22 April 2012

The Answer

When Bob Dylan sang "the answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind"
He did not mean that it had blown away or become elusive
He meant it was really in the wind, and would land sometime
So we had to be fast and pick it up, or it would be gone again.
And when Perry Como sang "Catch a falling star, and put it in your pocket,"
He did not mean to pretend.  He meant grab a star
while it was streaming past, and hold it tight and push it far far far
down into the pocket in your jeans.  On rainy and windy days,
take it out again and the starlight will cheer you.  You've got to be fast. 

Falling stars exist and answers are flying around everywhere
I've seen some: Like, how do you stop a war?  Don't go.
How do you get rid of weapons?  Make them and then bury them
under the Algonquin pine of peace with the eagle on top.
Plant poles of positivity for doves of every color to sit and sleep.
Walk until you see the answers in the stars, and then you rest, too.
The stars are in your pockets and the answers are in the stars.
You have eyes to see, and see not.  
You have ears to hear, so listen.
This is not a hunger game. 
It is a wake up call. 


Written for NaPoWriMo on 22 April 2012 and then revised, I am posting it for "Open Link Night: Week 48 " at DVerse.  I would love your opinion of a new title--maybe "You've got to be fast" or "the answer"?  Thanks for visiting me!

Chosen for book 11/9/2013.

14 comments:

  1. I like your references to past and current texts. They are nicely blended with the Biblical references.

    An interesting poem, that offers the simple answers, if we would but act on them.

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    1. I'm glad the texts stood out as I had intended. I usually honor the questions themselves (Rilke) but one gets so tired of having the answers ignored!

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  2. Excellent prose-styled poetry here. The allusions are fantastic, I've counted a few, but there are a few other's I'm going to check out my concordance to see if my thinking is right or could just be coincidence. and then, as my mind tends to make random connection when I read others works, it happened here. you mentioned dylan, and I was reminded of a certain time, and how the cutting edge or should I say bad boy image, which dylan kind of was back then has completely shifted to a more violent or vulgar bad boy rebel rock type music, kind of an indictment on the times, even though I tend to like much of that fringe sound. Just found that interesting, and then with Como. I don't know enough about him to make a similar connection, but I have an album of his. The only Christmas album, well no, I have a Jim Croce one on tape, but no taped deck anymore, so yeah, Como is the only one I play. And I think, how come all the best Christmas songs are 70 or so years old. Why can't the newer ones live up to that magic created back then. Anyhow, mind drifted with the tangents. Which is great by the way, cause I love it when that happens. Very good read. Thanks

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    1. Wow! Thank you for taking your time with my poem and sharing both the research and the associations. I am all for coincidence adding meaning--or, I don't believe in coincidence though I believe in the surreal. Trusting the random connections is how I proceed with my experience, though--like you--sometimes I shake them off like a wet dog shaking off water so that I can see what the author really wrote. Magic truths, hopeful magic, is often hidden in the bad boys' rap and in the bland boys' rhythms. I enjoy the contrast of that hope and the current messages in "The Hunger Games"--tho I suspect I have much more to learn about the latter!

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  3. Bob Dylan to the Hunger Games...nice.

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  4. i wish i had bigger pockets to store more stars...smiles...really liked this susan

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    1. Me, too, Claudia. Perhaps, though, when we reach in there will be enough.

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  5. Oh very nice.
    And so I must fly, tout suite, lunge at that star!
    I don't mind the title so much - how about 'What was meant'?
    I'm sure you'll receive suggestions more fleet!

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  6. Go ahead and lunge, but watch your footing! Thanks for visiting, Kenny.

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  7. You blend the allusions well within the framework of your theme. It does seem so often that we ignore viable options in favor of mental sets. War is inevitable/unavoidable/necessary - we forget how to think critically and employ agency or look to the next person to be the one to stand up and say no. Great work!

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    1. Thank you. Good point about mental sets and what we forget. Some of us, very active from Vietnam through the first and second(?)Gulf War are worn out. I'm not sure it is forgivable to do nothing, but for a while I will stick with words. From Thích Nhất Hạnh: "There is no way to peace; peace is the way."

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  8. From Chris Galvin at http://chrisgalvinwriter.wordpress.com/
    I tried to leave a really long comment on your poem "What He Meant", only to have my comments disappear twice. Then your poem disappeared too. I guess its magic time was up, just as you say in the header of the blog. In any case, I'm shortening that comment to this: great words, well said. The title was fine, but I'm leaning towards your alternate, "the answer". Thanks for your comment on my poem translation too. I only saw it today, as WP had marked it as spam.

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    1. You persisted and I am glad! I think our computers are developing their own inner lives. After I write 3 replies, mine starts swallowing them as if I had not answered at all. Spam, in other words . . .
      Thank you!

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