The Whole Mad Swirl
I
was out of control, spinning
on
the whirligig of youth,
giddy
to be caught
in what
Kerouac called
"the
whole mad swirl
of
everything to come."
I
didn't know what to expect.
I
was ready for nothing
though
I had spent years
in
solitary confinement
with
books, exams and degrees.
You
would think I'd have learned
something
about life as it is,
not
as I wished it to be.
I
went out on the street
to
look for work
and
was surprised to discover
no
one spoke Old English
like Beowulf or Middle
English
like
the Wife of Bath.
An
old professor told me
I
talked the way
e.e.
cummings wrote
and
no one would hire me.
A
few years later I married
a woman with
several degrees.
She
thought I was normal.
We
had five kids in six years
and
drove landlords bonkers.
"The
Lord will provide,"
we
said, and He did.
Fifty
years later, the five kids
have rucksacks of
their own
packed
with jobs, marriages,
children
and good lives
measured
against
the
standard of most.
Their
mother is dead,
and
like everyone else
on
this strange planet
I
am in the process
of
dying in the jaws
of
what Kerouac called
"the
whole mad swirl
of
everything to come."
I
have seen almost all
of
"everything to come"
except
for the best part
and
that, I am told,
will take my
breath away.
CP
Nominated for Best of the
Net and Pushcart prizes, Donal Mahoney has had work published in the Americas,
Europe, Asia and Africa. Some of his work can be found here: http://eyeonlifemag.com/the-poetry-locksmith/donal-mahoney-poet.html
An epic told in a simple yet beautifully poignant way. A pleasure to read, with a tenderness about it that is very touching.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to pick one fav from this, but the one I loved the most ...
"I am in the process
of dying in the jaws
of what Kerouac called
"the whole mad swirl
of everything to come."
I have seen almost all
of "everything to come"
except for the best part
and that, I am told,
will take my breath away." Beautiful!