Take note of the not ice

"The Lord shall smite thee with madness"

Notes from the robot machine;

I work

I clean

I work

I clean

Notes on debauchery and love;

haven't debauched for many a year

can't remember how

can't remember when

and love is ...

Notes on sorrow and sadness;

the sorrow is elemental

the building blocks of

the man I am

the sadness is a misnomer

but an absence of joy

must surely be

Notes on laughter and tears;

the laughter recedes

runs to the f*****g hills

ran out of tears

many a haunted moon ago

Notes on profanity and bad writing;

see above

and below

see behind

and beyond

beyond beyond

beyond the end

Notes on you;

my silent witness/assassin

haven't I suffered enough

Notes on Oceans and moons;

Ah ! yea gods 

I miss you my lovers

your gaze

your touch

the dreams you gave

and snatched away mid     night

Notes on poetry and wine;

thank f**k for Bukowski

and supermarkets

Note to self;

shut the f**k up

and drown in sand

Reviews

[emmajoy]

So many thoughts, such a pouring of words that almost but not quite touch every corner of the box in which you and hapless millions are enduring right now. Time to consider, to judge, to forget, to stress or make darker.. or not. Seems you're very distinctly given the sub.titles for each area, yet merely touched on what to say briefly... guess that's how it is at present...

Will returns, gram.. those final lines says much of you, how you think and feel if not all the time but for now. However, avoid the quicksand, please.

[gram linski]

hey emmajoy thanks for reading, it was a bit of a mad ramble about that isolation alienation thing, not really sure where I was going with thus the shut the f**k up part, lol, appreciate the review, glad you enjoyed

[emmajoy]

There are times when we're allowed to cuss cos it releases whatever! You take care but keep busy. Do what I did this afternoon, prune a couple of trees! Oh well. :)

[Ruth]

I can honestly say Gram that this seriously rocks!!! I absolutely love all of it but towards the finale, blew my mind! Awesome...truly awesome, the fragments pieced together and the thoughts layered in a thought process is not only unique but amazingly hard hitting and thought provoking, I think this is a favourite piece of poetry for me on this site in all the years I have been here :) Excellent!

[gram linski]

high praise indeed, Ruth considering some of the amazing poets at the café, including yourself, thanks so much for the great review, much appreciated,

[Robert Trakofler]

LOL thank god for Bukowski indeed:) If i continue to write for another 35 years I might be able to write one decent line of poetry... perhaps! like that beautiful dirty b*****d spat out in buckets most of his. I like your notes they are.... quite noteworthy Mr. Gram

[gram linski]

hey, B, how you keeping man, seem to remember you did a Bukowski poem not so long ago that the dirty old b*****d would have been proud of, you do yourself a disservice, Mr B, thanks for the review, take care over there

[.]

This does read like vignettes of thoughts compounded by the isolation that we are all enduring at present. Our minds do ramble when we find we have nothing else to occupy them with and the various different themes of each vignette just illustrates the extent of your mind wanderings. It's very hard to shut down the noise in our minds when our solitude is full of quiet. I guess that is what poetry was created for; to declutter the mind and get those ramblings out. You have achieved that here and you can ready yourself for a refill! An interesting write, dear gram!

[gram linski]

thanks Jamila, totally got the ramblings out vibe, not sure if I am ready for a refill just yet, lol, appreciate the read, keep safe wherever you may be

[Eilis]

I see the final lines as a bit of self-deprecating humor. Like feeling like telling ourselves to f**k off, but at the same time still having enough of a connection to self to be able to keep on keeping on. Isn’t that what we are mostly doing anyway. Mired in the dull madness of the robota and the pain of pastness/presentness/uncertain futureness. But still feeling a desire for and connection to something better/beyond what’s imagined.

I always think that if our hearts reach for something outside of the dark moments they are still holding the necessary hope to keep ferrying us through the drudgery or loneliness of the moment. It is when we stop remembering or reaching that the moment becomes dire.

I like that the voice here moves back and forth between the debaucher and the tender heart. Of course they are one in the same but some feelings are higher than others and where we choose to gravitate seems to draw the map of the future.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be times where boredom & loneliness draw us back to some more primal state of mind. But the lure and sacredness of the ocean and the moon still hold a place we seek to return to.

So we get bored and frustrated with ourselves. Thank f**k for Bukowski in those moments. Or whatever raw thing helps us embrace it and let it slip through. Maybe at the end of the day we want to tell ourselves to f**k off. But, that’s not the only thing we’ve said. And in the face of the silent assassin—we spit out words and take back our power. Because naming a thing always transfers the power back to you.

Maybe more positive than you meant. But you quite often have these two threads running through fighting each other. And, in my mind, even a hanging ending signifies a future. Which in turn signifies a kind of victory.

Really like this one, Gram. The title kicks it off in a way that makes it all feel like a to do list for the damned. But, sometimes the damned only need to say a thing to see that the damning has no lasting power unless it’s allowed to take root.

[gram linski]

wow thanks for the great review, Eilis, aye the last part was definitely stop moaning and keep on keep ing on even if it means sticking your head in the sand for a while, once again you've articulated my thoughts better than I and have grasped a few details that alluded me, Ive always thought I had a positive thread running through my stuff, I'm still here writing, lol, this was written a while back but when I read it I thought s**t I could have written it yesterday, thanks as always for your insightful comments they are always appreciated

[Chris Shaw]

I think we are all going half crazy at the moment stuck inside our four walls. Oh for some normality. Yes for some routine, boring normality and a bit of freedom to wander as we please. I haven't published any of my own ramblings yet. It won't take much more :)

Chris

[gram linski]

thanks, Chris, aye who would have thought being off work would be boring, a day of mindless labour would be a good thing, seem to remember you are not bad at a ramble when you get going look forward to reading them appreciate the read, thanks again

[Chris Shaw]

Each day is the same as the last. I can't remember what day of the week it is:) How I would love a proper ramble in the country. All you're likely to get from me is some meandering scribble.