One More Sonnet

Category: behaviour

  • Why Do Some Things?

    Why Do Some Things?

    Why do we fear what we don’t understand?
    What makes ignorance the beast that it is?
    Why do we crush what we cannot command?
    How does good reason make sense of all this?
    Does logic lend favour to a good cause?
    Does logic distinguish fiction from fact?
    Does logic consider the pregnant pause?
    Does logic rationalise the random act?
    Sadly, the answer is ‘no it does not’.
    Some things defy logic; leave us confused.
    Some things are awkward, contentious and hot.
    Some things intrigue us, and leave us bemused.
    . A reasonable logic is common sense.
    . A logical reason is consequence.

    © Tim Grace, 28 December 2013

    To the reader: Common sense contributes to the real-life application of experience in the face of new circumstances. In a logical sense, taking a ‘common’ approach to problem solving is a bit hit and miss. Logical approaches reduce the impact of bias and error; distancing head-strong habits from heart felt emotions; favouring the cool calculation. All very-well, but hardly suited to the quirky-nature of human behaviour. We do what we do often to deliberately defy logic, to be unpredictable … don’t ask me why!

    To the poet: The challenge was to defend common sense. Over logic; which at best, questions irrational sentiments and contributes to good judgement. To address the challenge, the sonnet’s three stanzas rally to explore “Why… Do… Some things …” Ironically, through logical entanglements, the final couplet struggles with the delivery of a summative punch.

    Why Do Some Things? Why Do Some Things?
    Picture Source:
    http://youtu.be/LQoAg49NgMo
  • Death Shrieks

    Death Shrieks

    Perplexed by the passage of your passing;
    the path you have chosen not to complete.
    Death, that easy option, that ever-lasting
    expression of nothing more than defeat.
    Through your dangling obituary death speaks:
    “dirges from the book of unfinished works.”
    No songs of joy, hymns of praise; sadness shrieks
    through a minor key, morbidly it jerks
    at the heartstrings, tugs a discordant wrench;
    pulls from mortality a cheap reward.
    Never was the thirst for life given quench
    through the cut and thrust of a broken sword.
    . Rest – that which remains of a life unspent.
    . Rest – that which contains all of life’s content.

    © Tim Grace, 19 July 2013

    To the reader: In his case, suicide was an ultimate escape; a cynical determination. A deliberate departure from life’s course; one he hadn’t travelled well. Alongside a list of other broken relationships I suppose suicide was just one more; consistent with his self-absorbed character. There were no indulgences he didn’t crave and feed to the detriment of others. Eventually his ‘smartness’ wore thin, and so he resorted to ever greater forms of obliteration; the final one rubbed him out.

    To the poet: I’m sure he had many redeeming features. I knew of none. As anonymous he has become the particular avenue of my general vent. In his truncated life, I wasn’t allowed the last word; the attention-seeker makes no sense of that. But now, with his last move made it is my turn to speak. The poet’s obituary can be harsh… who bears the burden?

    Death Shrieks
    Death Shrieks
    Picture Source:
    http://youtu.be/bldW5tjfmpU