sourceMidweek Motif ~ Boredom |
"Sir, you have two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both."-- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"But her life was as cold as an attic facing north; and boredom, like a silent spider, was weaving its web in the shadows, in every corner of her heart"-- Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary"
"Society is now one polished horde,
Formed of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored"-- Lord Byron, Don Juan
"Boredom: the desire for the desires-- Leo Tolstoy"
Imagine sitting with a long face before the dreaded blank page and looking all around to lift the uninspired soul in vain.
There is no one to give a push to kick start a writing session while all the poetry sites are urging to link up a poem of your own choice.
All on a sudden life seems to stand still turning everything utterly uninteresting. For wordsmiths this is a most unwelcome state.
What is the way out to make this phase sound exciting?
I have chosen two poems of Charles Bukowski for today's topic Boredom.
These Things
by Charles Bukowski
these things that we support most wellhave nothing to do with up,
and we do with them
out of boredom or fear or money
or cracked intelligence;
our circle and our candle of light
being small,
so small we cannot bear it,
we heave out with Idea
and lose the Center:
all wax without the wick,
and we see names that once meant
wisdom,
like signs into ghost towns,
and only the graves are real.
The American Writer
by Charles Bukowskigone abroad
I sit under the tv lights
and am interviewed again
i am asked questions
I give answers
I make no attempt to be
brilliant.
to be truthful
I feel bored
and I almost never feel
bored.
"do you?..." they ask.
"oh, yeah, well I..."
"and what do you think of..."
"I don't think of it much. I
don't think too much..."
somehow it ends.
that evening somebody tells me
I'm on the news
we turn the set on.
there I am. I look pissed.
I wave people off.
I am bored.
how marvelous to be me without
trying.
it looks on tv
as if I knew exactly what I
was doing.
fooled them
again.
Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community.
(Next week Rosemary Nissen Wade will be prompting with the topic "Let your song be delicate.")
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteWooo hooooo its time once again for Midweek Motif :D sharing a sonnet on boredom.. hope you guys like it :D
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Thank you for making today less boring - and always good to read Bukowski!
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting exercise. I must say I am seldom bored. Usually it is only when I feel trapped somewhere and cant go.
Yes - trapped physically or in your head = boredom!
DeleteOn Saturday, we travelled to one of my son's football games @ 9.
DeleteThe coach had gotten the time wrong so we were in the middle of nowhere for 2 hours, While the coach did a long practice before the game. Yeah, felt it then.
I totally should have just hiked out into the woods.
We would have been there with you chuckling as we laid out a trail of candy...
DeleteNever would have worked,
DeleteI would have eaten the candy and we surely would have gotten lost.
Lol.
Hope you won't get bored with my post :-)
ReplyDeleteLike that could ever be possible with your vibrant pictures.
DeleteHa.
Same here, i say the same thing as Totomai
ReplyDeletemuch love...
I'll be back!
ReplyDeleteSumana, I love every line in this prompt. You got me thinking and writing, something I haven't been doing much! Reading, Catching up on my reading . . . but I loved stopping to write this poem and to read the rest!
DeleteThanks Susan, so nice to have you today with such a wonderful write...your voice is always inspiring...hope you are recovering well :)
DeleteWonderful writing, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHello friends, lots of good lines today..thank you...
ReplyDeleteHa ha, I love Bukowski's "fooled them again". Some days, it's all smoke and mirrors. I am home today at my desk and looking forward to catching up.
ReplyDeleteI have just finished mine! I really am very seldom bored, but I can imagine! I am sure what I will be read here today will NOT be boring. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sumana, I had fun with this. And thanks Sanaa, too, for putting into my mind the idea of a sonnet. But mine is a curtail sonnet, just to be different.
ReplyDeleteNow it is VERY late in my part of the world, so I must make myself go to bed and read the rest of you tomorrow.
DeleteThis was very interesting. Though boredom reminds of the quote- "Bored of being bored because being bored is boring!!"
ReplyDelete"I'm bored" reminds me of pre-teens who want to be entertained rather than challenged. In a world, with so many needs, who has time to be bored?
ReplyDeleteA fine prompt today, Sumana
As someone said, "When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting.." That's exactly what happened as I was writing this! Thanks Sumana for the nice prompt...couldn't help writing ;D
ReplyDeleteShall come back tomorrow morning to read the other poems..am sleepy. G'nite all.
Hmmm, this theme had me thinking longer than others... I don't do "bored"! And I found Bukowski's poems a little grating. Still, I wrote a poem...
ReplyDeleteLook forward to reading all of the other poems this week. Should prove interesting.
i go for walks when boredom sets in
ReplyDeleteHi Marco, I am hoping you will make visits this week.
DeleteGood morning. Catching up with those that are reading
ReplyDelete