A Day In the Life and Death

[Erthona]

A Day In the Life and Death
 
The Death and Life of me,
is what I see on my TV
if it’s not there, then it’s not real.
Of Death news I can’t get my fill.
I just love to watch them kill.
It must be what I want to see;
advertising isn’t free…
It must be what I want to see,
advertising isn’t free,
It must be what I . . . . . . .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I heard the news today, oh boy1,” the government had just starved a girl.
The all day news channels played and played. . . . .
 
“This can’t happen in our Christian country in this modern day?”
 
“If we killed them all, think of the tax money we would save.”
 
”I just had to look, it’s in the TV Book.
Death really turns. . . . . me . . . . . . on . . . . .”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I heard the news today oh joy, the army won the Iraq war.
The all day death channels played. and played. . . . .
 
We put signs in our yard, “There’s no reason to be fighting for!”
 
We support our government, “Kill them all, and then kill some more!” 
 
”I just had to look, it’s in the TV Book.
Death really turns. . . . . me . . . . . . on . . . . .”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I took my life today oh Joy! Jumped from a building that was twenty floors.”
The all day news had naught to say . . . .
 
“He was just a nobody so, no one will care!”
 
“No need to send a crew, there’s no advertising for dead air!”
 
”And though my life I took, I didn’t make the Book.
Death really turns. . . . . me . . . . . . on . . . . .”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to kill red; you want to kill blue,
In the end, it’s killing we do.
I don’t want to kill,
but you.
You don’t want to kill,
but me.
We don’t want, but we do,
you kill me, I’ll kill you.
We don’t want to kill, but we do!
We do_we do_we do do do,
In the sweet, by and by.
He’s gonna fry, he’s gonna fry, he’s gonna fry.
He’s not born yet, he’s not real, he’s ok for us to kill.
he’s ok for us to kill. he’s ok for us to kill. Kill, Kill, Kill…………
With con-viction, said their bumper stick,
“Screw the whale, save the baby convict.”
 
 
erthona
 
 
1 Beatles - 'A Day In the Life'
 
 
©2000 revised 2017

[Magpie]

Dale,

The Beatles song reference is interesting —it made me sing 'I heard the news today oh boy...' in my head all day...  So I've left some thoughts below....

A Day In the Life and Death[/b]
 
The Death and Life of me, — good twist - My mind wants to read this line as 'For the Death and Life of me,' — an extra twist on the 'for the life of me' cliche
is what I see on my TV
if it’s not there, then it’s not real.
Of Death news I can’t get my fill.
I just love to watch them kill.
It must be what I want to see;
advertising isn’t free…
It must be what I want to see,
advertising isn’t free,
It must be what I . . . . . . .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I heard the news today, oh boy1,” the government had just starved a girl.  
The all day news channels played and played. . . . .
 
“This can’t happen in our Christian country in this modern day?”
 
“If we killed them all, think of the tax money we would save.”
 
”I just had to look, it’s in the TV Book.
Death really turns. . . . . me . . . . . . on . . . . .”  — good use of all the beatles song references - nice twist with the last line
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I heard the news today oh joy, the army won the Iraq war.
The all day death channels played. and played. . . . .
 
We put signs in our yard, “There’s no reason to be fighting for!”
 
We support our government, “Kill them all, and then kill some more!” 
 
”I just had to look, it’s in the TV Book.
Death really turns. . . . . me . . . . . . on . . . . .”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I took my life today oh Joy! Jumped from a building that was twenty floors.” — is the capitalisation of 'Joy' intentional - different from previous stanza
The all day news had naught to say . . . . — 'naught' sounds odd here — it may be a British thing
 
“He was just a nobody so, no one will care!”
 
“No need to send a crew, there’s no advertising for dead air!”
 
”And though my life I took, I didn’t make the Book.
Death really turns. . . . . me . . . . . . on . . . . .”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to kill red; you want to kill blue,
In the end, it’s killing we do.
I don’t want to kill,
but you.
You don’t want to kill,
but me.
We don’t want, but we do,
you kill me, I’ll kill you.
We don’t want to kill, but we do!
We do_we do_we do do do,
In the sweet, by and by.
He’s gonna fry, he’s gonna fry, he’s gonna fry.
He’s not born yet, he’s not real, he’s ok for us to kill.
he’s ok for us to kill. he’s ok for us to kill. Kill, Kill, Kill…………
With con-viction, said their bumper stick,
“Screw the whale, save the baby convict.” — nice wordplay here, not sure you need the hyphen
 
 
erthona
 
 
1 Beatles - 'A Day In the Life'
 
 
©2000 revised 2017

The first couple of times that I read this poem I was probably reading it wrong, then I read it with the Beatles tune in mind - if that makes sense - then I was able to put an appropriate rhythm to the two manic stanzas that open and close the poem.

It works for me, I like the structure and the concept. 

Mark

[Erthona]

Thanks Mark,

Actually rereading it "nothing" would probably work better than "naught". But yes, the Beatles were British so I used "naught", there was of course the unconscious tie in to naughty, which seemed more meaningful to me at the time, than it does now. "Nothing" does read better.

As you might surmise this is an update of Lennon's "Day in the Life." It is a continued examination of the rubberneck syndrome. The worse the wreck the slower the traffic moves and the greater degree of cynicism towards humanity.

Eventually cynicism turns inward becoming depression and    

"I took my life today oh Joy! Jumped from a building that was twenty floors.”

Oh Joy -> Oh to Joy -> Ode to Joy  We revel in and are fascinated by a death culture.

Joy|Jump    and over emphasis of the alliteration, there is no subtly.

"con" the opposite of "pro"  death the opposite of life.

At the second level it is an examination of hyper-partisanship, but you didn't ask about that.

However, I think you were more charitable with this than it deserves so thanks for your kindness.

Thanks,

dale