Perishable - A poem

Perishable~




My finger, one finger
traces down her temple
over her sweet cheeked smile
eyes lighted
just for me
just for me...
So many emotions
behind that smile for me
I must take each of them that
I discover and put them in their own mason jar
and screw the lid down tight
for safe keeping.
To preserve
what surely will be lost.
For you see, we are all delicate
things.
Perishable.
This environment is not kind
to such fragile creatures.
But I wonder.
What is ever meant to last?
I reach for one of the mason jars
and take it down off upon the shelf,
unscrew its top, and tip
its' contents into my waiting mouth.
I smile and reach for another.




by Philip Wardlow 2015

Krampus Comes - A Dark Christmas Poem

Be ye, young or old,
as a child of nine or ninety-nine
We all look to the magical time
when ol' St. Nick comes a calling,
that jolly grey bearded man with a smile for all.
Traveling down the road  in his horse drawn sled
from  late dusk to early dawn.
The good ones know they'll be visited by him,
adorned and wreathed with gifts from
head to toe.
They will sleep a peaceful slumber, full
of dreams of the bright morning to come
and the presents they so richly deserve
from a year of being so very very good.
I am afraid some may not be so inclined
at this joyous holiday time to partake of
all this festive cheer.
For you see, there are some children who lay deep in their
covers under the shadow of night as it plays
through their cold window pane,
waiting for him to come,
St. Nicks dark brother, the Other,
called Krampus to some.
This dark horned,  hairy tailed, cloven hooved creature
knows your heart of hearts
and all the naughty things you've done.
And he is not forgiving like
good ol' St. Nick.
With bundled birch sticks in hand
he will greet you with a sharped tooth grin
right before he lays into your
skin,
To beat you about the legs and arms,
a sweet painful present for all your
year's sins and wicked charms.
Then if you have been especially bad
and you know who you are.
He will take down his big black
ruck sack from upon  his back
Open it up, grab you up
and stuff you in.
Then quick out the bedroom window
he flies to disappear down the dark road
with you never to be seen
by your family 
ever again.




by Philip Wardlow 2014

My Third Eye - A Poem

My Third Eye -


It's been plucked.
Right out of my head.
There it is, pinched between
that raven's beak.
It has been reclaimed it seems
since I never chose to use it.
An eye always closed.
grows dark and distant.
Best to give it to someone else.
Yet, I feel the pain of its
loss already
My mind, my spirit, my heart
has already dimmed.
I want it back.
I have learned my lesson.
I promise.
I will use it,  give it back...
give it back,
please give it back.
I will use it
just give it back.


by Philip Wardlow 2014

Superman - Man of Steel - my disappointment

I went in with anticipation....I went in with hope for  a great story.

Yes, I know the origin of Superman and say what you will of origin stories being told over and over, I wanted to see it. Kids don't read comics anymore.  A new generation is born every  eight to ten years...you DO need origin movies whether we like it or not....for the youngins. So had I my bag of popcorn and large Pepsi...and mini peppermint patties. I was outfitted with all the proper accoutrements for movie watching....phone off...I am not a dick....not any even a vibration from me....I was dedicated. I was in. Superman had returned....and it was about damn time. Well, until the movie really started.... First, I was assaulted via my eardrums....the movie was loud...I mean very loud...all the time....I mean constantly...it never let up....turn the volume down movie theatre...I don't care how the movie came  in.

Okay, so it was loud. Spoiler alert coming - I didn't mind the little ten minute prequel story to Superman's parents...I actually enjoyed that...loudness aside. It was new, it was refreshing for me...I was engaged...okay fast forward to the babe "Kalel" leaving the planet Krypton and arriving on Earth via interstellar rocket ship...quick cut to him full-grown as an adult out in the world moving from job to job  as his secret of who he might be is threatened by his own actions. Whether acting through loss of self-control or acts of heroism...he must move on down the road. (kind of like the Hulk)

During this road journey as an adult, we get to see  through flashbacks,his childhood  (which I hated ..I thought his story should have been linear from start to finish because they did a crappy job of the flashbacks)  We learn his origin and his relationship with his parents Ma and Pa Kent....whatever. This is where the story starts to go south for me...Superman's Earthly father Jonathan Kent played by Kevin Costner was flat as a board can be called flat.  This flatness started with Jonathan Kent and carried over to the rest of the movie and characters. Case in point .  When Young Clark Kent asks his father if he should have just let the kids die on the school bus just to save his identity, Jonathon Kent's great fatherly advice is "Yeah, I guess maybe you should have."  and " Your just too important" .  This is the  constant refrain through the whole movie including the phrase by Jorel,  Superman's biological father  "The world may is not ready" Thanks dads....fountains of wisdom you both are.

The only saving grace is the character General Zod, played by the actor Michael Shannon.

He is the only who remotely had any lines that didn't come off the assembly line of dialogue and  cliché things to say every five minutes or so. The whole movie read like a 1940s comic book of clichés and plot holes and continuity.., and just plan not making sense... Yes the action was good...but they relied way too much on things exploding  and super human fantastical fights scenes to bring them through. And what the hell was up with Lois Lane appearing everywhere in every scene? The girl got around.  Was she the Flash in disguise?

SO if you like mindless violence go see it.. At the core, this movie lacked heart.  The characters seemed to be stand-ins waiting for the real actors or  feelings to come through which never really did for me. I have heard this movie has gotten some favorable reviews and received well by audiences.. What that says about our expectations and our culture I don't know. I do know my son, who is a teenager,  thought it lacked any really character development as did my wife. They were flat, my  son said. Yes, that sums it up. They were flat...you didn't care if they lived or died. from Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Martha Kent, to Perry White. I was rooting for General Zod towards the end.  He at least had a good back story and emoted what he was really  feeling for me...everyone else seemed to be on a Xanax merry go around waiting to get off. I give it a grade of  a straight C.

DC  Comics has failed me in this latest installment from their world. I WANTED to like it...I am not being  a hard ass. I am not mentioning a lot of things which annoyed me...one I will say, is  product placement...it was so obvious at times that it took you out of the story and wanted you to go to IHOP for pancakes. Mmmmm pancakes......Okay I'm done.  Save the movie as a rental .

Don't waste your money or your eardrums on it. Rest in Peace Superman. I hope not to see you anytime soon.

So Happy I'm Sad via the Kloipy Project

A fellow blogger who runs the blog, "Kloipy Speaks" whom  I follow and who incidentally follows me  recently asked fellow bloggers and  passerby to his sight to name two things which make them happy while at the same time makes them sad. He called it The Kloipy Projects: So Happy I’m Sad.  Go check him out and see what he's about if you would like. (but not before you finish this damn blogpost...me first)

He got me to thinking  -

Hmmm,  I wondered....what the hell possibly makes me sad and happy.  Is it eating a bowl of ice cream and then suddenly that bowl of ice cream is empty? No, that does not make me happy and sad. Just happy and wanting more. So happy and pathetic was not the question.
So I thunk and thunk and thunk  (picture Pooh bear tapping  paw to head)

Eureka...!

Via the ice-cream  skewed analogy above.   I discovered that most things which make a person sad and happy are things that were good in the past but came to an end or morphed into something other than the original happenstance or experience. So really for me, it results in nostalgia for something. So here are my two happy/sad moments which I always continue to have...I will also preface that the  happy outweighs the sad by a factor of ten for me.

Experience #1:
When I first walk into a comic book shop and get a whiff of the old musty smell which inhabits the nooks and cranies surrounding every corner. It fills my senses and induces a slight euphoria in my being and makes me at one with the world for a moment.  Yeah, heavy stuff I know. But that's what I feel. It feels so good to be in a comic book store...the synapses in my brain fire and bring about all my childhood memories growing up, delving and diving into a fantastic world of make believe and mayhem. It takes me back...then I'm sad just a little because I'm not that same person...I've grown up. I have a family, responsibilities, obligations...I can't be carefree anymore...I have to engage in this thing called life.

 

 

 

Experience #2:
My wife over the years - and I have known her many years - has made mixed tapes and mix CDs for me as I did for her. Its one of those romantic gestures you make when your in love. Its a tribute to your  relationship and your acknowledgment of how much they mean to you.  Every once in a while, I will pop one in and listen to it...
I am of course happy because the world seemed a simpler place. A fresh world of new possibilities and  burgeoning experiences to be shared with a new love. Fresh raw primal passions (sexual)  to envelope yourself in. Then I am sad a little, because some endearments can get lost or morphed from what they once were...not in a bad way just different....and some things you realize can never be the same but you find in that difference a new richness grows.  There in its place is something more special that can only happen with time tested events and the chaos that life brings.

 

 

So there you have it...I hope you enjoyed my little trip into my brain....make sure to  scrape your shoes on the mat before you leave. I don't think you would want to be walking around with my thoughts on the bottom of your shoes mucking about in your world.
Feel free to share your own thoughts on what makes your sad and happy at the same time. I would love to hear them.  Cheers.

Santo Mon - A Poem

I was invited by the blog site Project Agent Orange after making comments on some of his blogs to submit an original piece for his site. Check out my first stab at poetry written specifically for a political/environmental cause....written with my own flair of course :)  Hope you enjoy  -

Santo Mon

by Philip Wardlow Posted on June 23, 2013 by mhbrownstein

Monsanto.
Yeah Mon…You know the one.
Mon
san
to.

Remember it.
Founded in 1901 by
a rich family full of ambition.

Your grandmother’s mother washed
her linens with one of their first brands
and hung them to dry in the warm
afternoon sun.
ALL, the detergent of the ages.

Other products flew off the shelf.
Who do you think made Coca Cola taste so
sweet?
Saccharin, supplied by the Santo Mon.
Here, have a drink.

It set them up real good for what was to come.
If your head was aching, grab some Aspirin.
Pop a little salicylic acid to turn that frown
upside down.

Why stop there Mon, because chemicals were their
specialty ya know;
DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange by the barrel load.

Ya see, the US government had this little war in Vietnam,
They had this idea that they could keep down the Vietcong
simply by killing off all the foliage mon.

All it did was deprive the good citizens of growing food,
causing them to flee to the city
where they crammed into
the slums by the millions.

The Santo Mon knew the dangers of what he sold, it was all in the notes as the studies showed; what it did to animals surely it could do to us,
cuz we be but animals as well bro.

Those wonderful products broke the bodies of the natives living there
and the vets who came back.

Woe be war, but woe be more the chains you still wear, for it never be over for some.
Misshapen babes born to proud
Papas and Mamas who are already themselves half in the grave.

Kiss your wife dear soldier and hug her tight, for something burns inside you and it ain’t
never coming out.

It’s gonna strike
When?
Who knows.
Today,
Tomorrow.

But you will be the fool
to feel Santo cares about your
welfare.

Don’t hold your breath if you don’t want to turn blue.
Men in suits;
lawsuits been settled they say,
reparations be done.
Some say it would have been better
to have pissed into the wind to get what
the victims won.

Go about your way,
we be the New Monsanto
all improved.
Our business is growth and nature.
We want to show you the way.

The New Santo Mon only engineers seeds nowadays.
Oh, you haven’t heard that story either?
Well sit down my friend I’ve got a lot
more unpleasant things to say.

by Philip Wardlow

Tardar Sauce - "the Grumpy Cat" my contribution...