%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |   All that remains: in afterlife as 'mainstream' blogger, with what little I know. 20k views |
|
Obshchak Some torn to the ground Some burn to the ground Others removed brick by brick Redesign for the times When the lease comes up Or just fold up When you have a bad day and need a reason... Formerly: New Zenith To Hell…(all started with arc as writer here from the trials of Rising Stars to Preferred Author to WDC Quills Best Poetry Collection... "Whoever fights monsters should see to it…he does not become a monster.” - Some guy, I guess. Look it up? I’ve been to the abyss and back. Not so bad. The loneliest happy person you'd ever meet, when not the saddest person who needs to be alone. In an ever-changing world, we need to handle topics at the ready. If you roll over and give in to the narrative without lending a voice, might as well hand over your civil liberties. Voices could connect to true conscience and spirit for honest and open discourse. Why feel so redacted? Unify on issues or don't but put drama aside. Open minds require complete objectivity. Or, agree to disagree and have a beer. Just writing what I feel without the narrative-altering mind f---ing with my head. [MY Chorus] In your house, I long to be Room by room, patiently I'll wait for you there, like a stone I'll wait for you there, alone - Chris Cornell, RIP Some other stuff ▼ My recent poetry:
Sometimes epiphanies about my insights on writing and life and what goes on... Blah, blah, blah ▼ ![Merit Badge in Rare
[Click For More Info]
I like your work!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Rare.gif) Thank you WakeUpAndLive️~Happiness  for honoring me with your kind words!Read here some old blog entries...  2018 Highlights ▼ More... 2018: The Quiet Ones ▼  ~ Brian K Compton ~  |
| "Do you always have to tell him Everything on your mind? You know that too much Honesty can be so unkind. Everytime you throw him to the floor, Why are you surprised to see He's breakable? You always try to find What's holding him away from you. But do you ever see your anger Standing there right between you? And everytime you throw him to the wall, Why are you surprised to see He's breakable? Tell the world that he's breaking your heart. Go tell the world, Nothing's ever your fault. Go tell them all... And every time you throw him to the floor, Why are you surprised to see He's breakable? And every time you push him to the wall, Why are you surprised to see He's breakable? Breakable... breakable..." |
| The protagonist is the underdog and his humanizing soliloquy is overheard by her (the one) who perfectly reflects her restrained response in eyes and reflex to let the audience know that there is hope for true love, ironically scripted as serendipity. Unfortunately, we struggle through the seasons to get to love’s compromise, when the flailing story briefly hits the mark with a Cupid arrow...and the false story close when a true story would begin. Clutch your heart and hope not to die alone, more romantic fare to come from writers and actors who play semi-surreal real life sagas of their own, witnessed at newsstands and checkouts. 3.20.21 |
| Since the new meds... Poke, Poke, Poke... Nothing turns on. I just lie here in bed. I put on my music playlists, streaming Spotify through Roku on the Tv in the room, and a few words gush out, sometimes forming what I can construct into poetic formats. Can't say that it's a satisfying process. I don't look back at what I produce, unless it's to break lines, group words and select what seem like functional punctuation. I'm well. I wonder about interaction, reviewing, thinking I might try. No plans going forward, I close out the screen and stream old shows to binge, reliving Monk, Castle, Big Bang Theory, or keeping up with new shows like B Positive, The Unicorn and Zoey's...Playlist to name a few. I took a turn at the wall of social media platforms and kept on walking down to this flowing river to witness a oft-brilliant sun rising and setting without counting the departures, or subtracting minutes, hours and days from what's left of an already long and seemingly unfulfilled life that once held promise. I'm not substituting delusion for anything real at the moment, either. A deck of cards, ten games of solitaire in a row and plans to play cribbage on spring break soon striving. Like Papa Hemingway, much hard liquor to consume in Florida about to come. The sun also sets. 3.15.21 |
| Why would such an expression ever exist..."go over like a lead balloon." Are we accustomed to experimenting with failure? When we think our analogous thoughts are we so focused on defeat? What's the origin of the phrase 'Go down like a lead balloon'? Go down like a lead balloon 'Go over like a lead balloon' is the US version of this phrase. In the UK a complete failures 'go down like a lead balloon'. The phrase is American in origin and the first mention of a lead balloon with the meaning of something that fails comes from a Mom-N Pop cartoon that was syndicated in several US newspapers in June 1924. Actually, that coinage went over like a lead balloon itself and the phrase didn't appear again until after WWII; for example, this piece from The Atchison Daily Globe, May 1947: "But occasionally a column or comic strip will 'go over' like a V-1 rocket in one community and, for inexplicable reasons, a lead balloon in another." That's when the phrase can be said to have entered the language and there are many examples in print from US sources of ventures which went down like a lead balloon from that date onward. The most celebrated use of the term is the part played in the naming of the English heavy-metal band Led Zeppelin. The story goes that Jimmy Page had completed a Scandinavian tour with the New Yardbirds - an impromptu band that was formed from the popular rapidly disintegrating Yardbirds. Keith Moon is reputed to have said the new band would go down like a lead balloon - some reports say go over like a lead balloon (or zeppelin). Moon is said to have borrowed the term from John Entwistle, who had previously used it to describe bad gigs. Moon and Entwistle, both being English, would have been more likely to have used the English 'go down' version. The details of this are difficult to verify as the anecdotal comment wasn't recorded or put into print at the time and, as Moon and Entwistle are deceased, we can't ask them. Jimmy Page has confirmed the essence of the story in several subsequent interviews (although, as we all know, 'If you can remember the 1960s, you weren't really there.'). Led ZeppelinThe irony and the association with the heavy metal lead was too good to miss for an aspiring heavy metal band. They even made sure that people got the point that they were referring to the metal by changing the spelling to Led and avoiding any possible mispronunciation as lead - as in leader (reputedly at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant). The choice of Zeppelin in the band's name was surely influenced by the Hindenberg disaster of 1937. The newsreel of the event, complete with Herbert Morrison's famous "Oh, the humanity" line, was commonly seen footage in English cinemas during the 1950s and 60s and Page would certainly have been familiar with it. The band used an image of the crash for the cover of their first album. Moon's prediction could hardly have been more wrong. Led Zeppelin became one of the most popular, arguably the most popular, musical act of the first half of the 1970s and reputedly have sold more than 300 million albums. 'If you can remember the 1960s, you weren't really there.') 3.10.21 https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/lead-balloon.html |
| took some trying but think i found the perfect song for my funeral... |
| December 22 2020 Got addicted to the quitting bug and become a minimalist of sorts. needed to atrophy. currently, new medication nips any compulsions to write. Best I can explain it metaphorically: instead of being thrown down a well, its like falling into a puddle that I can't get up from. Being on the surface doesn't cause fear or anxiety, just a general idleness until I have the desire to stand up. In actuality: moving from recliner to kitchen or bed, only to return to recliner for hours on end to staring at the tv. I could go into newsfeed with comments like this, draw attention to myself. What would the point be? If I cannot reciprocate? |
| Here's another type of reviewing style I notice. Instead of taking the time to read and react to something an author shares, a person starts out with one line about the item and then goes on about personal experiences, memories or nostalgia indirectly related. And then, the reviewer comes back around to wrap up with some sort of good job or compliment and tada! You got enough characters for a legit, long enough review. I could write a myriad of responses about my own experiences until the cows come home (they don't come home here - no barn). How can anyone feel they are doing writers a service by trying to meet some review quota by type-garbling a bunch of disjointed memories that do not serve the author in a review? I couldn't conceive of doing this. I know I will ramble within a review at times, but pull it together after a few lines. I know reviewing is hard, intimidating for some. Sometimes, we're afraid to say the wrong thing (because these are people's word babies), but it's easier to idly go on about something we know as feedback? You just have to read and notice how it makes you feel, if you can connect to your gut feelings. Start typing those word bubbles for thoughts in the dialogue box. Look again at the item you've read, scan through, focus on a few favorite parts. You'll find more thoughts bubble up. And, the more you pay attention and review, the more phrases you can turn in those reviews. Have you read any good reviewers lately? There are writers with good comments that are universal knowledge that you can tap into for whatever you like to review. Just think of it from the other end. How are these writers going to see that review (how are they supposed to react? with your recollections of your summer abroad or the 1984 trip to Grandma's house in Kentucky? I think this is a fair criticism. I'm not trying to put anyone down. It's common decency to writers who take pride in their effort. |
| I have to save this review for posterity. I felt pretty good about the effort, though I'm sure this review will be largely ignored. It's quite possible, it will no exist in the future. So, copy and past here: Review of "Betrayal"  "I read "Betrayal" through twice and I could see potential with what you offer here. If I can make a few suggestions that I think would help you with this poignant, short statement of a free verse-style poem. There isn't need for punctuation like the ellipses, which is the dot, dot, dot at the end of a line. This is not intended to be used as a pause or break, but the omission of something. I think you intended to pause, which happens naturally when we get to the end of that short line, have a break, as eyes move down to the next line, and pick up where it's left off. I don't know that a dramatic pause would be needed, either. I think it's natural to have no punctuation there at all. The semi-colon in line two also was unnecessary. In a sentence that again breaks, you start the third line with a preposition which also does not require punctuation before, usually. You are good to roll through from line one to line three without any stops, as line breaks in poems can serve as natural pauses. Now, because I suggested no punctuation was necessary before that last line, you can get away with no punctuation altogether until the four lines stop at a period. I wasn't always the best with punctuation but have learned a lot since being here. One way to look at the third line is to either put commas before and after it, or none at all. That's what's great. The poet is the master of their own sentence here. I mean, that's what it is. You wrote a sentence and broken into four lines. Each line is separate, because each part needs to be reflected upon -- with how each fragment lends to the statement that is poem. As to the poem itself, I see a portrayal of a moment. It's quite possibly in aftermath that the narrator is delivering that final line about how something can be deceiving. What is it? We don't know. We don't have to know. It's like sage wisdom about experience. Everything sets up for that final line, which could be stated a bit better and more cleanly in my mind. I'm just the reader. Here's what I think: Lose the uppercase letters on lines two through four, or all, if you want to suggest this inability to control that situation. lowercase is supposed to imply feeling small or weak or helpless, per se. Uppercase is just stronger, bolder. I'll throw in something else that's fun to try, so: my innocence welcomed everyone with a smile without knowing betrayal (could be, would be, was) in disguise. To me those are the three choices that would make that last line land a little better. My favorite might be 'would be'. *Smile* The indent on line three acts like a pivotal moment, it acts like someone thrown off by what is about to happen. Just my two cents, if you're interested in using that. Ultimately, a reader will get a wonderment after reading: what kind of a smile was that? For an actor, they have a direction for every type of smile. In my head, I'm going through several I've witnessed in situations where an innocent is seeing something unfold that is informing that smile to curve or change a certain way. The way you have described here has done that for me, not with an adjective, but with a situation. Put this all together; with the scene, the retrospect, the innocent lamb about to be betrayed, there is a lot for a person to draw on from such precision and brevity. It's a very worthy effort and one I laud you for. Might want to make just a few edits, offer it up to those who you regard having an understanding of poetry, and hopefully they'll be as pleased as me." I've been working on line breaks and punctuation for many years and am still learning. This poem and review helped me crystallize some visions about this process to producing a poem with focus on punctuation. |
| Had no idea how grumpy and angry I get when I stop exercising. Just 45 minutes in fresh air with a basketball followed by some brisk raking and feel it leaving me like the sweat purged from my body. Why I don't do things in moderation and get so consumed with things that I can't think clearly, I'll never fully know. This is my new therapy. Back to basics. |
| Not that I'm rooting for this, but it's intriguing (It's long and tedious. Plan to skip some parts.): https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-donald-trump-could-win-the-presidenc... I decided to take the truck for a run up and down the streets around our neighborhood and count the Biden vs Trump signs to see how many were supporting which candidate. Not many out there. And most signs posted were up near homes instead of on the street. Might be a reason why I saw fewer signs? But, Biden was leading as I made one more swipe up and around two more blocks on my route home. By the time I got to our little cul-de-sac, Biden was ahead 8-4. What happened on the ride up and and down our 25-house block had me rolling in laughter. It had everything: A voting block like an electoral college for Trump, a tie, and perhaps, what I could call election fraud. On the roundabout, there was a Trump sign on the island and one at the house across the street. They could have voted twice. It was 11-11 when I got home. I rode around 20-some blocks to get 12 signs, with 10 more on my street. There was only three signs a week ago. Interesting, I can break down the demographics mostly: the pot head, former skaterz across the street with problem kids were Biden, as were the two neighbors down the road who identify as lesbian (we chat, that's how we know). I think it was the retired dentist with the other Biden post. So, Trumpers included the retired constructor company owner across the street, a cop up the road, the widowed woman next door, and several older neighbors down toward, and in, the cul-de-sac -- the upper middle class. No sign at my house. With all the talk of weird outcomes in an odd year, it's compelling. I don't think a tie would be a divisive thing. It would actually force Congress to finally do their jobs. Whether or not they're capable will be another thing to watch. |
| I really have to share this again, which was once posted in my notebook (maybe, your newsfeed)... This is the most enlightening video for me. It has freed me from what has shackled me for so many years. If we could just inform ourselves and acknowledge what represses, it's like drawing air into lungs for the first time. It's brief but pleasurable to know we can get a handle on the manipulators and why they abuse us, and moreover, how we can and/or do not have to respond. How I know I'm not one...narcissist. Put me in a room with one and let us debate. I will feel like I've lost or just emotionally worn out every time. Plus, I go toe-to-toe with one nearly every day of my life. In fact, I have three of them. I don't even approach anymore, assuming there's no use convincing them to see things my way. I'm practically invisible and voiceless to them. |
| “We need more bassists, not less. But for real, stop trying to play goddamned bass chords under a guitar solo.” R.I.P. Eddie Van Halen iconic rock guitarist inspiring listeners and wannabes like me "I been to the edge And there I stood and looked down You know I lost a lot of friends there baby I got no time to mess around" Rock on solo, my friend. I'm crying 'cause his music meant so much to my life. |
| Totally unrelated and yet complimentary... The Flying Lizards cover of the Beatles song might be unknown, unless it got heavy rotation by a disc jockey at your local radio station during those formative, musical years. Ben Folds Five felt like another rare discovery for me before they landed a song in the Top 40, which disappointed me because I wanted them to fly under the radar so I can say I was of the rare few aware of their odd musical genius. |
| I'm reminded of this constantly... "Throughout history, oligarchies have often been tyrannical, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy Example: A group of people come to a programmer friend at college and say, 'hey, let's do something together on the internet. You build it, people will come and we will act like the statue of liberty accepting those huddled masses.' Money making venture launched. I wonder if this is how America really got started? Nope, feels more totalitarian with socialist applications, perhaps? Has anyone read Ayn Rand? Let's skip over that Orwellian stuff. going sideways at bit, sort of like an experience one might have... https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/oct/01/featuresreviews.guardianreview11 |
| I think I get it but I don't like it. Let's speed up the infections on the virus and get it over with. Why delay the inevitable? These states like Florida and now Tennessee lifting all restrictions give me pause. Yes, still mask and wash your hands. Use commons sense and precaution. Everyone has the information now how dangerous this is and enough time has passed to make for proper provisions, for the most part. I don't know if this is the logic. The vaccine isn't going to save us in time. And calculations having about 80% of the population winding up with this disease...that's assuming some are less effected or somehow have built immunity to it without knowing. So much yet to learn. But, we are heading indoors for the winter season and the chances of getting increase greatly. So, bring it on? Just pondering from the reports I'm seeing, reading and trying to understand the logic of some politicians, bureaucrats and more. It's just not the easy to suss out. 9.29.20 |
| A Not For Newsfeed Player Presents... Something I couldn't resist, since I thought it up: You'll find nothing in Joe Biden's head. From Twitter to Facebook to Fox News to QAnon to your ears...no, not you Joe. This has been a Not For Newsfeed Update. Now back to whatever it is you do around here. 9.29.20 I really should stop getting distracted with all this hooey. |
| you know, history can teach us about the true origins and purpose of poetry... It can be applied here for the same purposes, as it should be applied anywhere free speech rights are ignored. Anywhere people are downtrodden for standing up to would be rulers and oppressors. Though, they might employ some sort of highly disciplined playbook to characterize these types that challenge the narrative of those holding court. No matter. Speak your truths amid the debunkers, the disbelievers. Perhaps, there was one amongst us who wore a thorny crown, perhaps another emblazoned with a scarlet letter upon the breast? You've all been rejected by someone or something. Perhaps, it aroused an anti-authoritarian sentiment that you just couldn't quell. Maybe, it was that kid or kids that held you down on the ground while you were fed dirt. They made you eat it. You lost your innocence of what was good. You realized as you walked through life anyone could be an agent of evil, could do no good. Perhaps, you secluded yourself and trusted very few...and then the betrayals. Yes? Look in the mirror and realize the safe haven you are in looks a bit different in the glass. Almost satanic? Welcome! You've arrived. So, pleased to see you here. What are you going to make in finger painting class today? No, no. Teacher says we don't rub that on our faces? Nurse! Nurse! He needs another sedative. I think he's coming out of it. He's talking about typing some kind of a manifesto...in quatrains? What'a a manifesto? No, I didn't ask for medicine. I'm...zzzzz 9.25.06? No one gets out without a little literary lobotomy. I'll edit later...look I used WritingML to make the text richer...ahhhhh He's escaping! Don't worry. I wouldn't do that to you.  Okay, everybody. Nothing to see here. Just another psycho. But you want to watch, don't you? |
| It's no use. I tried talking to him. Anyone else want to tag in? Stay tuned. I'm working up a memory from my early days with the WDC Angel Army where I squared off with Sherri Gibson(remember her?) in not one, but two popularity contests. I'll tell you what those were, how I got involved and the results from those early times before someone dubbed me 'King of Newsfeed', not that it has anything to do with the story. I could have said, one of the Top 5 poets at Writing.Com...not my words, someone else's. Now, to rest and to devise a tale of triumph despite great woe. fun story. I like it. You should enjoy, too. Getting so most people don't know who Sherri was. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
![Merit Badge in Second Time Around Contest
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning the Grand Overall Prize in [Link To Item #2164876] with your beautiful poem, [Link to Book Entry #933358]. This poem really moved me. Great writing!
Rachel *^*Heartv*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Second_Time_Around_Contest-2164963_14.gif)
In the Falkland Islands, internet is very limited and very expensive. The place I'm currently staying only lets me use it in the middle of the night, so when I have to get up at 3 am to check my texts (no cell service to the US here unless I'm on the internet) or WdC, I don't do nearly as much as I used to. 
I currently have 2 very long emails I still need to get to from several days ago. Anyway, I miss everyone, but I also miss sleep, so there's that. 
Have you spoken to the doctor about your vision problems lately? I know there are special glasses for it because I have to wear them to read much ever since the brain injury. It's part of why I now only listen to audiobooks instead of reading regular books. It took 8 years for anyone to diagnose it because I have a brain injury and while one might think it would be obvious to me that I see double, it wasn't. Partly, my brain does a fair job of compensating. But also, partly, you use your brain to realize and understand that the 2 images you constantly see are double vision and something you should mention to your eye doctor. Since my brain was damaged, even basic things like that can escape me. 
I never once thought to mention it, even with annual eye exams in the Army and an exam every 2 years at the VA. Though, in my defense, since it happens in something like 41% of people with a brain injury, it should have been discovered by an eye doctor much sooner. 
I know doing that activity is a CRAP TON of work. But you made a difference in lives, not just his, but for all the people he's reviewed since. 
Well done! 
