Poetry
Poetry
Will This Be The Year?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 01/02/2013 - 20:40Each new year brings renewed anticipation.
Will this be the year?
For some, the anticipation may take the form of dread
as they fear an apocalypse or some personal catastrophe.
For others,it may be the hope of transcendence and transformation.
I am seeking the later.The evening sky,
passing on the last light of day,
like a painting
from the British romantic landscape painters,
or perhaps the Hudson River School,
hung over the interstate
on my drive home.
Will this be the year?Yet day after day,
the drive regains its old familiarity
and too easily sinks into monotony or tedium.
Can I keep the image of the nineteenth century romantics in my thoughts as I worry about work, family, and finances? And how do I hold onto perseverance when the cherished event, whatever it might be, continues to be delayed?
Hope deferred makes the soul sick.
Yesterday, I watched Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk, "Your elusive creative genius".
She talked about just keeping at it, even when inspiration, her elusive creative genius, did not help carry the load. Yet in the daily grind, the just keeping at it, the repetition, there remains the opportunity for the transcendence, for the transformation to come. My mind wanders to the beginning of Samuel Beckett's Endgame:
Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.
Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.
When does the pile of grains become a heap? When does one achieve the creative tipping point? When do the blog posts amount to something, some magnum opus?
So, I continue to write my blog posts, to explore ideas, to share, in hopes that the repetition will lead to the impossible heap, the transcendent transformation.
The Hynes 2012 Holiday Quotes
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 12/26/2012 - 10:47I belong to a fairly eclectic, creative, some would say eccentric family, and this is especially noticeable around the holidays. Many humorous, thought provoking or just plain weird things get said around our holiday tables, and this year, I decided to capture some of them via social media.
When I was younger, I always used to carry a notebook around with me, where I could write observations that jumped out at me for one reason or another. This year, I decided to tweet some of the more interesting lines from Christmas morning.
They ended up fitting together very nicely, so, for those who didn’t see them on Facebook or Twitter, or didn’t view them as a whole, here are the Hynes 2012 Holiday Quotes
Of bowties and burquas,
and skin of teddy bear;
it's all very meta
like playing a song
with something that used to be a song,
or the cello guys with TobleroneA slippery slope of maverick jelly beans,
touch screen gloves,
a Santa rubber duckie,
and a modern flint.
It's the holiday of candy fish.Something happens when you talk too much, dad!
And it was the very, very end of the Swedish festival.
Did you get any fish?
I guessed a giant sonic screwdriver because that makes the most sense.
So many things I'm keeping inside my head right nowIs it a Tardis pillow?
I can't believe you guessed that
And how often do you get a bobble head of someone you know?
And what do you do at falcon ridge?
Lie on a blanket.
So what's better than a blanket that's a picture of you lying on a blanket?
Very meta.Brimstone is hard to get
because we live in a blue state.
Now you need to write a song
about the fragility of the universe,
meta picture blankets,
and Doctor Who.Merry Christmas everyone!
Campaign in Free Verse
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 21:12It's evening and the chance of scattered thunderstorms has passed. So has much of my energy. I was up late last night for the convention that nominated me to be the Democratic Candidate for State Representative. I was up early to get a little campaign work done before heading off to my day job.
Back home, at the end of the day, I feel I should be reaching out to voters; potential supporters or donors. I should be writing my campaign biography or some issue statements.
My wife and daughters are off at various events, and I take a few moments to relax. Friends online are tweeting about idol on TV. Me? I play some YouTube videos of poets reading there works.
Then, it strikes me; a campaign in free verse. No, I can't talk about the issues in the style of Billy Collins or Ted Kooser. Or can I?
What are the issues? That the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation? That the best minds of our generation are being destroyed by madness, looking for an angry tax break?
At church the other week, the preacher talked about cultivating joy, not the artificial saccharine Hallmark Card happiness that gets pasted on the face of every politician when they say how happy they are to see someone they can't remember, but the sort of joy that is hard to grow, that comes from a minor victory in the face of a major struggle.
Yes, making sure that money is spent appropriately and effectively is important, and that no one has to pay too much, or more than their fair share, but what is it that really matters?
Helping people cultivate joy in a rocky garden and share a little kindness. Maybe that is more the task of the poet but maybe we need a little more poetry at the capitol.
It's evening and the chance of scattered thunderstorms has passed, for now.
The Water Ballet
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 08:34The NPR correspondent drones on about some Afghani undersecretary and I turn off the car radio. I've heard enough of war and international politics. Besides, it is raining and I want to watch the water ballet.
The rain taps insistently on the windshield, varying its amplitude and frequency as I accelerate or slow down, and as the skies above darken or lighten with rain. The creaking windshield wipers provide a more steady beat.
The wheels hiss as they push aside the water on the road, in search of some asphalt to grab and the pitch of the hiss of the neighboring car wheels shifts as they doppler by.
One car, a prima ballerina, leaps to the front as a chorus of cars dance in tight formation behind and we all head off to our daily work. There will be more broadcasts about wars and undersecretaries, that I can listen to later. For now, I will quietly drive, watching the water ballet.
Random Stuff
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 20:46Mother’s Day: We had a nice day at the park. I started working on the macrame hammock. Based on my experiences Sunday, this is going to take a very long time to complete. As long as I have energy for the project, I’ll provide updates.
Coming home, there was a car riding on our tail which promoted this tweet:
The Red Camero
Speeding, swerving on my tail
waiting accident
Actually, Kim was driving and the Camero was blue, but it gets across the idea.
It got me thinking more about other aspects of writing and so I spent some time watching YouTube videos about Lacan, Derrida, Zizek and others. More on that later, when I have more time.
