fable

it's not like Nana hadn't already predicted

the ends times in 68 when the walls of the well collapsed 

and the once crystal clear 'dippers' were like a goblet of rose water left in the sun.

Or that Georgia share croppers had to teach former Nazi POW'S  how to farm.

But let's forgive. In

Fannie Lou Hamer's "School For Negro Girls" they used

elderberry for ink and burnt cedar  for pencils. 

Suffering is a "sophism used to deceive" says 

the conservative. It's like a poet taking a block

of wood and trying to carve out distance. But I took

science in high school where, for sex, Angela showed me her

girdle.  Big , wise men came like angels to my fathers wake.

so today, I take a pill to sleep. One to stay awake. One to pee. A pill

to calm my nerves. One for strategy. A large, oblong pill to stop

the infection. A pill when I'm hard up. A pill to free me. I swallow

the pink, gay pill with almond milk. One with Pabst Blue Ribbon. While angry,

I crunch some pills to sand beneath the pharaoh's feet. I read the

directions and recite them like a young Dickinson. A pill when I

want to be indulged. A pill when my blood pressure is unfair to  me. A pill

when I need to come down. A pill for the haven you'll haunt.

I even take a pill when you say you loved me.

Reviews

[Ada]

Just about everyone is going to need medication either from dealing with their own life or someone else...this is casually integrated into your piece.

[h d e rushin]

so true Ada. I went back and listened to Old Dirty B******s "Bronx Zoo" where he began:

read moreso true Ada. I went back and listened to Old Dirty B******s "Bronx Zoo" where he began:

"I'm in the G building
taking all kinds of medicine,
you sucker MC's thought you
were better than". And I went to bed thinking that that is perhaps the most profound poetic line I had ever read or listened to. "Formalism", the scrupulous observance of prescribed forms, whether in art (POETRY) or in life is actually
the argument for the need of medicine to alter our observations of this life. Otherwise, we are just dreary, lonely suburbanites clicking our heels in the comfort of our warm rooms. Thanks for your insight my friend.. dana

[no tell writer]

This is full of vivid imagery, I take pills to sleep, i've anxiety issues.
Nicely written and expressed

[h d e rushin]

i'm late. The story of my life perhaps. And thanks for your insight....dana

[MLWingo]

This is beautiful and poignant. This takes me back to my grandmother telling stories, reflecting on memories that seemed to merge with the present and always had a lesson.
“It's like a poet taking a block
of wood and trying to carve out distance” is a phrase I will keep thinking about. Well done 👍🏼

[h d e rushin]

thank you dearest for stopping by. dana

[Corset]

"I even take a pill when you say you loved me." Should that be in my case, I'm sure that one would be valium :D , brings to mind Alanis Morrisette's "Jagged little pill" swallow it down, feel it swimming in your stomach, and wait for the dust to settle. :P

[h d e rushin]

beautiful> I loved that song. but it's true. We take a pill for everything is the things that aren't possible. thank you my love. dana

[Corset]

you're welcome dear heart

[redzone]

they do have us all drugged up with their pills (not to mention the pandemic of pain meds overdoses).... but there really is only 2 pills that matters the blue pill to keep our eyes closed to what is going on in the world around us, all its horrors and sufferings, or the red pill that allows us to see reality and the way the world actually is... when you say "let's forgive" it also means let's forget.... cause if you forgive and forget, the world continues getting worse and worse, generation after generation..... capitalism/imperialism (the Matrix) with its many many pills continues....

most "fables" were written with the intent of educating us about right and wrong, but it seems that way too many use fables to escape what is real and so take pills to cope.... grandma was right in one sense, end days have approached us, will we go quietly into oblivion or open our eyes to reality and change it ????

your poemI feel is for fables to once again be educators for humanities survival.... you write terrific fables Dana!!!!

[h d e rushin]

thanks red.. We cannot reconcile the fables of the past. Some were quarrelsome/ some like teenage pregnancy and racialism, were undiscussed. The world "has" gotten worse because we are too occupied with "life" to be bothered. Can we forgive those who stored the Capitol? Or is it just easier to forget that entire episode. As usual your insight is right on my friend. Thanks for sharing it with me.. dana

[jacob erin-cilberto]

the old days have to seem like a fable...people just lived their lives with whatever pain there was.
No Mother's Little Helper....in which to take shelter.
they faced whatever there was.
what a drag it is getting old...I just ordered a new phone from amazon....something I grew up with...it is a 1960's Rotary phone....what we used when I went to college in 1968----there was no pill for the surprise we get when we got push button phones....we were fascinated by them...

crazy times then....maybe crazier now....but very real....we might wish it were a fable.
j.

[h d e rushin]

yes, the in the old days nothing helped but our own pride. No government agencies came to the rescue. I mentioned before here that I don't have a cell phone, a source of some humor and derision amongst my friends. I love rotary phones for the function of them; that before you wanted to start taking, you had to complete a physical and (mental) maneuver. We grew up with just one on our kitchen wall where every conversation was a discussion that was open to everyone in the house. Things were better than they were.....thanks brother for your insight....dana