a guitar string found after the bombing

a guitar string found after the bombing

the genius

preoccupied with solving the world

with numbers

and souls of renaissance blues

and balance

when scales of empathy 

don't measure correctly

in freaked out logarithms

teachers preach

but the genius

will teach

others to mimic

graphic equations

and pretend the sum of all the pretense

will shatter war and poverty

and suicide

and the reading glasses lying beside the bed

will adhere to the ear

of the follower

who is as blind 

as the teacher

and as genius

as the one who wrote songs

just before the music

heard itself silenced.

erin-cilberto

10/10/24

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

It's always the crazy ones with their graphic equations putting up those metal halide lamps to examine the souls of lesser beings that need to be measured...somehow. The world is an asylum as we try to stick to the lower levels with minimum security touted as freedom..."but we can be thankful and grateful and proud since man's been endowed with the mushroom shaped cloud" and our world edges a bit further into complete insanity each day... "Boom boom, ain't it great to be crazy?"

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Fabulous...ha ha....thank you, Fabian,
j.

[redzone]

after a 2000 pond bomb is dropped on a refugee camp, guitar string(s) are nowhere to be found, as well as body parts. A war crime was committed on Oct, 7th 2023, but a bigger war crime is being committed right before our eyes. And has been going on since 1947. Balance??!! Empathy?? The world and especially here in the US there is neither. A continuation since Columbus stole the first Native American back to Europe as a slave all those years ago.
Curt

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, yes, and it just keeps happening....sides and sabotage of peace.
thank you, Curt,
j.

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Love it Jacob
Hope you well !

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, Julie,
j.

[berenongur]

This is one of the BEST I read in this page. So brilliant, so genius. Felt like a REAL poem. Deep and meaningful. I felt every part.
And the last part; Mind blowing. I love it sir.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind words,
j.

[Betty Hermelee]

A troubled world indeed, but after reading several times it reminds me of the bombing at the October concert 1year and 2 days ago in Israel, where the music was on fire and after the massacre one could find a guitar string and…..silence and no genius can figure out the world’s problems and solve them….a pity that it’s getting worse…. my gut feeling
warmly, B

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, the music is on fire all over the world these days.
REally liked your new book..At Bridge's End....wonderful writing....my review of it is posted on Amazon.

[Betty Hermelee]

You are an angel J, and I thank you immensely for reading and reviewing it,
So greateful🙏🌷
Warmly, B

[Red Brick Keshner]

A remnant, for sure, by which we would naturally assume that it was plucked and strummed - releasing its voice alone or in unison with the presumed other strings of a set in another time where the silence was broken by a soul's expression rather than the lack of life in the aftermath. Having thought that... what ails the heart is the heartlessness of hostility for some imagined higher good or purpose or goal. And without which no stringed instrument shall be ready for what they have been invented, but for one string....

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your insightful review, Red,
j.

[Patricia Wedel]

dear Jacob… reminds me of the Sounds of Silence.. where there is no Balance. softly, Pat

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again....thank you, Pat,
j.

[Soren]

Ahh Jacob you have done it again with an enigmatic poem that requires this dull reader several reads to comprehend. Deep as the seas this poem masterfully captures the ignorance of all thinking that by reason and technology or science we can solve the problems of the world and those that look to genius, teacher, foolishly believe that they have the answers. The mixture of music is so wonderfully woven in with the words blues, scales, balance and later is woven back in again with ear and the genius that wrote the song(Beethoven comes to mind) blind (Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, those chaps...genius...blind genius.
thank you for your words, Soren,
j.

[tumi]

"Powerful poem about finding balance in a troubled world. Beautiful imagery and thought-provoking themes."

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, tumi,
j.