Somber jesters devour despair like
competitive gurgitators. 'Roided up
on anabolic dysphoria, “Check these
guns mofo!" as they twirl the clip
or spin the chamber. In the end,
were there an end (and there never is),
temperaments, spirits and zeal are energy.
Were there not such fervent, sacred devotion
to the subcult of self, vesicle cell of
creedo chanting canting pious clans,
we would see helicies of orbits;
be - cause assumptions detach
their moorings to comedic foundations,
amnesic to a truth, “all existence is
cosmic theatre.” Once, now
comfortable presumptions were revolution.
Ideological forbears were created from nothings.
Now somethings are canons of consensus;
supplicants forget 'believing ardently in
something that still does not exist is
the act of creation.' Unimagined, extant
nonexistence languishes where we bring
tepid passion to scarce desire.
The time to remember merriment and the
uncertainty of vertigo ethos never was
not now.
Opportune tumult, or enlist as a
soldier of stasis. Embrace idle heresies
and create future virtues. Ride the seer's
lightening levity, sojourn destinies of the martyr.
Bound and flogged - ecstasy of blasphemy;
agitate presumptions to tipping points -
for you and for all - no turning back.
No longer destination, but new exemplars;
Born of Brother Mirth and Sister Despair ...
not only incest, but meldings where all new
dogmas erupt from wanton joys of unholy conjugals.
Is the most creative love taboo love?
Author notes
Robbins
“… I said that "joy in spite of everything" was the expression of a
defiant refusal to be victimized by external events… "joy in spite of
everything" also amounts to a recognition that all existence is really
cosmic theater and therefore ought never to be taken too seriously.
http://www.rain.org/~da5e/trq0103.html
“Humanity
has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible,
and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.”
“When they tell you to grow up, they mean stop growing.”
“I believe in nothing, everything is sacred. I believe in everything, nothing
is sacred.”
“Human folly does not impede the turning of the stars.”
“I don't know if I ever really bought into the eternal damnation bit.”
“I love iconoclasts. I love individuals. I love people that are true to themselves,
whatever the cost.”
“If it is committed in the name of God or country, there is no crime so heinous
that the public will not forgive it.”
“People write memoirs because they lack the imagination to make things up.”
“To achieve the impossible; it is precisely the unthinkable that must be
thought.”
“We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue
ourselves from ourselves.”
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/tom_robbins.html
Franz Kafka
“I can prove at any time that my education tried to make another person out of
me than the one I became. It is for the harm, therefore, that my educators
could have done me in accordance with their intentions that I reproach them; I
demand from their hands the person I now am, and since they cannot give him to
me, I make of my reproach and laughter a drumbeat sounding in the world beyond.”
http://www.bartleby.com/66/59/31959.html
“Don’t despair, not even over the fact that you don’t despair.”
http://www.bartleby.com/66/62/31962.html
“By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/franzkafka119527.html
“Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.”
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/franzkafka397371.html
“Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it.”
“From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the
point that must be reached. “
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/franzkafka403561.html
A contest entry
- Invitational by Max Ritvo.
1000 points, ended June 23, 2008, 5 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Anything Goes....Or Does It? by lowercase prelude.
1500 points, ended July 8, 2008, 62 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - THOUGHTS by Pisces rainbow.
1950 points, ended July 27, 2008, 13 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 27 of 27
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I don't know but it is probably the happiest and most passionate kind
thank you for this provocative entry
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lordy,lordy...ya sure as de gift o da gab!
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Great concept and message here....though I think some work on the grammar might make it more readable and more relatable...
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VERY DEEP WRITE
INTERESTING
ALOT OF WISDOM,
WE DO CREATE WHAT WE BECOME
BRILLIANT
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENTRY
GOD BLESS...
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Thank you for the award.
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well thank you for writing such an amazing piece of literature
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It was my pleasure
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Thank you for the gold. I am surprised with so many excellent poets and entries. I am humbled.
I also admire your perseverance in reading and commenting on so many entries. That would be a little overwhelming to me.
Thank you again.
RW
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this was such a wonderful piece with amazing word usage and imagery
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thank you Lowercase for reading this piece. It combines the centers of two disparate authors. It is not, I know, an easy read, so I appreciate that you took the time.
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Umm I would love to comment indepth on this.. but it is really going over my head
lol
I found some parts of it fascinating tho... the ideologies that people hold to...
Would love you to sum it up for me to understand where it comes from!
Hey.. congrats on that shiney gold too
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Maxo? Am I Latino? I'm certainly not cruel.
You have keyed on a funny thing. Kafka and Robbins hate the constraints of reality. They hate the order of religions, the coherency and stagnancy of societies, they hate the gravities, orbits, and winds that cannot be defied. But neither one of them rejects the concept of Order itself. Each has their own subset of rules that their literary universes must adhere to. Laws govern the Kafkan or Robbinsonian universe as Laws govern the real world- it is simply that some of those laws defy the laws of reality or outright reject them. The Transmogrifications, Organized Outlawism- the Irony held deep in the heart of tragedy and the tragedy held deep in the heart of Irony- these exist for these two authors with just as much pervasiveness, permanency, and dependability, as the sun rising and setting over the real earth.
Content: The content rings clear through the absurdity and the allegory- it is the Kafka Constitution, the Robbins Rights. Their shared concepts of rejection of religion and worship of ritual /ideological forbears were created from nothings.
Now somethings are canons of consensus/ /Is the most creative love taboo love?/
On an even deeper level we discover some of the underlying pathos of these two authors
/No longer destination, but new exemplars;
Born of Brother Mirth and Sister Despair ...
not only incest, but meldings where all new
dogmas erupt from wanton joys of unholy conjugals./
The invocation of sexuality as both orgiastic and morbid is something that plays deeply upon both of the author's psyche. Kafka's seeming moribund rejection of sex sometimes seem to verge on anxiously repressed. Robbin's ebullient rejoicing in sensuality occasionally becomes insecure and showy.
Form: Truly lovely word play. You effortlessly sculpt the whimisical, irreverent brilliance of Robbin's aesthetic around the lucid, sharp, understated essayism of Kafka.
My issue is this and only this: You show such a sophisticated, delicate understanding of these two poets that I wish you had incorporated this energy into a piece with its own significance. This ultimately comes down to a condensation of their brilliance intoned with shades of their literary device... it would have been that much more phenomenal if it had contained the presence of your own story-content.
That aside, this is a remarkable work- I took great pleasure teasing the allegories and intricacies of this out. It made me feel like I was on the inside of a very grand, very pretenious, inside-joke. And it was, of course, moving, beautiful- ultimately- Art. -
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Maxo....
What an in depth and thorough review. Probably the most incisive and elaborate view of a piece I have ever had.
I am more appreciative than is easily expressed without losing my silly postures, that you would spend the time and thought on one of these little pieces.
I was challenged by these author juxtopositions, and the thing had to stew for days until about an hour before the deadline, before I could paste soemthing up from these irreverant and dour authors.
You have a remarkable depth of literary understanding.
Yes, the only way to approach this, from my wise ass perspective was as a jester, pretentious and provacative. I enjoyed that you got how unlikely the near calvinist Kafka would cringe at the incest notion (even though it is but a metaphor) and how Robbins would cackle, drop his boxers and begin masterbating in public.
what a bizarre trip you took me on.
I am honored at the gold, and expected no metal from this exercise, so it is precious.
Thank you, and thank you for reading.
RW
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Wonderful work
Your two prompts are almost as far apart as possible, on the literary scale - but you have managed a magical manoeuvre, and linked their preoccupation with human spirit in a perplexing poem. It will need more than a quick scan to take this in. I'll be back. I tried to read /virtues/ as /viruses/. Gulp.
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Thank you Pania for laboring through my labyrinth. Maxo was almost cruel giving me those two as prompts. One laughs manically at the cosmos, the other grimaces a smile. Cowgirls and Exoskeletons, Darwin would cry.
perplexing.... I know, my bain. The skimmers always abandon my work, as they should. thank you for your diligence. There are reference throughout to the quotes, and there are allegories throughout to the larger experience of dogma, breakthroughs, creation and prophets. But probably too many puzzles.
But I will tell you "viruses as virtues" is flipping brilliant. Wish I had thought of it. Now I am jealous.
RW
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Almost cruel? I think he has taken much pleasure in this contest; why do I see a Cosmic entity, playing with an ant farm?
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"“Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it.”
...heavy, heavy sigh...stark white
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"“Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it.”
as always, my Cin gets it.
I bow.
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I remember what you said in an IM and so I'm going to give you my opinion on the piece as a whole. Not really critique orientated, but I'm going to get deeply lost in your work. Your first stanza, though I am a little lost, reminds me of a person with the barrel of gun cradled. Like they are contemplating what will happen after the bullet. Don't tell me if I am completely correct, as I like the theory I have brought forward. I found the second stanza to be a little wordy, but I also think that is necessary. As you have said before, you are learning as you go how to space and create separations. Your last little stanza has some great word play also. You even include incest which is brought about by the idea of brother and sister. Kind of creepy and oddly perplexing. And that taboo love ending creates a paradox. do we or do we not follow suit? So yes I got very lost in your poem and have a few meanings floating around my head. This comment is not really helpful for your poem, but it is at least honest from my end.
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Thanks James. You know the drill, this was rough when you read it. As I make passes it will continue to change, and already has since you first read it. I won't explain some of the things you took in a different direction, if a reader goes where you did not intend, the author must either enjoy that or be better at conveying intent.
Thanks for reading.
RW -
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I think it is marvelous when you can take a poem in another direction. It means you have allowed freedom to be carried through out the piece and thus you can watch the readers take a piece away with them...At least that's what I like. But yes sometimes it is amazing what other ideas come to mind from other people. Especially when we know the meanings.
And you're welcome, always.
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"..."it is marvelous when you can take a poem in another direction. It means you have allowed freedom to be carried through out the piece and thus you can watch the readers take a piece away with them..."
There you must be proud of me, I actually used the 3 period punctuation in proper grammatic form. Popping suspenders~
"It means you have allowed freedom" au contrair, it just means I accept I have no influence over how some interprets, ignors, misinterprets or expands. It is more acceptance than granting.
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There is only one place with ellipses now. And there was like three or four the first time I read it. That's what I meant to say in the other comment. I think your movement is much more vividly effective now.
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Yes you are right. "Accepting" is really the key word to use. Popping suspenders is healthy. Wait a tic! Those ellipses are gone. And you have adopted a hardier and more concrete form of punctuation throughout. My. My. I like the changes, you.
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"There is only one place with ellipses now..." Well since you have bitch slapped me about the ellipses I am more sensitive to them, and I may purge the last one. I suspect I left it there ... IN DEFIANCE!
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LOL. And yes let that one stand in defiance. It is used properly though.
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I am going to have to come back to this. At the moment I have things to do off the site, but I'll try to come back later on. Or possibly sooner.
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