Holding Station

A Villanelle Written in Fishing Terms

Drifting lonely on the quiet seas,

I hope for your return to this loch,

but life is only catch-and-release.

Others, too, paddle to these

sighing waters. They cast their lot,

Drifting lonely on the quiet seas.

Some, mourning the long-deceased,

seek to bend the cosmic clocks,

but life is only catch-and-release.

I remember your white arm; we swam each

to our own green, mossy rock,

drifting lonely on the quiet seas.

And then, with sudden and with wordless ease,

you left me by my cheerless dock.

Life is only catch-and-release.

Still I circle without cease

these desolate, grey-naked rocks,

drifting lonely on the quiet seas,

but life is only catch-and-release.

What are you saying!

The words we use are important, and they mean something more than whatever it is you’re expressing. I care about how people are affected by my actions, which include the words I use every day, the words we all use every day with out thought, without being conscious of what the words we use are saying. See, I care about words; how they are used, what they really mean, where they come from. What are you really saying when you say ‘that’s retarded’ or ‘that’s so gay’? Let’s start with the latter; beyond potentially hurting whoever you have directed the comment at, you are implying there is something wrong with being gay, that it’s not something one should want to be, or seem to be, and you shouldn’t like anything that seems gay. The response to this might be ‘But that’s not what I meant!’ but that is what your words meant, that is the message you are sending when you use the word gay in a negative derogatory fashion. When you put someone else down by calling them a fag or a dyke, saying they are gay, or making a gay joke.The words you use, they reflect who you are, and how you think, they are what you are putting out in the world. The next time you want to voice your disapproval for something a friend does, consider the words you choose to express your disapproval, and consider not insulting and demeaning anyone who happens to have a preference for the same sex.

(I'd appreciate comments on this, I'd eventually like to submit it to some publication as an opinion piece, or someting like that...eventually. Thanks!)

Travels of a Curmudgeonly Old Fuck

[I just pulled an all-nighter for a take-home exam, and then I had to write a sonnet for poetry class. I said "Fuck it it's 6:30 am and I'm too tired for this shit." This is the result.]


Of course I get the only fucking screen
that’s broken. God dammit! Fine. I did not
want to see your cheap Hollywood brain rot
anyway. Except now I’m stuck between

A walrus and a public nose-picker.
Yep, just keep digging. It’s not like I’m not—
Oh GOD he ate it! Gross. Just when I thought
it couldn’t get worse. Hey you, seat kicker!

Yeah you. Yeah, your son. Watch your child for Christ’s
sake! You shouldn’t have been allowed to breed.
There should be a law for that. God, I need
a stiff drink. Where’s the lady? I’ve buzzed twice!

I can’t wait to get to get off this thing and grab
a REAL lunch. Then it’s work. Augh! I hate cabs!