Whoa! Greg, this is classic! It’s that DC Al Coda thing. Plus, the places and names... ellipsis. I’m from the Brooklyn to LI, to the city, to Stone Ridge. I’m a little older than you, but still stuck in the Ostinato (Osinado) phase. It’s rhythmic. I love your take on this particular personal feeling. Now I’ll reread it... again. 🔁
Great piece Greg, a thoroughly enjoyable read with plenty of laugh out louds! Have you joined @threadsapp yet? With the demise of Twitter, I have found it quite enjoyable with many of the old gang there minus the neo-nazis.
Man you are so right about old Republican bachelors. There’s a few here in Rhody with horrible signs about Biden; I chalk it up to guns and racism…,never a good combination with their Deadly Sperm Buildup (DSB)!
This essay entered my life at just the right time. Thank you, Greg, for this beautiful, poignant perspective. That last line knocked me out. I’ll be cremated one day (no doubt - and hopefully - before 100), but if I were to have a headstone I’d put “Wonders never cease, and wonder never dies.” on it along with your name. Just great!
Really enjoyed this. So many times in life (like every day now) I remind myself that this is not the LAST thing, but only the next thing. Thanks again for your wonderful words, Greg!
Lovely! People worry. That's Human Nature. But worrying is futile. We survived the big Orange blob. He and his cronies did not take us down. We are a little worse for wear but we need to use that experience as a framework for what we want our society to become and focus our attention on that. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment but we need to think long term. I'm so glad to hear that you and your family got out of that house. And now look at you! Success.
Thank you, talented writer, poet and deep thinker Greg, for sharing your perspectives on human life and timescales, including during parts of your own life.
I, too, honor the fact that most people are doing all they can to survive these times and will also do so in future times as long as possible. I am also grateful that many of us are continuing to rise above the injustice (and insanity of some) during these times by trying to live life in the most worthwhile and responsible ways for ourselves, humanity and a livable planet. I think the most honest of us also accept that immortality is likely impossible right now or in the future in any conscious and beneficial way (unless more intelligent life has somewhere and somehow found a way to do so and will share it with us at some point).
Therefore, despite many of us desiring much more longevity for ourselves (at least at times) and nearly always for our own species, for far less destructive fellow species, and for own spectacular home planet Earth which also has a star life cycle, I will share some easily remembered and well-known lines of poetry that together reflect my point-of-view that, I believe, is similar to yours. And that is: It is best that we face and accept the fact of our own near personal mortality and eventual collective mortality, but with the maturity, too, to realize that while it is understandable to each try to survive as long and as best we can, we must each also use whatever means at our disposal to confront and attempt to surmount the injustices that so many of us and our fellow earthlings do not deserve to be suffering from while we are also alive with any level of self-initiative. Therefore:
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light” for ourselves and others including “Tyger, tyger burning bright in the forests of the night” and for other wildlife and life forms (such as plants) as we remember and heed that, “Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.” In other words, let’s “Live, and let live,” vs. “Live, and let die,” but even better yet and more humane is to: “Live and help live.”
(I also wrote my own poem, “Spark: A Poem for Humanists and Idealists” on the gift of life and our individual and collective responsibilities. I have so far only posted it on Amazon with a couple other items of my various writings which I have not made enough time to promote and/or edit further to get them published.)
Thanks, Janette, for the kind words, and for subscribing. It's always these shallow, money hungry jerks like Musk who seek out immortality. Vampires. The wise ones know that it all has a shelf life...and that that is ok.
You're so welcome, and thank you, too! Agreed as well on the selfishness of those who won't live their main lives well for others, too, and won't appreciate the time on Earth they get in the first place. Quality over quantity matters for most things!
...If something is ending—this is what eluded me 17 years ago—something is also beginning. The next thing might be worse, sure. Certainly it looks that way now. But this is what I learned from looking back on these old poems: the next thing might also be better.
Only in looking back do we find perspective. I am hopeful that the many bright and talented people of our time will look back and know that they made something better.
Another Sunday read that gives us a lot to think about. Thank you very much. To fear or rail against change is totally senseless. Buddhism teaches us to be here now. Accept that which is given and understand it is temporary--everything is temporary. "Wonders never cease, and wonder never dies." Just so.
❤️
Phoenixes fall with a plop
Properly, I had never considered that even though I thoroughly understand gravity. But I did laugh out loud.
That's easily the worst line. Forced rhyme. Ugh.
Well, we played it for laughs, and it worked fine.
You gotta respect your audience, as imperfect as we are.
Wonderful. Love this line: Phoenixes fall with a plop.
I laughed out loud reading how old you thought you were at 33. Oh, to be 33.
...and yet it's the one people have pointed out. Ha!
Sharon, I owe you stickers.
It rescues the poem from pretense. What pretentious poet would use the word plop? Especially to rhyme with stop.
Whoa! Greg, this is classic! It’s that DC Al Coda thing. Plus, the places and names... ellipsis. I’m from the Brooklyn to LI, to the city, to Stone Ridge. I’m a little older than you, but still stuck in the Ostinato (Osinado) phase. It’s rhythmic. I love your take on this particular personal feeling. Now I’ll reread it... again. 🔁
Thanks, Steven!
Great piece Greg, a thoroughly enjoyable read with plenty of laugh out louds! Have you joined @threadsapp yet? With the demise of Twitter, I have found it quite enjoyable with many of the old gang there minus the neo-nazis.
Thanks, Helen! I don't really have an Insta, so I'm steering clear of Zuck's domain. I'm glad to hear you like it.
Man you are so right about old Republican bachelors. There’s a few here in Rhody with horrible signs about Biden; I chalk it up to guns and racism…,never a good combination with their Deadly Sperm Buildup (DSB)!
DSM. Now that's a serious affliction and explains a lot.
I now suspect hell is filled with incels.
(It's rhymes but it is far from poetic.)
To paraphrase Sartre, hell is other incels.
FJB is an indication of DSB.
Sue Q, at 83 is DSB dangerous?
No it’s just sawdust at 83
Hmm. I thought it was Elmers glue.
Good one Greg! Way to go, daddy oh.
Not to rhyme ain’t no crime
But not to reason, his mind, mindly treason.
Billserle.com
Thanks, Bill!
This essay entered my life at just the right time. Thank you, Greg, for this beautiful, poignant perspective. That last line knocked me out. I’ll be cremated one day (no doubt - and hopefully - before 100), but if I were to have a headstone I’d put “Wonders never cease, and wonder never dies.” on it along with your name. Just great!
How, Jeffrey, thanks so much! That is high praise indeed.
Really enjoyed this. So many times in life (like every day now) I remind myself that this is not the LAST thing, but only the next thing. Thanks again for your wonderful words, Greg!
Well put .but so many challenges..life after Covid hardly improved in the USA.😔
Thanks, McLain. It's not the last thing, but if it IS the last thing, well, that's fine too! : )
Lovely! People worry. That's Human Nature. But worrying is futile. We survived the big Orange blob. He and his cronies did not take us down. We are a little worse for wear but we need to use that experience as a framework for what we want our society to become and focus our attention on that. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment but we need to think long term. I'm so glad to hear that you and your family got out of that house. And now look at you! Success.
Extremely well articulated 👍💙🇺🇸☮️
Thanks, Gail. That is good advice, I think. Their strategy is to get us worked up about little bullshit, keep us from focusing on what we need to.
Thank you, talented writer, poet and deep thinker Greg, for sharing your perspectives on human life and timescales, including during parts of your own life.
I, too, honor the fact that most people are doing all they can to survive these times and will also do so in future times as long as possible. I am also grateful that many of us are continuing to rise above the injustice (and insanity of some) during these times by trying to live life in the most worthwhile and responsible ways for ourselves, humanity and a livable planet. I think the most honest of us also accept that immortality is likely impossible right now or in the future in any conscious and beneficial way (unless more intelligent life has somewhere and somehow found a way to do so and will share it with us at some point).
Therefore, despite many of us desiring much more longevity for ourselves (at least at times) and nearly always for our own species, for far less destructive fellow species, and for own spectacular home planet Earth which also has a star life cycle, I will share some easily remembered and well-known lines of poetry that together reflect my point-of-view that, I believe, is similar to yours. And that is: It is best that we face and accept the fact of our own near personal mortality and eventual collective mortality, but with the maturity, too, to realize that while it is understandable to each try to survive as long and as best we can, we must each also use whatever means at our disposal to confront and attempt to surmount the injustices that so many of us and our fellow earthlings do not deserve to be suffering from while we are also alive with any level of self-initiative. Therefore:
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light” for ourselves and others including “Tyger, tyger burning bright in the forests of the night” and for other wildlife and life forms (such as plants) as we remember and heed that, “Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.” In other words, let’s “Live, and let live,” vs. “Live, and let die,” but even better yet and more humane is to: “Live and help live.”
(I also wrote my own poem, “Spark: A Poem for Humanists and Idealists” on the gift of life and our individual and collective responsibilities. I have so far only posted it on Amazon with a couple other items of my various writings which I have not made enough time to promote and/or edit further to get them published.)
Thanks, Janette, for the kind words, and for subscribing. It's always these shallow, money hungry jerks like Musk who seek out immortality. Vampires. The wise ones know that it all has a shelf life...and that that is ok.
I'm putting the link to your book below:
https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Humanists-Janette-Noelle-Dean-ebook/dp/B006SD3KVY
You're so welcome, and thank you, too! Agreed as well on the selfishness of those who won't live their main lives well for others, too, and won't appreciate the time on Earth they get in the first place. Quality over quantity matters for most things!
Breathe as deeply as you care, Greg Olear, and you'll be fine.
Thanks, Lynell. My breathing is often very shallow, alas...
...If something is ending—this is what eluded me 17 years ago—something is also beginning. The next thing might be worse, sure. Certainly it looks that way now. But this is what I learned from looking back on these old poems: the next thing might also be better.
Only in looking back do we find perspective. I am hopeful that the many bright and talented people of our time will look back and know that they made something better.
Amen, Karen!
' ' article
Another Sunday read that gives us a lot to think about. Thank you very much. To fear or rail against change is totally senseless. Buddhism teaches us to be here now. Accept that which is given and understand it is temporary--everything is temporary. "Wonders never cease, and wonder never dies." Just so.
Thanks, Lexine!
I like that!
Nowhere to run, unless we curb human overpopulation and human made climate change.
Walk the talk, go sustainable living as there’s No Planet B! 🌎
Absolutely. Although I wouldn't mind Elon and his friends taking off for Mars...
Space cadets like Musk belong in space as Elon Musk’s reported ketamine use could risk his security clearance.
“Short-Term Adverse Effects of Ketamine · Disorientation, confusion, or loss of motor coordination.”
@Twitter blue tick accounts fuel Ukraine misinformation. #DeleteTwitter