Published: 30 December 2024

That’s entertainment

The important thing is how will you be remembered.
You might have thought about this, or it might have been the
Ancient Greeks, it doesn’t matter, it’s what people think of you
when you die. Will you be the local news, maybe regional,
maybe national, maybe international? You may have already
thought about this.

                                     Did you experience joy, was it a lot
or a little of your life, by choice or accident? Did you give others joy,
bloom a beauty, or were you late to develop? Did you feel
you were left behind, you were unhappy? Because that sells.

                                     People often need entertainment
when they’re done with their working day. Something to take
their minds off the slow-motion hum-drum that might threaten
to stretch out before them interminably. It’s entertainment
that relieves that kind of thinking by presenting a scenario
of a murderer, a movie star, a millionaire, a billionaire, a trillionaire

for God’s sake! People, we’re here to entertain! What do you
think you’re doing? You realize very few are chosen to be
the entertainment, this industry doesn’t need you, only what
you do for it. Let them read that at your funeral.

                                                                          Isn’t that
how it goes? You don’t get to write the story, there’s just
a role to play, maybe more than one, maybe a series, maybe you’ll
be syndicated! A Janitor, an Investigative Reporter, a Beautiful
Mystery, an Invincible Hero, maybe you’d like to be the Villain?

I bet you thought about that. Growing up, little girl, little boy,
taught to be good, it was time to evolve and be bad.
Time to be adult, for that’s what adults seem to do most
of the time, be bad, take things by force, take drugs, get drunk,
take over the laundromat, the bank, the cartel! Use
the dirtiest tricks known to the underworld, or maybe this time

we’re all together in a slightly less than highest grade
of Hell, or worse boring version of it, where the girl who
could have been prettier, the guy who’s everyone’s second best friend,
Mr. Know it All, even the Well Know Queen Bitch drag their
sorry asses out of Bed, onto the Highway, get to Work,
try to make it Home on Time, Forget, curl up and get Comfy,
watch Entertainment, be entertained, get their moment to shout,

“Oh, that was so Good,” “Well, that was Boring,” “I think this
is Tragically Underrated,” “I love this Actor!” and always
everyone, everywhere, “Who writes this Crap?” and “Did you read
the story about her, how she ruined her life, betrayed everyone
who loved her, and they’re surprised she did that to escape all this?”

You may have thought about that. You may have thought I meant
die when you heard escape. I bet you’ve thought about that. I bet
she thought by committing suicide she could escape life because
to die was an escape, but I think that’s wrong, brother, sister,
I believe you escape into another role, another plane, perhaps
part of the entertainment, or maybe you get one more opportunity

to improve the chances, this time, you’ll be remembered for bringing
a little joy into someone’s life, whether you’re a famous star
or little-known bit actor. Local, regional, national, international.


More Poetry:

Bike Night

Twin beat of tire spokes braid night air
into set of rapids a canoe would fall upon.
Creases of energy propel me deliriously
forward, folds of force comfortable as pillows,
wells of gravity like muscles from beneath.
My legs pound the circle of bicycle pedals
through night soft as sweater, dark, brilliant,
a night when you feel buoyant, lucky

Valour

It’s not about the biggest car.
Not about being first.
About indulging the urge to kill
in the name of privilege and wealth.

Valour defines its arena one way:
deny fate, envisage what should be.

I will swim again

Today, I pretend everything is fine.
The lake is calm, weather hot,
the great blue water stretches
to kiss the wide blue sky uninterrupted,
and the lake beckons,
spreads its arms wide, says,
“Swim with me,
“Remember.”

1,000 lives

1,000 lives.
Each one never perfect,
undone by the weakness of living.
One life as an aesthetic only to hate more.
One life as an addict only to suffer more.

Two painters and Jarret

Jarret is in a Miro
because I say so.
If I had a camera with me
I could prove it.
Look, the lines, squiggles
around him and he looks
a little like a squiggle himself.

electricity of snow

skates crystalline, pass
of sunlight to the corner
zigzag impossible bank shot
direct to rods and cones
eruption of white noise
as light crackles about you

Related

Bike Night

Bike Night

Twin beat of tire spokes braid night air
into set of rapids a canoe would fall upon.
Creases of energy propel me deliriously
forward, folds of force comfortable as pillows,
wells of gravity like muscles from beneath.
My legs pound the circle of bicycle pedals
through night soft as sweater, dark, brilliant,
a night when you feel buoyant, lucky

read more
Valour

Valour

It’s not about the biggest car.
Not about being first.
About indulging the urge to kill
in the name of privilege and wealth.

Valour defines its arena one way:
deny fate, envisage what should be.

read more
I will swim again

I will swim again

Today, I pretend everything is fine.
The lake is calm, weather hot,
the great blue water stretches
to kiss the wide blue sky uninterrupted,
and the lake beckons,
spreads its arms wide, says,
“Swim with me,
“Remember.”

read more

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