A Poem for Friday

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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16 Responses

  1. Tod Kelly says:

    I am not seeing a credit. Did you write this? If so I am impressed.Report

  2. Trista says:

    I love it! Absolutely beautiful. This made my Friday a little more bearable 🙂Report

  3. Christopher Carr says:

    You’re a really talented dude, Erik.Report

  4. Maxwell James says:

    Not bad at all! A touch of Wallace Stevens in there, I think.Report

  5. Robert Cheeks says:

    As it relates to modernity, well done. A negatively spiritual celebration of a telos apperceived devoid of eschatological possibilities. The curse of the modern.Report

    • Robert – thanks – I think – I’m not really savvy to the whole “telos apperceived devoid of eschatological possibilities” but thanks…Report

      • Robert Cheeks in reply to E.D. Kain says:

        The poem reveals a sense of hopelessness, of the impossibility of immortality. And, you’re better than that.Report

        • Christopher Carr in reply to Robert Cheeks says:

          Bob, here’s where I depart from the heaven-is-real epistemology: death is beautiful and inevitable. The fact that things must come to ends is what gives things meaning: The line “I can see the future of civilization there in the dandelions.” illustrates this; so does the Catholic idea of Lent, so does much of Buddhism. “Hopelessness” and the “impossibility of immortality” are not equal. Knowing that it is my destiny to die and be no more makes me want to leave the world a better place for my children and my children’s children and all the good people they know.Report

  6. Anderson says:

    ” the green mood sliding back,
    slipping toward that thick black cancer,
    that sense of decay. Fallen autumn leaves
    on a cold summer day.”

    I dig the internal/near rhymes here. Well done overall.

    Slightly different than this style, but you should check out Michael Robbins (http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2010/04/12/100412po_poem_robbins and http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2009/01/12/090112po_poem_robbins)…He’s one of my favorite contemporary poets, precisely because of the inventive way he uses rhyme.Report