{"id":1577,"date":"2014-06-25T12:05:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T17:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2014-06-25T12:05:18","modified_gmt":"2014-06-25T17:05:18","slug":"poem-scarecrows-doo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/25\/poem-scarecrows-doo\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: A Scarecrow’s Doo"},"content":{"rendered":"

My life is very<\/strong>
\nScuffed up<\/strong>
\nRound the edges<\/strong>
\nHither too<\/strong>
\nBetter than<\/strong>
\nA scarecrow<\/strong>
\nKeeping<\/strong>
\nSnobs a way<\/strong>
\nAs they brood<\/strong>
\nOver heir dues<\/strong>
\nWile<\/strong>
\nThey are off<\/strong>
\nMaking hay<\/strong>
\nTheir own<\/strong>
\nAbrade<\/strong>
\nTurning straw men<\/strong>
\nInto goaled<\/strong>
\nOnly for stalling<\/strong>
\nSuch rumpled stilt skin<\/strong>
\nAs tress up<\/strong>
\nAnd wig out<\/strong>
\nCombing the whirled<\/strong>
\nAs eye sport<\/strong>
\nA primordial stile<\/strong>
\nSimply a tease<\/strong>
\nEven within<\/strong>
\nThe realm<\/strong>
\nOf possibility<\/strong>
\nDread locks<\/strong>
\nOr without<\/strong>
\nMull it over<\/strong>
\nAs if<\/strong>
\nDisguise a loser<\/strong>
\nUncaptivated buy genteel waves<\/strong>
\nFor going<\/strong>
\nAWW<\/strong>
\nThat you are<\/strong>
\nBlowing in the wind<\/strong>
\nAir to the throne<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem is an ode to living on the fringe, even if your life becomes somewhat scuffed up.\u00a0 Living on the edge can be in stark contrast to the conventional wisdom and way of life in the dominant culture of so-called Western civilization.\u00a0 Concern about status and appearance, as well as a fixation on material conveniences, drives many to trade deeper meaning for inane existence.<\/p>\n

Many settle for a life too easily demarcated by stereotypes and oversimplifications.\u00a0 I like to joke that my long hair is for the convenience of others in easily identifying me as a “hippie,” so they don’t need to spend much time really getting to know me — which is to love me!\u00a0 Using the metaphor in this poem, my hair serves as a scarecrow to drive off superficial people.\u00a0 Encountering stereotypes which make one uncomfortable can serve as a simple weeding out mechanism.\u00a0 Of course, those that really know me, know why I have long hair, and why I pray for the day to cut my hair.\u00a0 Also, those that really know me know that I don’t cringe from the label “hippie,” but it is a poor approximation of my character and life.\u00a0 I am not particularly “hip,” my sexual mores are “live and let live” but hardly a free for all, and I like my consciousness unadulterated by drugs.<\/p>\n

I try to assume that people are irreducibly eccentric and idiosyncratic.\u00a0 In short, I believe that every person is infinitely interesting.\u00a0 Of course, spending a great deal of our time exploring these individualities cuts into the efficiency of reducing people to shorthand stereotypes, placing them in definable little boxes, so that we can navigate people more like things and life can be more predictable.\u00a0 Some of this is inescapable as we have to form an impression, however tentative or temporary, about people.\u00a0 The dangerous temptation that is a threat to humanity is to solidify our views of people and discounting their unfathomable humanity for our convenience and striving for efficiency and productivity. This can blur the immeasurable difference between human lives and things.<\/p>\n

I propose that a wise precept would be that, if in doubt, choose people over things — every time!\u00a0 Perhaps the most valuable gift we can give one another is our presence.\u00a0 Who wants to compete with another’s interest in inanimate matter (or inane matters) rather than have another lovingly delve into the whole of who we are?\u00a0 Of course, simply being with someone, spending time with someone else, is a profound vote for how much you value them.\u00a0 This is much more the currency of life than money and stuff. \u00a0 We are so much more than dust in the wind, even stardust in the celestial wind; and whatever that “so much more” is is what we should pay attention to, if we want to participate in life, not simply have a life lived for us, as if we were simply complicated dirt.\u00a0 We are not blowing in the wind, air to the throne…a scarecrow’s doo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My life is very Scuffed up Round the edges Hither too Better than A scarecrow Keeping Snobs a way As they brood Over heir dues Wile They are off Making hay Their own Abrade Turning straw men Into goaled Only … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[435,167,229,516,430,608,305,313,500,359,273,486,66,448,658,94,107,424,526,472,406,190,575,492,529,85,389],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-character","tag-consciousness","tag-conventional-wisdom","tag-culture","tag-efficiency","tag-gift","tag-humanity","tag-inane","tag-joke","tag-life","tag-love","tag-meaning","tag-money","tag-ode","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-poor","tag-possibility","tag-productivity","tag-sex","tag-status","tag-stereotypes","tag-superficial","tag-temptation","tag-time","tag-western-civilization","tag-wisdom"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: A Scarecrow's Doo | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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