Sunday, July 8, 2012

Monsters In Your Pocket

 ***

Gotta Catch 'Em All

            too much to do
            and too little time
            for the... who
            and the... what

easy to forget when we are constantly high on
millisecond moment/to/moment minute-rushes

              "gotta to catch them all"
               the young ones say

as they collect monsters
caught off the beaten path
keep them in plastic habitats
until the time comes
to fight other monsters

different monsters
different skills, pick well
while you ponder the worth
of old favorites over new
and untried potentials

                guess you can't have everything

integration comes after much practice
memory evolves to resemble
an excel worksheet --

columns of stats:

personalities and tendencies
trickled down, a pooling
of combinations basically

               scissors. paper. stone.

every new face met on the road,
an opportunity to duel
with monsters you can't refuse

it's all about elemental effectiveness,
counters divided into various degrees
-- variety makes it interesting

             if you faint, you lose.


***

You have to play it to understand why kids are so crazy about that pocket monster collecting culture known as Pokemon. Then again, you've probably already played this game.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Pika! Pika! I have not played but my cousin's son does all the time. I read somewhere that there's a developmental phase that this collecting/dueling/categorizing fits like a glove, hence its popularity. Great poem!

Ravenblack said...

Anna:

That's interesting. I suppose I've not grown out of the phase of collecting! :D Perhaps it's not something one grows out of. It's the limited living space that keeps me from going all out. I would love to collect physical collectibles -- cards, miniatures, etc...

Unknown said...

Oh, this is great Raven. It's kind of eerie actually, One of the things I wanted to do tonight was find a newborn Pikachu onesy or something or other. I give nicknames out to my godchildren and nieces etc… For example, my niece and goddaughter, Lucy, is the Goblin and my sister just had a new baby, Scarlett five weeks ago, and I nicknamed her my little pikachu. So I have to admit, it was really neat to see this post. Really good write. Thanks

Ravenblack said...

That's cute, Fred. :)

And it's happened to me, where a poem I come across happens to be the thing that is on my mind. Thanks for your comment and share.

Grace said...

Looks like a lot of fun but my daughter was never into this though, not even dolls ~ She prefers the active sports ~

Happy Sunday to you ~

Ravenblack said...

That's infinitely better, Grace. :) Thanks and a great sunday to you as well!

Victoria said...

A piece of culture I'm totally unfamiliar with...no kids! But great poem. Thanks for stopping by the book launch.

Ravenblack said...

Victoria: Looking forward to reading -- I got your book from itunes store before I left for work. :)

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

I really liked the pace and spookiness of this one. Nice job!

Ravenblack said...

Thanks Madeleine! :)

Brian Miller said...

ha. nice...my youngest caught the pokemon fever from school...it lasted only about a year though....i knew what this one was from the title....fun piece...

Anonymous said...

I haven't played - but this instinct to collect! And play! Very well played here. k.

Ravenblack said...

Thanks Brian and Karin.

dsnake1 said...

heh, from the title, i know what you are going to write about. interesting piece of writing here. i think the universal appeal is that most of the pokemon species are very cute. maybe "monster" is not the correct word? :)

Ravenblack said...

In Japan, monsters and demons in games and cartoon can come across as cute. They make light of it. Or something has been lost in translation. :)

Not all the pokemon are cute in the way it's usually seen in the cartoons or posters. Some of them can "evolve" into more intimidating looking battlers. Never scary but a 'monster' would fit be fit to call it.

Pat Hatt said...

Ha! Yeah I played every single one, but I admit the new ones just aren't as fun.

Ravenblack said...

I agree. I'm not a fan of some of the new ones either.