I’m standing on a giant ball that spins
mostly water, mostly space
you’d think with such a wonder I’d begin
every new day on slightly higher ground
mostly water, mostly space
my heart holds the beat while I navigate
every new day on slightly higher ground
how I viewed things yesterday, who cares?
my heart holds the beat while I navigate
through snickers of cynics who love to recall
how I viewed things yesterday. Who cares
if someone thinks they saw my underwear?
through snickers of cynics who love to recall
past snobs who keep their uppity distance
if someone thinks they saw my underwear
I’ve been known to topple and feel ridiculous
past snobs who keep their uppity distance
I wonder if maybe we’re all just trying
I’ve been known to topple and feel ridiculous
yet where is the harm in a little exposure?
I wonder if maybe we’re all just trying
you’d think with such a wonder I’d begin
yet where is the harm in a little exposure?
I’m standing on a giant ball that spins!
~~~
The pantoum, a traditional Malayan fixed verse, is great fun to write when your thoughts are spinning and you’d like to decelerate. It’s a kind of sudoku with words. My thanks to Mikels Skele, poet and fine thinker, for tweeting “snicker of cynics”. I hope he carries on with his collective noun series. They’re brilliant!
© Elaine Stirling, 2015
The image comes from a site called Just Jared.
Oceantics 
A meditation, yes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
In a slightly manic form, Jane. 😉
LikeLike
Gee, thanks for the plug!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s the least I could do, Mikels. More people ought to read your work. (I would have loved to use “umbrage of snobs” too, but it almost needs its own glosa or something.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course, it goes without saying that everyone ought to read my work. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Again I offer a poem in the same form as appreciation for the effort you spin into this poem; it is small wonder I am a bit dizzy but I suspect that is one of the reasons the form exists, If this is true then you have done it much honor by abducting/acquiring/incorporating it. Had I not thoroughly enjoyed yours, I could not have written this Elaine.
Happy Anniversary (A pantoum*)
Two things of great import happened on this day fifty years ago
A man first walked in space and he opened his first beer in a can
Emergences from a cylinder of metal marked new coming of age
Both opened new eras of reaching and new definition of cooling
A man first walked in space and he opened his first beer in a can
Creating new meanings for exploration and convenience
Both opened new eras of reaching and new definition of cooling
Confidence swelled with advances in extensions of competence
Creating new meanings for exploration and convenience
Boosted imaginations to tackle new heights and depths
Confidence swelled with advances in extensions of competence
Space exploration kept flourishing and pop tops evolved
Boosted imaginations to tackle new heights and depths
Two things of great import happened on this day fifty years ago
Space exploration kept flourishing and pop tops evolved.
Emergences from a cylinder of metal marked new coming of age
*The pantoum , a traditional Malayan fixed verse is a form of poetry, similar to a villanelle in that there are repeating lines throughout the poem. It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. This pattern continues for any number of stanzas, except for the final stanza, which differs in the repeating pattern.
D. Russel Micnhimer 1-24-2015
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aah, yes, you’ve made wonderful use of the pantoum’s elliptical potential, Russel. Confidence and expansion, using two apparent social “opposites”. That their anniversaries coincide–and that they’re both themes close to your heart–makes it even more vibrant. I wish we could chat with a medieval Malayan poet and find out whether head rushes were part of its intent. 😉
LikeLike
Love it.
I like to feel ridiculous. Maybe not always in that moment… but later it makes for a good memory and story. We should all be more willing to look absolutely ridiculous! And that is a funny picture.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, Mandy…there’s really nothing better than thinking back on a horrendously embarrassing moment and laughing till your stomach hurts. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person