Hot Now

[dukealien]

Hot Now


We lie now in the hammock of a year
when leaves fall dead and grass has yellowed sere;
sun glowers waves of angry solitude–
heat without warmth, gift to ingratitude.

We wear a minimum of clothes but mask
our faces fearing censure as we bask;
dark cities flame with rage for grace withheld
and sordid glee at hero statues felled.

We lack concern but let our maudlin fears
choke reason at an image each few years;
with time and rain this madness can abate
by reconciliation quenching hate.

The shape of the madness was not as obvious when this was written, three seven weeks ago, as it has since become.  No more statues desecrated:  we've run out of heroes to hate.  Now it's just smash-and-grab pillage-in-the-village.

[busker]

In Misc, but I think those boundaries blurred a long time ago. :-)
sans 'sordid', 'hero', and 'maudlin', this would be a fine poem. Regardless of whether these words apply or not, it is too much of the author intruding - and in the case of 'maudlin' - too anachronistic. Prithee, what hast the hand of thyne anarch wrought, rhymester?
Also, do 'Lie now' and 'minimum' fit the metre?

[dukealien]

In Misc, but I think those boundaries blurred a long time ago. :-)
sans 'sordid', 'hero', and 'maudlin', this would be a fine poem. Regardless of whether these words apply or not, it is too much of the author intruding - and in the case of 'maudlin' - too anachronistic. Prithee, what hast the hand of thyne anarch wrought, rhymester?
Also, do 'Lie now' and 'minimum' fit the metre?

Heh.  Since you ask, conversational meter was worth sacrificing to emphasize "lie" with its dual meaning there.  And is the last syllable of "minimum" accented?  Well, more than the middle.

As to "hero," refer to the original "Mad Max."  Except at the moment we're in the phase where they're being taken away before being given back, but the villains are much the same.  Heroes are not an anachronism; the times are out of joint, that they're denigrated so (and popping that joint back into its socket is going to H.U.R.T.!)

I intrude, I do.  This is Miscellaneous, after all!