Lethe

[rowens]

Brother, silent one always dancing,
Sending the blonde girls into hysteria,
You chase that color right out of the rainbow.
And, boy, were the noons ever warm.

What is your harp doing now? Is it
Rusting, shoveling the dust hoveled in the big-spenders
Electronic bay, wisped away by this Mechanized America.

Your funny dreams, that old country.
Is Leonard still playing cards with Satan?
I never died, I never died,―my madness.

I've seen many shores.
All I know is, I know nothing.
You know that's my creed, brother?
Or, maybe, the time has come the Walrus said.

I cannot imagine that you were ever unhappy.
But we are clowns, brother.
And I still am.
I've never died.

[addy]

There's a nice vibe to this... there are dashes of lighthearted nostalgia, but there's a larger undercurrent of something that is quite disturbing.

[billy]

i like the musical references.
the title fits in with the poem extremely well.
it got me to thinking about the crossroads
where the devil makes a bet on who can play the best.
i got i feeling of darkness and a resolution of things not getting better.
that we are what we are.. that things simmer underneath the masks we wear.

i enjoyed it. should there be a comma after dust ib the 2nd l of the 2nd stanza?

thanks for the read.

[rowens]

I made this in 2007, something reminded me of it and I found it on here. I think of those devils and crossroads and those sorts of things a lot. Can you get from the poem any clue of who the characters are? And with the 'dust' thing, I think my use of the word 'hoveled' is more questionable.

[billy]

not a clue, at first i thought god and satan till i read the played with satan line.
at a push i'd say marty robbins, though Lethe is about forgetfullness. maybe the lead singer of the doors.
i'll go with jim morrison

[rowens]

Something I said a few days ago reminded me of this. A certain man with a big black moustache and cigar that was one of the last of his brothers to die, and though they say he was senile by the end he'd tell you they just stopped getting his jokes.

[billy]

i thought of him but it was cursory. i saw the harp and leonard and walrus as music metaphor.
which shows you when i'm off, it's usually by a mile .