Narcissus, or: Aidos

Poetry Partners #73

‘Narcissus’, a poem by enchantedwords of ‘Enchanted Words’

Let me be a narcissist today,
I haven’t felt whole; in this long year of gray.

How I crave,
To be the violence of the hurricanes
And the violet of the skies,
How I yearn,
To be the magic of love
And the tragedy of literature

Is this what it feels like to be the universe?
To decimate galaxies and their petty stars,
To erase races of life and their petty scars,
To be a shooting meteor,
Humble a stray planet and widow its moons,
All in its magnificent, monstrous callosity?

How powerful must it be,
To be the horror of plagues, the hope of dreams,
the abrupt melody of death, the desolation of wars

But alas, my craving is ephemeral, unlike the universe.
As my words run dry, I sink back into my mortality.
And look, here come the wolves.

• enchantedwords: https://enchantedwords13.wordpress.com/

An irregular ode by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

EPIGRAPH:

Do not practise excessive humility.

–John Todd (1800 – 1873)

Oh, Narcissist, oh ~ I 
don't even ~
even ~ have the words, any words ~ words 
are failing
me 
in this, my attempt to glorify you, 
you
who exist within us ~ within 
me,
though usually barely visible, buried as 
you
are beneath the rubble of insecurity.

Be the violence of the hurricanes and the violet 
of the skies, be! Be the magic of love; the tragedy 
of literature, be! 
Be
the horror of plagues; the hope
of dreams; the abrupt 
melody of death; the desolation of wars, be!

Even your own words, Narcissist, fail
to do you your well-deserved justice, you
who should demand
a higher salary, sex from your partner,
respect from your children, recognition
from society ~ demand it! Demand
it! Demand the words

from yourself to articulate
how fantastically wonderful, how
beyond deserving, how special, unique,
worthy...

Crave respect and never let go
of that hunger - stand up, stand
up for yourself! 

Imagine that this very ode is a sharp,
stinging ~ SLAP
across your flawless face, rousing you
from your meek, stupefied slumber; imagine
every word herein the harshest, most
inappropriate, obscene, obnoxious 
profanity, shocking you out of
your self-
imposed, self-
destructive complacence! SLAP!
PROFANITY!

You should let yourself
be, Narcissist! Be
as much as beings can possibly be!

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Ode?

An ode is a lyric poem that is written to praise a person, event, or object.

• Pindaric odes have three stanzas, two of which have the same structure. It was the style used by the Greek poet Pindar (517–438 BCE). Example: ​“The Progress of Poesy” by Thomas Gray. 
• Horatian odes have more than one stanza, all of which follow the same rhyme structure and meter. The form follows that of the Roman lyric poet Horace (65–8 BCE). Example: “Ode to the Confederate Dead” by Allen Tate.​ 
• Irregular odes follow no set pattern or rhyme. Example: “Ode to an Earthquake” by Ram Mehta.

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Muri’s poetry scavenger hunt

My friend Muri (Val) is running a poetry scavenger hunt for Na/GloPoWriMo, which I shall attempt to participate in fully this year.

From what I understand, she’s offering three poetry prompts every week for the duration of the month of April ’22 (on MWF).

Last year, I was pretty busy with my personal micropoetry project so I only responded to several of her poetry challenges, but this year I hope to rectify that!

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Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

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List of Poetry Partners