John-Ward Leighton

A POEM FOR THE SAKE OF A POEM

Photo ©Copyright 2010 by John-Ward LeightonThe day is grey
and the soundtrack
is CBC elevator
and not much better
with news that
some more stupid people
have lost their lives
in yet another avalanche.
I wonder if
they crapped their pants
when they suddenly
realized that this wasn’t going to be
their dance.

Not that I ruminate much
on the skid marks
in other peoples shorts
and the pain of loss
for those that cared
for the victims.
Death is nature’s way
ending things
good, bad or stupid.

There is no judgement here
they broke the rules
and nature rubbed them out.
That their stupidity
put them in harm’s way
means nothing
sometimes smart can also
be stupid.

I have to change the sound track
there is too much yap, yap.
I need something
mindless with a beat
no lyrics to muddy my mind
or my first cuppa coffee.
The day spreads out before me
like a blank sheet of paper
and I know that this is
coming from the right side
because I’m misspelling words
I know
and my keyboard has become the enemy.

Is this a poem
or just another mindless mind dump?
We are here for such a short time
and our existence is a mere
nano second in the grand scheme of time
and our contribution to the history
of the universe
is a tangled entropy
of woulda, coulda, shoulda,
meaning nothing
before the chance encounter
with another meteor
erases us from any collective memory.

The universe will keep expanding
and our ride on the only planet that supports our life form
will go where it is bound to go
and if we destroy the
the eco system for short term benefit
we will merely be participating
in just another mass extinction
and join the others who went before
as another organism that failed.

So this poem for the sake of a poem
will join the back ground noise
and whisper in the ears
of those foolish enough
to read all the way through.
But let it be known
in our foolishness
we are not alone.