Saragun Verse: Ode to the Bought and Sold

Such a pettifog, he

Scheming and placating,

Somehow forgetting the gods

Who foreclose on borrowed truth

Such an obsequity, she

Parroting upstairs melodies

Forgetting there are no loopholes

For heads tucked in the noose

It begins as sweet stuff

Everyone on the line

Everyone plenty good enough

Graham crackers and story time

Dreams on wind dried sheets

Stories with morals to be learned

Yet the cash machine must collect

Between the crib and the urn

Such a cynic, me

Listing and berating

Laughter without smiles

And when my phone rings

It kills without style

9 thoughts on “Saragun Verse: Ode to the Bought and Sold”

  1. chrisja70778e85b8abd's avatar chrisja70778e85b8abd says:

    He Leila

    Certain words like pettifog and obsequity, make this a higher art. I’ve noticed Emily Dickinson wrote with unusual words in these winning combinations. I love this kind of writing!

    After reading this again letting these two particular words set the stage. it’s almost chilling. I felt the dawning of the poem sink into me.

    This is an example of writing changing a perception or saying what the perception is. Clearly defining a thought or a whole philosophy that may just be lingering in the mind.

    These complaints to the Gods. Who have their own plans for us.

    “Graham crackers and story time” Who wouldn’t want to be there. Everything was okay back then–even wonderful. But…

    “Between the crib and the urn” Show me the money and what people will do for it.

    I’ve had a few of those phone calls. The reaper has a cold blade.

    Great

    CJA

    PS: I want to watch “The Dead Poets Society,” again.

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    • Hello CJA

      Thank you for your fine comments.
      I do love words like pettifog, obsequious, toady and others for their sounds, and use em everytime I get the chance. I find them especially good for verse.

      Always more coffee!
      Leila

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    • DWB's avatar DWB says:

      CJA

      Brilliant analysis of L.A.’s poem, and fun to read, too!

      Before I forget I want to mention a book in case you’ve never heard of it.

      It’s called REMEMBERING RAY, published by Capra Press (somewhere in California) in the 1990s.

      This book is loaded with material on and about Carver, the three P’s, prose, poetry, and photographs.

      It has work in it by almost 40 different people who knew him. Some who knew him well, some who didn’t know him all that well but had encounters with him.

      Some of the writing is really good, and some of it is even not that good. But it’s all about Ray. The photographs are really cool too. Probably available on the internet for five bucks. I have personally never used the thing named for the giant river in South America so I’m not sure about that. I wish the river was more famous than the other thing.

      DWB

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  5. DWB's avatar DWB says:

    Leila

    I admit that I had to look up the word pettifog again but in my defense I claim that I did once know what it means (I think)! One of those words one has heard that one also doesn’t know what it means without research (for some of us). And you have a poet’s vocabulary even in your prose. Poets should use everything if they can, from the simplest (“to be or not to be”) to the weirdest, wildest, and/or most arcane language. In Bukowski’s best work, he can nail the reader to the page with the simple use of a word the reader hasn’t seen forever or never knew.

    This poem captures something, a mood about the world that the reader may perhaps feel before they understand exactly what it is on a rational level. The same way Emily and Walt wrote their best lines, where what comes after actually came before even though it comes after.

    Emerson said that the job of poets is to hand us back our rejected thoughts, now made clear. Wallace Stevens called it “the hum of thoughts evaded in the mind.” Wallace pushed it so far that much of his work reads like gibberish even. He was trying to capture the hum of thoughts evaded in the mind.

    This poem really captures that kind of fluid essence! Great rhythm/s too…

    Dale

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  6. DWB's avatar DWB says:

    …..I also want to throw the fact out there that the English Language has almost 200,000 words in current usage according to the OED….

    And almost 2 billion people speak it…..

    When it comes to size, the English Language dominates in a way that’s almost unimaginable….

    (Many linguists speculate that the actual totals on both those numbers are much higher….)

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