Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Template-based living

 ***

Blanks

The habit of filling-in ______
leaves ______.

The ease of lifting ready-made

              para _____________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
__________________ graphs,

replacing details, double-checked
based on paper-based identity;

filling in [][][][][] [][][][][][]
(dd/mm/yyyy) sincerely, sworn
true with original signature.

It's when someone asks you
to tell it in your own words,

                            your story,
all of it,
not just filling in the ______,

that the weight of hesitation,
and doubt pauses your pen.


***


Posted to Open Link Night Week 62 at dVerse Poets Pub.

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20 comments:

Unknown said...

This post was: funny ____; cool _____; interesting _____; genius _X_!

festival king said...

I like this one :)..Ripe with humor.

Good show!

Brian Miller said...

ha...i would much rather tell the story...but i know the truth in this esp now that i am teaching...oy...so true...very cool structure to this...creative...i like...

Daydreamertoo said...

Very _______ ___-------- Clever!

Ravenblack said...

Anna, Festivalking, Brian, Daydreamer: Love and appreciated your comments. Thanks! :D

Serena said...

I love poems like this, different, unique and you pull it off magnificently... and the message is so powerful... how difficult it can be to be open and honest about yourself... because it is difficult.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Very clever. The visuals work well too. k.

ayala said...

So clever :)

Laurie Kolp said...

This is great! Love it!!

Nilanjana Bose said...

Very uniquely creative and clever...loved the way you tell your story..

PoppySilver said...

Brilliant work! I love this...clever and poignant! :)

Unknown said...

Very cool projective, concrete write Raven. Love the fill in the blank aspect, very creative. Really nicely done. Thanks

Ravenblack said...

Serena, Karin, Ayala, Laurie, Nilanjana, PoppySilver and Fred: thanks! Glad you all like. :)

Scarlet said...

I like the pauses and weight of hesitation ~

This was very well done ~

Claudia said...

very cool..very clever...love the whole idea..and yeah...so true as well

Bodhirose said...

How very cool...what a great idea you came up with..and so true, we often hesitate when we have to tell something "real" about ourselves..

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

Yes-- this is interesting and for me something of a parody of the so-called language poets who are not really about language at all but being abstract, obtuse, and otherwise making a mess out of our art. xxxj

Ravenblack said...

Heaven, Claudia, Gayle and Jen: thanks for your comments and for reading.

Jen: very interesting take on this. I always hope I'm not being too abstract. Nor have I cause too much of an "ugh" reaction with this sort of play. ;)

Anyway this one came from how I'm being asked to write a report and how I noticed I was trying to look for a template make things simpler for myself. I wonder how much I've been cruising on auto to such an extent I'm finding it hard to tell it "in my own worlds".

Anonymous said...

your poem is awesomely creative
and so very true.

great!

Ravenblack said...

Thank you very much Paige+Shauna. :)