I blame spray-paint on brick walls
and overflowing garbage cans
I blame the selfish words in books
and snow falling on my window
then I blame friends I stole from
and lovers I scorned
I blame the icons on my desktop
and the empty can of beer
the stars on Orion's belt
and his running from At las t
before I blame the light
streaming through the trees
and the dog howling at the moon when
I blame whoever finds me out
29 comments:
Actually I am blaming myself and all those things are just the shadowy projections of my own internal blaming.
It is a great poem. Simple, stark and real.
The photo remind me of Jack London's 'Call of The Wild.'
Hi Shubhajit,
Nice to hear from you, and glad you felt a connection with this poem. This photo is of a wooden design I found when wandering through the streets and parks of Toronto at night... and yeah... it kind of reminds me of Jack London too.
I always blame the light streaming through the trees, (Rythm of the Light) and I am the dog howling at the moon....
Ha!
Thanks for visiting,
sincerely,
Dianne.
I blame no one but I do apportion responsibility.
And I blame you for not writing a book of poems! :D
I enjoyed this read and the image helps to spread the hoooowwwl far. But it was a strong howl, with or without the furry friend.
It is so easy to self-righteously say "don't be wise after the event". I really believe in that too. Still, then at occasions it is really hard not to complain and blame, complain and blame. Important to be able to laugh at things; that is one of my firmest belief
Diane,
Nice to hear from you! And you howl your heart out... better than any therapy I've found...
walkingman,
maybe that's the difference between active and passive rights?
RA,
I don't think I'm organized enough for that! And I think I'll need a very patient editor if that day does come...
;)
Jenny,
Hit the nail on the head there! The whole thing about self-righteousness urkes me so... but I'm always doing it too...
*sigh*
the image is wonderful.... so many ways to see it, so many things to see.
and the poem itself, an enigma wrapped in a paradox... or is that a paradox wrapped in an enigma... either way, you do a grand double loop around, the self deprecation itself a necessary lie in the telling.... how one can speak of one's capacity for cavalier unaccountability even as one speaks so authentically of one's transgressions.... I think you have achieved this irony quite well.
I wonder about all that is being found out....or disclosed... and I wonder if I am meant to wonder
and I do
thanks.... this was a treat
Depends on how honestly the apportioning is Jon, no one is blameless. the idea is I will only carry my own baggage not the baggage someone else decided I should carry.
there
always is plenty
of blame to go around
&
as noted above, no one blameless
great poem, jon
/t.
Hmmm... I like this one, it caught my attention.
I liked the honesty and humility of this.
I'm stuck on "selfish words in books"...they are villainous, and their perpetrators are culpable for much.
well put!
and along the lines of what I was thinking...
I blame the hair in my eyes
but shaving it, blame still there.
but that's as far as I got with it...
Harle,
Thanks for the praise. I'm glad you liked this poem and found some depths beneath the words. Irony is something I'm quite interested in, and have been interested to find irony in myself (or in the narrator of a poem, as the case may be).
walkingman,
Good point... and a good maxim... but sometimes it's harder for me to live by than to say.
/t,
Thanks man! I appreciate the nod.
Jimmy,
Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad this poem put a hook in.
jason,
Maybe it's all the Wordsworth I've been reading at school:
"The subject of writing is the writing subject.'
Or something to that effect.
Tess,
Yeah, those villainous writers!!!
;)
Welcome and thanks for stopping by.
Pearl,
Nice to hear from you. I appreciate the lines and the kind words from such a wonderful poet...
Jon, this is awesome. I love it, I do. Well, and as you can probably imagine, I identify with it quite a bit. They're all selfish words, really, I think.
Lovely poem.
Simple and I like it a lot.
great post.
Jon- this was a fantastcic and insightful poem!!
I agree with many of the commenters before me -Shubhajit, Harlequin and the walking man to name a few-
I hope you are doing wonderfully my friend - and again thanks for the great writing- it really made me take a step back and think about my own blaming issues and faults-
all the best to you!!
Hey Jon,
love this poem. I love the way the repetition really gets it in your head until it becomes a sort of mantra with all of these great images. Also, I don't know if it's a font thing, or a typo, or on purpose, but I absolutely love "the stars on Orion's belt and his running from At las t" ... because the idea of running from "at last" is quite a paradoxical and thought-provoking notion, because usually "at last" is a phrase reserved for when something you want has finally happened. Great poem.
Nice lines there, Jon.
Liked them !!
I saw you on Anna Lys. I hadn't been there for ages. Nice dog and lovely poem.
There's plenty of blame to go around.
I think that this is cool. SPIRITS PROJECTS
Jon that's fantastic!
I blame being too busy
and life's distractions,
when I hold blame
for not commenting sooner.
I read a lot of online news,
and judging from comments,
many people blame the pine cones
for the way things are. Great work!
Just popping in here again to mention that you are this weeks featured poet on Flowers of Sulfur. Thank you for your innovative contributions there and elsewhere on the net.
I really like this one.
let's get lost on a notepad.
Or let's get lost where you are???
:D
Either way it takes a hammer...
and attention to grammar...
and neither of those things do I possess...
be careful in this realm... some pretend that...
they do...
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