How To Get Through Life
I have no idea why I hadn't already
posted this poem on this blog devoted to sweetness and light. I was trying to
link to it on a forum, and I couldn't find
it.
I originally finished it in 1971 while at Arkansas in a flurry of activity that produced several hundred poems, two novels, and thousands of pages of notes, most of which I have burned. I think I began the first draft in 1967 when my old man was getting screwed by his employer in a way that 26 years of seniority eventually translated into $30 a month in retirement, but it wasn't until I met Bruce Edward Taylor, who could get really intense playing board games, and even more intense if you simply gave up, conceded, and admitted you'd rather get drunk and stoned than waste time staying sober enough to act as if you gave a fuck, that I finally felt I had a reason to finish it. By then, my old man had begun almost to embrace my cynicism, although our relationship was thoroughly doomed and would not be renewed until I pulled the plug on him in Virginia. So it goes.
Everything in life is a game, and like life, most of the games mean nothing. Gordon Osing liked the refrain, understanding the obviousness of what playing ball means. I think this poem is included in Stinking and Full of Eels, Some Accident Between the Grass and My Feet, and Disturbances. It is NOT included in Contemporary Poets in America, which was edited by Miller Williams' (you know, Cindy's dad, who read at Slick Willie's inauguration), although, to be fair, none of my poetry is included in that anthology. I guess this is because I never graduated from Arkansas with an M.F.A. and published a book of poems by a reputable publisher.
I don't think so. Miller was always a lying sack of shit. I'm sure you didn't see it here first. And if you did, that's your problem, pissant.
I originally finished it in 1971 while at Arkansas in a flurry of activity that produced several hundred poems, two novels, and thousands of pages of notes, most of which I have burned. I think I began the first draft in 1967 when my old man was getting screwed by his employer in a way that 26 years of seniority eventually translated into $30 a month in retirement, but it wasn't until I met Bruce Edward Taylor, who could get really intense playing board games, and even more intense if you simply gave up, conceded, and admitted you'd rather get drunk and stoned than waste time staying sober enough to act as if you gave a fuck, that I finally felt I had a reason to finish it. By then, my old man had begun almost to embrace my cynicism, although our relationship was thoroughly doomed and would not be renewed until I pulled the plug on him in Virginia. So it goes.
Everything in life is a game, and like life, most of the games mean nothing. Gordon Osing liked the refrain, understanding the obviousness of what playing ball means. I think this poem is included in Stinking and Full of Eels, Some Accident Between the Grass and My Feet, and Disturbances. It is NOT included in Contemporary Poets in America, which was edited by Miller Williams' (you know, Cindy's dad, who read at Slick Willie's inauguration), although, to be fair, none of my poetry is included in that anthology. I guess this is because I never graduated from Arkansas with an M.F.A. and published a book of poems by a reputable publisher.
I don't think so. Miller was always a lying sack of shit. I'm sure you didn't see it here first. And if you did, that's your problem, pissant.
It's nothing
big
You got to have the right attitude is all
First you got to learn the games
There's shuffleboard hoop scotch jump rope
Tiddly winks truth dare consequence promise or repeat
And of course there's ball
After a while you go to school
At school you learn to read and write
To sign the necessary forms
And math
To do the figuring
Soon you are ready for work
It's a good thing to remember it's smart
To learn to like your work
You will be together for a long time
After forty years you'll be old enough
For shuffleboard again
There's really nothing to it
Unless of course you decide to be a poet
In which case you have to begin as follows
First you got to learn the games
There's shuffleboard hoop scotch jump rope
Tiddly winks truth dare consequence promise or repeat
And of course there's ball
You got to have the right attitude is all
First you got to learn the games
There's shuffleboard hoop scotch jump rope
Tiddly winks truth dare consequence promise or repeat
And of course there's ball
After a while you go to school
At school you learn to read and write
To sign the necessary forms
And math
To do the figuring
Soon you are ready for work
It's a good thing to remember it's smart
To learn to like your work
You will be together for a long time
After forty years you'll be old enough
For shuffleboard again
There's really nothing to it
Unless of course you decide to be a poet
In which case you have to begin as follows
First you got to learn the games
There's shuffleboard hoop scotch jump rope
Tiddly winks truth dare consequence promise or repeat
And of course there's ball
Posted: Mon - July 9, 2007 at 06:00 PM
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Published On: May 05, 2008 10:14 AM
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Published On: May 05, 2008 10:14 AM