beating a dead horse

beating a dead horse

 

 

 

smart aleck

poet

dancing on his own fingers

Waltzing the floor 

with word wrangling

strangling

mangling

turns and slides

as the carriage

burns rubber

poet

smart aleck

son of an Engineer

builds a unit of words

not Coke

 

gasolines his efforts

fires the rules

praises Dickinson in the flames

pauses on a Frost Front

knowing whose woods these are

but keeping secrets

 

hitting keys, but opening no new doors

his rut

abuts

his initiative

and his creativity becomes

a dance of cowards

 

poet slams into that tree

that grew in Brooklyn

the Engineers heckle

 

his typewriter

is an uncomfortable pillow.

 

 

erin-cilberto

3/21/22

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I've never used a typewriter. I had a word processor with a keyboard before they had PC computers. It put the words up on a screen before it printed them. Before that I wrote everything in pen and ink. The processor was a gift from a professor. It had ink tape cartridges that one inserted into it. I suppose it was very expensive technology at the time. I hadn't thought of it in years. My sister had a Smith/Corona typewriter she bought for herself to type papers for college. It's interesting how you call initiative and creativity a "dance of cowards". I consider it an act of courage to bare your soul before the world; to open yourself up to ridicule and critique and to just keep coming back as an act of dedication and love. Not that I'm brave, I'm just stubborn and reckless. ;) I enjoyed the read.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

only when we get stagnant....then we feel like cowards...afraid to open new doors...
thank you for your very kind review, and sharing about the processor and your sister's corona.
j.

[Patricia]

the first stanza is brilliant and love the flow,
hitting keys, but opening no new doors, wow! that's a killer line
his rut abuts his initiative, cool line
yes that typewriter is very uncomfortable and great ending
being a poet is emotionally exhausting, don't ya think?

[jacob erin-cilberto]

quite exhausting and we die so many times inside, but at least we can get it out on paper....and have rebirth.
thank you, Patricia,
j.

[Patricia]

You're welcome

[M. J. Smith]

Sounds like a key jockey got a little too arrogant for his own good! LOL! They say greatness comes from humble beginnings. Perhaps your students would benefit from this truth. I'm told too that it is prudent to choose one's words wisely.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your insights, M.J.
j.

[Sami Khalil]

You are a race horse Jacob, winning life, educational tutoring and poetic marvels. I feel the influence of your engineer father. All these events that happened to you in Brooklyn, Bronx made so much influence on your thinking and outlooks on life. We have to accept our fates and that time is not on our side. Every day is special so as we should get set and go. Excellent poetry with an impact.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

so true...what we get we have to accept.
I spent time in Brooklyn...raised in the Bronx...read moreso true...what we get we have to accept.
I spent time in Brooklyn...raised in the Bronx...
those days...thank you, Sami.
j.

[Sami Khalil]

Wow! I was close. You are welcome sir Jacob...

[Fran Marie]

I don't know about the poor horse :D
but the poet's creativity seems to
be working just fine..smart alec
poets always find the words lol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

ha ha, thanks, Fran,
j.

[Chris Shaw]

I sense frustration here, dissatisfaction and the feeling of being in a rut. Your muse certainly doesn't leave you though. She has much more a sense of loyalty than mine does. The Engineer would be proud of you J.

Chris.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

he might be...I hope so...he is up there looking down...and right now is smiling as St. Peters became the first team to reach the Elite 8 from being a 15th seed...in the basketball tournament.
My dad was born and raised in Jersey City, NJ...where that team is from.

oh, sorry...thank you for your review...
j.

[Gee]

Hmmmm, it seems that the harder we search for words, the right words, the more elusive they become. I have taken to not trying to write because I haven't, instead I wait for a wee bit of inspiration or the right situation to arrive.
Watch those keys don't stick in your ears Jacob.
Good morning

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Good morning, Gee.
thank you and it is a smart approach to wait...the muse returns...she does...
j.

[Gee]

I think we may be divorced and she has found another to lay with....

[Betty Hermelee]

beating a dead horse... seems like I've heard that phrase before.... if one is helpless in terms of life, creativity (and not opening any new doors), and brags, keeps secrets and is unwilling to change., always making mistakes, but thinks he's "king", it seems that perhaps he should slam into that tree in Brooklyn, maybe with typewriter too.
Bets, B

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I like your response better than the poem, by far, Betty....thank you.
I feel my creative spirit has gone on a long hike lately.
j.

[Betty Hermelee]

Thanks so much for a super review 😊 you’ll never lose your creative spirit J
Best
B.

[Cherrie Palmer]

Be careful I hear writer's block is contagious.
Thank goodness a keyboard is a little more comfortable.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

a little more comfortable, but what jibberish comes out when we rest our head on that keyboard...:))))
Thanks, Cherrie....I feel a vacancy in my creativity as of late.
j.

[Cherrie Palmer]

Yes I get that jiberrish sometimes ñnnnnmmmm.