Pathetic.org  
 

Our Collective Repentance

by Philip F De Pinto




I live
if that is the word
on the face of the Earth
though to tell you the truth
I never really cottoned or warmed
to the place although I must admit
it is where I've done my best and worst
impression of a human being and in so impressing
I am preaching what I practice - the fact
that I don't relish the fiction of winding up alone
oh give me a home where the emirs and the cantaloupe play
where I will have a lifetime but not have all day
to bend spoons and forks in the road
or bending your ear in the style of Uri Geller
who is at present getting bent over by the forks and the spoons
and the ears who were tired of thus leaning

Go bend over yourself say the forks and the spoons and the ears collectively
as well as the clocks who were glad to have stopped
who don't relish the thought of renewing their ticking contracts
tell Bender to go screw himself in the face of the Grandfather Clock
that Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans were so enamored of
and then you sit or lay back for a million leap years - give or take a few
and think that all you've managed to accomplish in your bare minimum of a life is
to rise three flights in this building that I've habited for nearly fifty years
the apartment in which I managed to rear and raise three kids
even the child in me - where I rose and shined from for countless years
so I could bring us home the bacon - where my wife burned countless pots and pans
Where she breathed her last and where I did my best and worst impression
of seeing to her wake and funeral as well as my own

I've grown since then - doing an even better impression
of seeming to be a human and husband and widower - hence bachelor
and father and painter and poet - the likes of which
are hardly fancied or read or spooned or forked over
but all such articles are likely bending over in the style of what's his name these days?
and screwing themselves in the face of the earth
that we may all reap in retrospect the dolorous bullshit
for Auld Lang Syne eating and partaking of such a fraudulent crop
clearly a sign of our collective repentance


11/09/2014

Posted on 11/09/2014
Copyright © 2024 Philip F De Pinto

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by June Labyzon on 11/11/14 at 05:13 PM

This is probably one of the most personal poems I've read that you have written. One where you really put yourself into the verses which will live on this earth long after you depart.

Posted by Kris Mara on 11/18/14 at 01:06 AM

times like this, I don't have words to comment on the writing itself -- although brilliant, the brilliance lies in how your words drive down the page and into me as I read...and I'm just struck...right through the heart...at the raw humanity you have shared here...

Posted by Coleman Demiurge on 11/18/14 at 07:02 PM

Wow, I know you're speaking for yourself in this piece, but those first eight lines have summed up my existence perfectly. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but I adore it nevertheless. Also, the lines: "as well as the clocks who were glad to have stopped; who don't relish the thought of renewing their ticking contracts" were also very evocative. Clocks as symbolism has always fascinated me; one of my favorite poems ever was written around that very theme. Anyway, you paint a vivid, poignant, and deeply moving picture with your incredible skills with words. You made me think, you made me hurt, and you left me in awe... Exceptional work, Philip.

Return to the Previous Page
 

pathetic.org Version 7.3.2 May 2004 Terms and Conditions of Use 0 member(s) and 2 visitor(s) online
All works Copyright © 2024 their respective authors. Page Generated In 0 Second(s)