Gumption

[dr_con]

Gumption 4/8/YoP
Con/Jur/d

My Father who loved
me who didn’t like me
according to acts portents
public displays disappointed
beratement apparently told his
dementia caretakers before
becoming full-time-forgetting
I had ‘gumption’ ignoring safety-
nets and their inherent holes
I stumbled forward (with an
emphasis on stumble)
eager for the next
mountain to see
what I could
see (most
often as

The Song goes
it was the Other-Side
of the Mountain) -- It comes
up these days when any action
any activity is judged by if it
passes the-lastthing-I-will-do
test: writing poetry having a
beer trashy movies talking
with friends texting my daughter
reading pulp hugging my wife 
Preparing elaborate meals 
today with the malaise all of
the above

How does one write a poem
or sit for an hour practicing
nothing with threats existential
Both real and imagined? A call
to our inner innate improbable --
gumption. 

 

[Tinker]

6 hours ago, dr_con said:

any activity is judged by if it
passes the-lastthing-I-will-do
test:

Yep, There is no rush, I've got no where to go.  Nothing seems all that urgent.  I'm amazed you have so much to say every day.  

~~Judi

[tonyv]

On 4/8/2020 at 3:48 PM, dr_con said:

... It comes
up these days when any action
any activity is judged by if it
passes the-lastthing-I-will-do
test: writing poetry having a
beer trashy movies talking
with friends texting my daughter
reading pulp hugging my wife 
Preparing elaborate meals 
today with the malaise all of
the above ...

I would suggest that anything is okay, so long as it's not "working." 

On 4/8/2020 at 3:48 PM, dr_con said:

... How does one write a poem
or sit for an hour practicing
nothing with threats existential
Both real and imagined? A call
to our inner innate improbable --
gumption.

Well, you could spend time getting banned on discussion forums for ridiculing The Official Version of Events™ and (again) coming to the conclusion that PMO's poetry world, where intellectual honesty prevails and where what you have to say won't be censored, really is the better place to be. 

Speaking from experience,

/s/ Tony 😃

 

I think you might like this one:

"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden