In the days when I worked full time at the day job, this was a time to complete, to wrap up the year end, make make a dash for the break. At the same time, it was a time to look forward to the new year, to plan new ventures, seek out new business possibilities. It usually involved targets, objectives and projections that would be built into the new year’s business plans. By the time Christmas arrived I was usually exhausted and stretched like a violin string full of anxiety for the next year. The joys of the self employed. As I grew older and attempted to be more philosophical. I tried to find time to build a personal practice that better suited my situation. I wrote about one attempt at this and it may be a signpost as we begin to think of new year resolutions and self improvement and so on.
As always, read, enjoy, share. I would love some feedback. Enjoy the coming season with a special thought and effort towards those who are disadvantaged for whatever reason.
The test was to set out a practice -
a daily ritual that would put life into some shape
that would map to getting older -
nearer to the inevitable.
Have to report that it didn’t work -
the rebel up-scuttled it completely
reached the place of why bother
why not bow to lifelong patterns
It did start out well, it has to be said
reflection, exercise, scribbles happened
it even embraced the good habit of
hygiene and eating
sensibly.
Day three brought the volta –
dramatic collapse of the party’s resolve -
lethargy prevailed and constrained -
a day of observation of the nothing.
From then on it was
limp awkwardly, painfully
out of the black hole
into some sort of shaping of time
some kind of doing, to halve the rot.
A kind of repair can be happily reported -
fraction though it is, but
fault lines are gaping and dangerous –
a jagged reminder
of the fragility of things.
Peter Clarke
July 2016
Noel Mc Iver
14.12.2018 23:39
Thank you Peter.I love your work. Hape a peaceful and Joyful Christmas. Noel in Perth Western Australia.
Kate O'Neill
13.12.2018 08:57
It always amazes me when I see the difference between the inner journey and what others see or project on us. My projection is to rename your poem 'courage'
Tom
13.12.2018 00:27
Nice and true (for me at least) words, Peter
Colm
13.12.2018 00:10
Brings to mind Krapps Last Tape.
Clíodhna
12.12.2018 22:40
I think we all know this road really well! Great description of the rise and fall resolutions.
Rosy Wilson
12.12.2018 18:52
I like this "journey" Peter esp opening verse your mapping exercise and last 3 from then on . . . Good to workshop it?
Latest comments
25.11 | 22:15
Grief is experience through the mundane. Simple but powerful. The accompanying image really compliments the poem.
07.11 | 11:14
Hi Peter,
A great observation! Social media can be a scary place... I also need to reduce my time there
Hugs,
John.x
06.11 | 16:24
A great one, Peter, in the context you describe. I don't read social media myself, I doubt my equilibrium could stand it. 'The balance of his mind disturbed' yes, I think it would be.
06.11 | 15:59
Yes, gossip is a weapon of mass destruction.
In my business as well as personal life I have zero tolerance.
And What About . . .
I have neglected this for far too long, and now it is time again. But what to write about, what poem to share? The world is packed with catastrophic possibilities. Such choices: dementia/genocide colluder or extreme narcissism in the White House; a hung parliament in the UK; the reunification of the USSR with a tyrannical megalomaniac at its head; the eradication of a race by a genocidal government in Gaza; the African continent reduced to bankruptcy and regression to male tribalism; in Ireland, even with an appalling electoral turnout the routing of the far right and Sinn Féin may offer some comfort except we face another FF/FG fiasco. Mother Nature rumbles on its rampage, raging against the human species’ abject destruction of the planet’s habitat. What the . . .
Being facetious right now is my only defence against absolute despair. So read, comment, pass it on, and send feedback.
City Walking and Cycling take 680,000
cars per day off the road
Irish Time Heading
More and more folk, cycling and walking, may
keep gases from greenhouses further at bay
This newspaper heading illustrates vividly
thousands of cyclists and walkers assiduously
stopping some cars on their journey
pushing them aside - making drivers quite surly
Mountains of metal - like scrapyards of sculpture
keep bicycle lanes quite safe - at this juncture
The new revolution is well underway
don’t get behind wheels - hear what they say:
Cars and their fumes play a very big part
the smell is quite phew don’t mention cow farts
Wear out your shoe leather walking
greet travellers with smiles while you’re talking
Force councils to make better spaces
to go out and about roaming those places
where vitamin D, and oxygen from trees
fill our lungs and our brains so we see
how to save us and this magical planet
except for some vicious old tyrants goddammit
Peter Clarke, 18th March 2024