Life On A B-I7

_ Poetry Challenge Day 89 (Sat Jan 1)_

My daughter gave me a book
By Haruki Murakami.
It is a marvelous collection of stories.
Haruki is an accomplished author
(Even though this was my first
encounter with him.)

One of the stories mentions a book
He self-published early in his career.
It was a book of poetry about the
Yakult Swallows baseball team.

This accomplished author admits that
His book of poetry may not actually be poetry
But he s ays he will call them poems anyway.

I suppose if an accomplished author
Can self-publish a book of dubious poems
Then so can I.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 88 (Fri Dec 31)_

This is an attempt at
writing a poem when I have no idea
what is about to come out…

Satisfaction with my work is a
commodity that is hard for me to come by.
I tend to be a perfectionist,
also my biggest critic.

I sometimes feel that with infinite time available to me
I could reach a goal worthy of my desire,
of course, we aren’t given that luxury.

Perhaps this is what you naturally feel
when you look back on your year
and try to make sense out of it.
That’s what I’m going to tell myself.

I don’t see perception in this regard changing
a great deal when I look forward
to the coming year…

I thought when I started my poetry project
that it might be life changing.
At this point (after 88 days)
there is no clear answer to that question.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 87 (Thu Dec 30)_

The voice inside my head is talking to me.
No, I’m not crazy, it does that all the time.
My constant dialogue is usually suppressed
At the moment, I’m trying to listen to it.
What it’s saying when I actually listen is revealing.
I’m not going to tell you,
That’s not what this is about.
All I know is it’s important to listen.
All the secrets you need to know are contained in that dialogue.
Embrace it, listen, ponder, and keep listening.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 86 (Wed Dec 29)_

Your ignorance
Is as good as
my knowledge.

What’s wrong with that?

Could it be
That this is how we now
Think of personal liberty and freedom.

“There is a cult of ignorance in the US, & there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism is a constant thread winding through political & cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means ‘my ignorance is as good as your knowledge’.” - I. Asimov

_ Poetry Challenge Day 85 (Tue Dec 28)_

I want to cycle across the country
one more time.
I want to feel once again
the feeling of independence.
I want to feel once again
the pain,
but also the accomplishment.
Why don’t you come with me.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 84 (Mon Dec 27)_

Today we broke 800,000.
In the best tradition
of all things American,
that is a world record,
literally.
Even when it comes
to dubious distinctions,
we can’t help but be “better”
than everyone else.

The many thousands of deaths that have occurred since COVID vaccines became available could have been avoided, were it not for the tragic and misguided information campaign spearheaded by a handful power hungry “influencers”.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 83 (Sun Dec 26)_

Life is a poem.
It weaves itself into strange patterns.
Not always what you expect from it.
Yet, if you look closely
there are constants.
Like a true friend.
A true friend is always there for you.
You don’t need a lot more than that.

_ Poetry Challenge Day 82 (Sat Dec 25)_

Speak truth to power.
What does that mean.
I’ve seen truth spoken that way,
It seems it is usually ignored.
The one attribute all power shares,
Is the ability to distort truth.
Yet, if enough people hold the same truth.
Power cannot stand.

So…

The first task of power
Is to destroy truth.

The first task of truth
is to fearlessly speak to power.

I’m not satisfied with this poem. It seems there should be a better answer, but I don’t know what it is.