Missing the Point - A Self Portrait of the Occupation of Life

Filled with essential facts,

your job, your child, the next Jesus Christ.

Packed with the required universal knowledge,

a merry-go-round smeared with Vaseline.

A chance to win the game of your choice,

I never got the list.

Set in front of a world that was watching,

but those eyes, like most, are turned inward.

Oblivious like a s****y American Idol contestant,

the only difference is I have a mirror, I have an inner voice,

I can hear the sour notes nesting in my ears.

But, the machine eats time and tide.

Success wasn’t the thing that was hard to acquire.

It was the compassion necessary,

to be a better human being.

Now I paint with softer strokes,

realizing that if I capture the detail of this life,

with the appropriate quality of light,

I won’t be missing the point.

Corey Rowley

Copyright 2022

Reviews

[Ken e Bujold]

Yes Yes Yes Success wasn't the thing that was hard to acquire./It was the compassion necessary,/to be a better human being.

You sir have just writ large the underlying philosophy by which I have lived my life for the last 25 yrs. If only people on the treadmill chasing bucks and all the other crap we crave for just for one second stop and consider the soul busting damage being done in the name of What?
By the time I hit early 30s I had it all, and was f'n empty inside. took a decade in the wilderness to realize I needed none of it. None of us do. Life is so simple when we chose to live it simply with decency and honor.
Big tip of the hat Crowley

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

Winner winner chicken dinner Cee!We want so much but need so little...its all right there,,,and we spend way too much time pushing out of the way for something we think is bigger and better...the golden ticket inside us is it!

[D. Mansfield]

"Now I paint with softer strokes," very nice wording though out this poem, thank you

[Katrina Mckeown]

I love your wording, sour notes resting in my ears , but the machine eats time and tide ‘ happens too often in this world .
Katrina

[Neville]

This is one of those that makes the reader think before they start hitting the keys to convey their personal interpretation and subsequent response .. Indeed, from where I am presently sitting and with my reflective hat on .. and I don't mean one of those that firemen & emergency service personnel wear .. I reckon you have a point and made it bloomin well here sir .. I increasingly find myself contemplating life in general and associated issues surrounding my own mortality far more than I ever did in the past .. I am not sure whether it is an age thing, or whether there is so much going on in the world that for want of a better word, the point becomes blurred .. Anyway, enough of my blather .. I just wanna let ya know that I thoroughly enjoyed my visit ........... Write on C ... N :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

All the knowledge and talent in the world, without compassion is a very off key song of life.

I really like the line, "I can hear the sour notes nesting in my ears"
I always like your way of phrasing...
j.