Tombstones

Tombstones

 

 

gravy robbers

the turkey dug up

thankless juveniles

trashing the table

the dressing torn off

hoodlums rearranging 

the cranberry sauce truth

claiming spotless napkins

 

covering misshaped laps

their glasses hold water

their stories don't

 

and dessert will be more lies

and more demeaning

burying others in their fables

at freshly set tables

 

the celebrations

muted, 

they are reputed

not refuted

 

another year 

dirt deep in disturbance.

 

 

erin-cilberto

7/5/23

Reviews

[Betty Hermelee]

Not sure, but you may be referring to all the protests and hoodlums marching and destroying property around the world, burning, killing innocent people...gun violence, etc...deeply disturbing times we live in...not to mention all the lie, deceits, etc....
I like your metaphors...
Warmly, B

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your observations, Betty,
j.

[William Michael Reeves]

Your brain is definitely not dead. No need for a stone yet. We're a ways away from Thanksgiving. Not quite sure if you are writing about the way white man sat at the table with red man, then pushed him away. Or the way holidays create conflicts. Good poems that make you ponder are like good meals, but your poetry really gives me heartburn sometimes!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, that is one area of understanding...thank you for your words,
j.

[Bee Oxford]

gravy robbers
the turkey dug up
thankless juveniles
trashing the table
the dressing torn off
hoodlums rearranging
the cranberry sauce truth
claiming spotless napkins

This is very good^ I felt like I was sitting at the table reading this. Your writing has very good imagery and the words sound lovely next to each other. I am not sure I got the meaning of the poem, Is it that you have to act differently and present differently for guests at holidays?

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I like that interpretation, Bee, Thank you for your review.
j.

[Marvin Thomas Cox-Flynn..]

Jacob,

This piece of your heart and mind — scrawled in words that ooze the misery of Human Suffering at the hands of those claim to do no wrong, lay fame to being in the right, though they work in shadows of night lest the truth of their deception become known and laid bare — is powerfully thought provoking in its message of a Society gone awry, gone wrong, and damn sure gone astray ... A genuinely Masterful Write that needs to be heard, learned, and applied ...

Marve

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your very kind review, Marve,
j.

[duff]

I like it Jacob. It's clever and concise. Brutality and tales.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, duff,
j.

[Ken e Bujold]

the beauty of this poem J is the clarity of the message without any preach. by which I mean you nail the thesis to the wall (much like Luther did) but leave it to each of us to look within ourselves to judge how much guilt we should attach to our own narrow views. I very much enjoyed your clever wordplay wrapped around what is a very needed line in the sand. Do we stand up for what we believe, engage those who would seek to shut down thought and otherness, or do we simply sit at the table, pass the potatoes and carry on as if all is right in the valley.

K

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I really appreciate your review, Ken,
j.

[Vol]

Jacob!
I can see Fellini doing this as a movie, surreal commentary about what sits on the table surrounded by Media, Politicians, Trans., Hollywood, and New York talking heads... A food orgy, indeed! It took me a minute to stop laughing so I could write this. Great work, sir... needs to be in some future Norton Anthology of Post-Logical Western Culture.
Vol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Love those Norton anthologies...read through many taking and teaching English courses over the years.
j.

[Vol]

they always came in handy... still do.

[W. Barrett Munn]

“their glasses hold water
their stories don’t “

Had to chuckle out loud here, Jacob.

Winston

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Winston.
j.

[NormaZ]

Loved the metaphors of the meal, very powerful.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Norma,
j.

[red93]

We live in dark times Jacob, and the system needs a new broom to sweep clean.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, the old broom is awfully worn out, isn't it?

[red93]

Indeed ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️