Ruby shooting Oswald...Cronkite in tears.

A war fought far away seeming more like an old movie than actual combat...but so many correspondents ending up news anchors to carry on when Walt retired.
Singer/songwriters becoming the poets of the age...writing our lives...though we were unaware at the time.
A powerful statement friend. A good write.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we saw so much back then, didn't we Ted...those were the days in good ways and those were the days in bad ways as well.
thanks for going back with me,
j.

[Ted Kniffen]

Any time...I'm willing to go. How did we survive? Our parents didn't smother us...quite the opposite.

[Neville]

I know it has since become something of a cliche, but I can remember the moment & precisely what I was doing when I heard the news about JFK this is another great poem jacob and within it.. you have captured and saved the past so very well.. and remember sir monochrome is the new colour....

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Neville....yes, it does seem to cliche to some...but for those of us who were old enough....we do remember, very well.
j.

[Neville]

absolutely and truly true..

N.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

The second stanza is simply superb Jacob. The description of the nuns so perfect as is the capturing of the reminisciences with the black and white TV images of news when we were younger and key moments of the sixties. There is a sadness yet a defiance in this piece.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your review, John...
j.

[Chris Shaw]

I feel the blues here as well as remembering the black and white. I recall clearly watching the news on the day Kennedy was assassinated on our black and white TV. The nun's habits, I reckon must have been pretty scary at times. Those black and white flowing robes to match their coldness and spitefulness. Yes, some of them were like that, I have my Catholic friend Claire to thank for telling me what I found hard to believe. Maybe things were easier in our youth when we saw things in black and white, You appear to have been more comfortable there in comparison to living in the now.

'A master blaster of insignificant words.' , I say never. 'Across the icebergs of our adolescent minds' that is just fabulous.

I get the impression you are feeling your age. I get like that too, and that is precisely when you need some colour in your life. Forgive my ramblings Jacob, that's quite a journey I've been on reading this poem. As we get older we need new and different habits to keep us going.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

you are reading me like a book, Chris...such truth in what you say...thank you,
j.

[andrew mitchell]

Reminds me of Robert frost’s poem nothing gold can stay.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thinking of how we try to hold on to what we are comfortable with...yes...and your comment sent me back to The Outsiders and Ponyboy saying that to Johnny...
thank you, andrew.
j.