squirrels
1. am
(I think all humans are)
very good at burying things
(like squirrels getting ready for winter)
2. focus
(distract, dedicate, decide)
on important things for survival
(like squirrels getting ready for winter)
3. learn
(all of us learn, sooner or later)
about credit scores and mortgages
(the economics of gathering and hoarding nuts)
4. forget
(deliberately, accidentally, who knows)
about less practical things, namely the thrill
(flying off trees, walking the power lines, crossing the street)
Namely the thrill.
5. wonder
(when I remember to wonder)
if that’s why people get swept away by
(by flying, by electricity, by cars swerving)
If that’s why people get swept away by falling.
5. wondered
(I think everyone wonders at least once)
if that’s why people think falling’s important for survival
(walking telephone poles has nothing to do with gathering nuts)
Namely the thrill.
6. forgotten
(sometimes people want to forget)
that thrill, the wind, electricity, and shock
(true story: I saw a squirrel dead under power lines)
7. learned
(not nearly enough and too much, maybe)
the economics of emotions and reporting losses to stockholders
(an unexpectedly low yield in walnuts, acorns are up, chestnuts are down)
8. focused
(I think all humans speak in metaphors)
a lot on getting by, to the next day, the next winter
(how long to squirrels live? how many nuts do they need?)
9. been
(stupid, afraid, human)
burying a lot of things
(I don’t like squirrels, they’re annoying)
Namely the thrill.
10. woke
up this morning, heart aching for no reason
with that George Strait song playing in my head:
“You look so good in love”
and it all came rushing back: the wind and current,
shock and thrill.
I have no idea why that prompted me to write
about squirrels, of all things
and verbs, and parentheses, economics and squirrels.
Metaphors are fine, but what the fuck?
(we’ve been burying a lot of things)
Shut up.
Coda:
Not a very interesting poem
Doesn’t introduce new language or means by which to consider an age old topic
Nice structure, but does it lend to meaning?
Comparison between writer and squirrel could be better developed
Language extremely mundane, to the point of being dull
What is the significance of the change in tense?
What is the significance of the numbering?
Writer is still too reliant on autobiographical material
Is poetry something deliberate, or is it free flowing?
Is an iconic work a matter of producing hundreds or thousands of pieces of mediocrity and having one or two memorable works in the midst of it all?
What is the point of including this coda in the body of the poem? If all the boundaries have been broken before (is there really nothing new under the sun?) is the only thing left remaining the underlying structure of language?
And really, of all things, why squirrels?
Coda II:
DrB has always said that my first instinct for dealing with emotional issues is to think myself in circles about topics that feel related.
This takes the idea of making stuff "meta" to a ridiculous degree. What is this, the third meta?
The poem itself is a metaphor, or some indirect way of addressing something.
The coda is meta on the poem.
This coda is meta on the coda.
Strange that by going more meta, I get closer to the issue at hand?
For example, DrB and I had a discussion about the nature of the therapist-patient relationship
And then a discussion about why we were having the discussion
Which turned into a discussion about my deep-seated father issues
He would say "I was going to say 'this' and 'these' are the reasons why I wanted to say it"
I would answer "I was going to say 'that' and 'this' is why I think I was going to say it."
The patient psychoanalyzing the patient psychoanalyzing the relationship psychoanalyzed by the therapist psychoanalyzing the patient.
Dizzy.
I consider myself really really lucky that I found DrB.
But the point is, why squirrels?
Or maybe the squirrels don't actually matter. Maybe it's a red herring.
Cut down a tree with... A HERRING!
Right. I think I'll stop now.
PS:
Sometimes I convince myself that I'm more like Kirk or Bones than Spock. But really, who am I kidding?
By the way, DrB reminds me of Picard sometimes.
(I think all humans are)
very good at burying things
(like squirrels getting ready for winter)
2. focus
(distract, dedicate, decide)
on important things for survival
(like squirrels getting ready for winter)
3. learn
(all of us learn, sooner or later)
about credit scores and mortgages
(the economics of gathering and hoarding nuts)
4. forget
(deliberately, accidentally, who knows)
about less practical things, namely the thrill
(flying off trees, walking the power lines, crossing the street)
Namely the thrill.
5. wonder
(when I remember to wonder)
if that’s why people get swept away by
(by flying, by electricity, by cars swerving)
If that’s why people get swept away by falling.
5. wondered
(I think everyone wonders at least once)
if that’s why people think falling’s important for survival
(walking telephone poles has nothing to do with gathering nuts)
Namely the thrill.
6. forgotten
(sometimes people want to forget)
that thrill, the wind, electricity, and shock
(true story: I saw a squirrel dead under power lines)
7. learned
(not nearly enough and too much, maybe)
the economics of emotions and reporting losses to stockholders
(an unexpectedly low yield in walnuts, acorns are up, chestnuts are down)
8. focused
(I think all humans speak in metaphors)
a lot on getting by, to the next day, the next winter
(how long to squirrels live? how many nuts do they need?)
9. been
(stupid, afraid, human)
burying a lot of things
(I don’t like squirrels, they’re annoying)
Namely the thrill.
10. woke
up this morning, heart aching for no reason
with that George Strait song playing in my head:
“You look so good in love”
and it all came rushing back: the wind and current,
shock and thrill.
I have no idea why that prompted me to write
about squirrels, of all things
and verbs, and parentheses, economics and squirrels.
Metaphors are fine, but what the fuck?
(we’ve been burying a lot of things)
Shut up.
Coda:
Not a very interesting poem
Doesn’t introduce new language or means by which to consider an age old topic
Nice structure, but does it lend to meaning?
Comparison between writer and squirrel could be better developed
Language extremely mundane, to the point of being dull
What is the significance of the change in tense?
What is the significance of the numbering?
Writer is still too reliant on autobiographical material
Is poetry something deliberate, or is it free flowing?
Is an iconic work a matter of producing hundreds or thousands of pieces of mediocrity and having one or two memorable works in the midst of it all?
What is the point of including this coda in the body of the poem? If all the boundaries have been broken before (is there really nothing new under the sun?) is the only thing left remaining the underlying structure of language?
And really, of all things, why squirrels?
Coda II:
DrB has always said that my first instinct for dealing with emotional issues is to think myself in circles about topics that feel related.
This takes the idea of making stuff "meta" to a ridiculous degree. What is this, the third meta?
The poem itself is a metaphor, or some indirect way of addressing something.
The coda is meta on the poem.
This coda is meta on the coda.
Strange that by going more meta, I get closer to the issue at hand?
For example, DrB and I had a discussion about the nature of the therapist-patient relationship
And then a discussion about why we were having the discussion
Which turned into a discussion about my deep-seated father issues
He would say "I was going to say 'this' and 'these' are the reasons why I wanted to say it"
I would answer "I was going to say 'that' and 'this' is why I think I was going to say it."
The patient psychoanalyzing the patient psychoanalyzing the relationship psychoanalyzed by the therapist psychoanalyzing the patient.
Dizzy.
I consider myself really really lucky that I found DrB.
But the point is, why squirrels?
Or maybe the squirrels don't actually matter. Maybe it's a red herring.
Cut down a tree with... A HERRING!
Right. I think I'll stop now.
PS:
Sometimes I convince myself that I'm more like Kirk or Bones than Spock. But really, who am I kidding?
By the way, DrB reminds me of Picard sometimes.