Elegy for the Already Drowned
Notes Toward an Impossible Ending
There are things
that can't be said,
can't be drawn and quartered
can't be spatchcocked
over the burning coals of Redemption Song
Won't you help me? can't you help me?
can't you stop me, at least?
-
Unsaved and unspoken,
derailed and drunken—woken token not given (you're alive, is that not enough?)
There are things (big, bold, brash, and necessary)
that can't be unsaid,
can't be choked out or snuffed out by hands round your elegant long neck or by a drawn pistol or sword.
life imitates other people's recollections, solid.
I wished I couldn't have been but I can't erase,
can't become what I should have been before time.
Hack back hack back at everything but fact,
at everything but the meaning.
-
Bob Hope said something, I'm sure, he said... something
"It's a wonderful world. It may destroy itself
but you'll be able to watch it all on TV."
-
Deeply unsettling deeply unsettled, distilled
-
There are things... I need to say,
"I'm not interested in closure. Some people just have heart attacks and die, right? There's no closure."-Larry David
-
I will wear my contemptible smile in the rain like a coat to protect the already drowned.
-
The latest case? A series of abductions. The usual suspects, naturally.
Diligent. Embittered. Disenfranchised. Stoic we are.
-
Rosetta tablature dressed in the sap of the tree that stood
-
A finger on the pulse, on the something anyway.
There are things I must say—about greed and poverty,
about that line “You’ve got to be in it to win it.” —Tony Robbins
Woah woah woah a — Tony cliché
Tony robbins
tony
tony robing
tony
tony robbings
-
"I don't believe you ever get closure on anything. Things leave a permanent mark on you." - Allison Anders
-
vertical space helps
breakdown breaths
stutter goes the looped glitch of the life
-
I forgot how much I hate the neglect—
*
Thanks for reading!
Author's Notes: Poem. Yes. I wanted to use an Author's Notes to say "Poem". About closure, rupture, culturally, and personally. Has quotes trying to provide meaning, slogans gaslighting the suffering, unasked for survival, and the absurdity of closure.
---
Redemption Song is, for those unfamiliar, a song by the late, great Bob Marley. There are three versions of this song that I love. All by artists I'd consider late and great. Here they are for your listening pleasure.
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection out now!
Streams and Scratches in My Mind coming soon!
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*** I'm keen to republish the interviews I did for my series with Vocal creators. It's been a few years and I thought it might be nice to revisit these wonderful conversations. I'll be releasing them one at a time for a few weeks/months.
By Heather Hubler4 days ago in Interview
Comments (9)
So good, Paul. So good <3
Definitely great for the already drowned. This is a great song and poem
Paul, another poem to make one think about things that no one wants to think but must once in a while in a life. Good job.
Whoa, Paul, every poem you write always makes me take a step back in some kind of shock (and a few in laughter). I loved the way you blended the quotes to punctuated the points--that's a really unique way of doing it, and damn is it good! Dharr already quoted the line I was going to highlight, lol. But I will say this might be my new favourite poem in the world of poems. And love Bob Marley! He is jammin'.
"I will wear my contemptible smile in the rain like a coat to protect the already drowned." I especially loved this line 🍩🥐
You had me at the title. I thought this was so damn good.
And yet, without the neglect how would we ever come by those fascinating pictures of old barns or the artwork painted across their weathered boards?
I was thoroughly beguiled by the echo of Larry David! Deftly done, my liege!
This reads like a syrupy downward spiral. An amalgum of curious lines and quotes. It sticks with you. Not intending the pun... well maybe. X