{"id":1995,"date":"2015-10-14T16:21:41","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T21:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1995"},"modified":"2015-10-14T16:21:41","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T21:21:41","slug":"poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The red ball bounces<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Like a metronome<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>But with less rhythm<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Over every lyric uncomposed<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Like a wrecking ball<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>But less harmonious<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>A juggernaut emblazoned<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>In fire engine red<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>But less melodious<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Like a no alarm fire<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>But with less refrain<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>The only words aloud<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Keep your eye on the ball<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>And you need not no<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Its whirled of hurt<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>A bouncer of chorus<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>And ballads unkneaded<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This poem employs the metaphor of the little bouncing ball over the lyrics in karaoke as a distraction from what is really important in life.\u00a0 This poem sets up a double-take as it reverses the usual meaning and positive association with keeping your eye on the ball.\u00a0 Karaoke is unoriginal mimicry at least.\u00a0 At worst, karaoke is skin-crawling, nails-on-blackboard-scratching, cat-in-heat-howling torture.\u00a0 The powers that be in life benefit from the distractions of &#8220;harmless&#8221; entertainment as opposed to mind-provoking and heart-expanding artistic endeavors which erode social control.\u00a0 In modern Western civilization, the risk-averse obsession with safety and security routinely leads to a dull relationship with the precarious risks inherent in living fully.\u00a0 At least karaoke offers an opportunity to put yourself out there and make a fool of yourself, a good skill to practice.\u00a0 The whirled of hurt that characterizes a substantial portion of human existence is often enough to leave us overly defensive, even walled off, with untold, unwritten and unsung ballads.\u00a0 Perhaps even worse yet, avoiding hurt, discomfort, and presumed foolishness, regularly provides ready-made rationalizations for even considering dreaming as dangerous, leading to trouble, and supplies built-in blinders to the fortuitous perks of risk-taking.\u00a0 May you dare to write your own lyrics, sing out loud to your own tune, and discover deeper harmonies than simply pop culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The red ball bounces Like a metronome But with less rhythm Over every lyric uncomposed Like a wrecking ball But less harmonious A juggernaut emblazoned In fire engine red But less melodious Like a no alarm fire But with less &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":[435,341,386,516,538,460,446,431,359,486,438,548,448,658,94,90,110,114,316,260,659,365,85],"class_list":["post-1995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-character","tag-control","tag-creativity","tag-culture","tag-dream","tag-foolish","tag-harmony","tag-heart","tag-life","tag-meaning","tag-mind","tag-modern","tag-ode","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-pop-culture","tag-power","tag-powers-that-be","tag-rationalization","tag-risk","tag-security","tag-torture","tag-western-civilization"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings, Character, Control, Creativity, Culture, Dream, Foolish, Harmony, Heart, Life, Meaning, Mind, Modern, Ode, Poems, Poetry, Pop Culture, Power, Powers that be, Rationalization, Risk, Security, Torture, Western Civilization Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-14T21:21:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":292,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e\"},\"keywords\":[\"Character\",\"Control\",\"Creativity\",\"Culture\",\"Dream\",\"Foolish\",\"Harmony\",\"Heart\",\"Life\",\"Meaning\",\"Mind\",\"Modern\",\"Ode\",\"Poems\",\"Poetry\",\"Pop Culture\",\"Power\",\"Powers that be\",\"Rationalization\",\"Risk\",\"Security\",\"Torture\",\"Western Civilization\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Poems\",\"Political and Philosophical Musings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/\",\"name\":\"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-14T21:21:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings, Character, Control, Creativity, Culture, Dream, Foolish, Harmony, Heart, Life, Meaning, Mind, Modern, Ode, Poems, Poetry, Pop Culture, Power, Powers that be, Rationalization, Risk, Security, Torture, Western Civilization Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/14\\\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog HOME\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Poems\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/poems\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Political Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show!\",\"description\":\"Top Pun&#039;s Pun-filled Stuff, Satire, and Public Health Science\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/toppun.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e\",\"name\":\"Top Pun\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Top Pun\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/TopPun.com\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","description":"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings, Character, Control, Creativity, Culture, Dream, Foolish, Harmony, Heart, Life, Meaning, Mind, Modern, Ode, Poems, Poetry, Pop Culture, Power, Powers that be, Rationalization, Risk, Security, Torture, Western Civilization Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball","datePublished":"2015-10-14T21:21:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/"},"wordCount":292,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e"},"keywords":["Character","Control","Creativity","Culture","Dream","Foolish","Harmony","Heart","Life","Meaning","Mind","Modern","Ode","Poems","Poetry","Pop Culture","Power","Powers that be","Rationalization","Risk","Security","Torture","Western Civilization"],"articleSection":["Poems","Political and Philosophical Musings"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/","url":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/","name":"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-14T21:21:41+00:00","description":"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings, Character, Control, Creativity, Culture, Dream, Foolish, Harmony, Heart, Life, Meaning, Mind, Modern, Ode, Poems, Poetry, Pop Culture, Power, Powers that be, Rationalization, Risk, Security, Torture, Western Civilization Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/14\/poem-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog HOME","item":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Poems","item":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/category\/poems\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"POEM: Keep Your Eye On The Ball"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/","name":"Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Political Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show!","description":"Top Pun&#039;s Pun-filled Stuff, Satire, and Public Health Science","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/23524eae4bc27be85d1cdc01bc6d380e","name":"Top Pun","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Top Pun"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78057fc29c98405f1474e223d51149b962df4af36cea20bf4ccbb189f621bb7?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/TopPun.com\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1996,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions\/1996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}