Overheard at the Counter: Some thoughts on some recent Poems of the Day

Maria de la Luz Knows How to Walk by Juan Felipe Herrera
touched me, because the stories of the migrant worker and the undocumented immigrant have a special place in my heart, as this is the current example of human suffering, resilience, endurance, and dignity.   The unpunctuated stream of words and images, from a variety of different places, shows how Maria de la Luz is one women, but also is all women, in the life of the migrant worker, and in her story are all the stories of travel, pain, loss, and hope.

First Light by Chen Chen
was a kick in the eye, i.e. a Satori.  As the poet himself stated, it is the immigration tale of a person who does not remember being an immigrant, and whose immigrant story is told to him, and thus, becomes something wholly imagined - almost a creation myth, that has little bearing to the fact, with mundane facts replaced by heroic fantasy.

Self-Portrait as Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
Frankly, I cannot tell if I like this poem or not.  The staccato rhythm I understand is important to the jarring "mood" that the poem is trying to create, the city, the camps, the conflict between the shared culture of America and Vietnam, how a singular human being came out of this war and, as such, contains both warring factions within the self: that I understand. 

However, on the other hand, the poem seems a little too "busy" (for lack of a better word), as though the images were rather thoughtlessly placed.  Simply put, it reads as though someone dumped a desk drawer and made a list of all the trinkets that had filled it over the years.   If this was the poet's intent, well, good for him.  But it does prevent the reader from truly getting into the "flow" of the couplets.

Overread at Table 3: Poem of the Day: Crossing the Stream

One night full of bifurcated dreams:
the flowing streams the water over pebbles of so many colours,
like a mad painter's palate, the slate greys and bone whites and ocean hue blues,
these stones that you walk across
with your bare feet, your pigeon toes
grasping and unclasping,
the water up to your ankles now and the
summer sunlight trickling through the leaves
of the limbs of the trees on the bank of the other side
of the stream, hands out to
each side, airplane-balance in
grounded flight, tilting only slightly as you
balance and bounce to the rhythm of the
laughter of the water over these stones,
and minnows tickle your toes
and then you reach the grass, a mop of
tasseled hair atop the mudslope, where the roots
of these trees become your rope ladder
to pull yourself out of the stream
and into the vast new world
that awaits your exploration.




















MR
2017-0525


 

Overheard at Table 1: Trump, smart or .... nahhh

Man: He’s got his hotel…

Woman: Oh yeah, he was smart to do that then.

He was smart then I don’t know about now. Ever since he won the election, he’s just, well…

It’s the most interesting Presidency I can tell you that.

It’s always something happening.

...

                                                                                                                                                                       

Woman: I’m gonna fly first class one day.  It’s on my bucket list.

 

Man: I went to Vietnam in 65, they put me in Pan Am first class.

These days it’s just a Chinese tincan.

 

Woman: You watch the news they draggin people off the airplane and fights in the lobbies oh Lord!

 

...

Woman: If he makes it four years I’ll be surprised.

 

Man: Well the Middle East was messed up since WW1 when they divided it up.  Cut across trahbal lahns.

 

Woman: I can’t even wake up watching the news, he’s just tripping all over himself.

Overheard at Table 4: Father's Day

Lucky Moran: I hate Father's Day


Otis Redwing: Why?  All you get are ties?


Lucky: No.  Nobody's bought a tie since 2005.  At least not for anything but job interviews or funerals.


Otis Redwing:  Which you have said before are much like the same thing.


Lucky:  Yeah, every time I go on a job interview I'm mourning the loss of the hope of all advancement.  But the reason I hate Father's day, really is because of all the deadbeat dads out there.


Otis:  How so?


Lucky: Because they make everything so freaking aMA-zing.  For Father's Day my kids are like, "gee dad thanks for sticking around all these years"  I mean, my 17 year old last night said, "Thanks dad for never beating us" and I said, "Most dad's don't beat their children, son" and he said, "You'd be surprised"


Otis: Actually, he's right.


Lucky: See?  So that's why I hate Father's Day.  I get lauded for just doing the basics, the bare minimum, and guys who are totally crap dads probably get some sort of recognition for being a little bit less of an asshole than they normally are.  It's sucks.   It's like why have it anyway.


Otis: Damn, man you're depressing.


Lucky:  So what are your kids getting you for Father's Day.


Otis: They're going in on a new Sea-Doo.   It's my present for always telling them the Wi-Fi password.

Overheard at Booth 3: The Father of Saudis

Saw on Twitter this weekend a discussion about a picture of the Saudi King, who had some guy changing his slippers to shoes right before Donald Trump came in.   Really interesting, how one person tweeted that the old guy should be able to change his own shoes, and then there was this long string of replies about how Saudi culture respects the elderly, how the king is considered Father of the Saudis, how it is an honour to serve the king, how you have to understand Saudi culture to understand the depth of their gratitude and their love.


Man, I wanted to jump in but I just couldn't.   There was a cultural divide that I couldn't bridge.  I wanted to say that the difference is that here in America we do not bow to a King, we only bow to the the One True God.


But then, I realized that's just a fantasy that I believed when I was growing up.  A fairy story that they taught us to keep us in line and to get us all choked up on the Fourth of July.   Now, we just worship money and power.


Sort of like the Saudis.  But at least they still have the comfort of their fantasy.  And that must be nice, on some level.

Overheard at Table 2: This Schniz

4 young ladies sitting at the table, one points to her phone screen:


1: Check out this schniz


2: That IS the schniz


3: Total schniz.


4: Right .... wait.  OK, what exactly is schniz, anyways?


2: It's ... well, it's ...schniz


3:  Yeah, right.  Schniz is schniz.


1: [points to her phone screen] THAT ... is the schniz.


4: [shrugs] OK.  If you say so.

Overheard at Table 3: M and E Discuss Mutant Jeans

M: It's Friday why don't you wear jeans?


E: I don't have any jeans.


M: Yes you do.  Everybody has jeans.


E: I got a little too fat, so I outgrew all my jeans/


M: You know they make jeans in all body types.  Plus you DO have genes, in every cell of your body.


E: I want mutant genes.


M: Like Jean Grey.


E: She had very nice mutant genes.  But you know, I never thought they casted her right in any of the movies.


M: I thought Famke Jannsen was a good cast.


E: But Logan, wow, that was good casting.


M: Yeah, he was made for that role, but man after playing Wolverine for 20 years don't you think he got tired?


E: I think he made his last.


M: I couldn't stand how all the movies start to run together.  One is called "Wolverine" and another is called "THE Wolverine," after awhile you can't tell them apart.


E: I was telling my son, when I was his age and reading the comics I never thought they could come to the big screen, but I guess technology finally caught up to the fantasy.


M: Yeah, and now we can't tell which is which!