The Cracks

The Cracks

4-2-06

I.

Living between each-other’s cracks,
my insides are massaged by
these impermanent curves.
Still, my thirst is never satiated.

Let woman be nigger.

Let man be nigger.
Let child be nigger.
Let loving black family be nigger.
Let starving, sick Africa
(that shines in the fallen echo of Eden,
green and gold and wealthy, but dying
because beauty cannot buy food or love)
be nigger.
We are living, we are dying,
inside each-other’s cracks.

and in five years, this pain can only become harsher.

II.

It fades to the humdrum,
Bum-bum ching! goes the ash
goes the gold, fueling another day’s addiction,
as innocent dreams revert to ash.
Space-ships fly so far, parallel
boys competing in the woods
over whose piss flies farther,
This is the melting pot,
this is life!
One moment, so loud
the next, a funeral-procession.
But it fades to the hum-drum,
we lived on the very top floor
& know it falls, too, into that grand Sadness.

III.

Sand is blown
over wide, crinkly dunes
that catch the sun-light,
divide its strength, and fracture its message
into endless, blowing sand.
I can’t stand the Humdrum.

Yet on the other side of this sleepy barroom conversation,
tragedy lies defeated, and nirvana-man
sings silently to himself as I babble,
he cherishes the eternal inescapable beauty
that I perceive as God’s most sadistic joke.
Inside his mind, love scissors through fear
and he’s the true poet,
recording the beauty that’s so breath-taking,
celebrating the life-times that pass quietly by
and screaming in victory
that “heaven is real,”
“life is good,”
“love is the way,”
and “Heaven is on Earth!”
with every ounce of himself, every moment.
He dreams of beautiful oceans,
celebrating the bewilderingly-fantastic freedoms
of living between the cracks.

I really enjoyed this piece. I don't know if you've heard the song "Woman is the Nigger of the World," but I saw the connection clearly in the first stanza...overall, I enjoyed the tone and rhythm of the poem. You used beautiful language. The last stanza I didn't like as much; it felt too forced. I felt like you just needed to tell us about this Nirvana-man, and so you did.

Otherwise, excellent.
Brian

Mmm. It was forced at first, then I got into the rhythm of it. Mulled that bit over for a few days, too. I needed to end on a good note. I needed there to be a place where tragedy died, and I found it, and this nirvana-man isn't really so forced a concept to me, 'tis quite real, albeit rare.

Oh, and...I'm not sure I've heard it, but I've heard OF dat Lennon song, and yeah...that really was...maybe one of the two or three (or maybe four, hm) central influences of that part of the piece.

I.

1. Living between each-other’s cracks, #What sort of crack's does the narrator speak of?
2. my insides are massaged by
3. these impermanent curves. #The narrator is having a bowel movement
4. Still, my thirst is never satiated. #And he can't get enough of it

5. Let woman be nigger. #nigger refers to a black or dark brown coloring

6. Let man be nigger. #nigger is the color of most flavors of excrement
7. Let child be nigger. #men, women, and children alike can all benefit from understanding their poop
8. Let loving black family be nigger.
9. Let starving, sick Africa #Africa - home of the excrement - the toliet, neglected and hated
10. (that shines in the fallen echo of Eden, #a very shiny porcelein toliet
11. green and gold and wealthy, but dying #crusted with various colors
12. because beauty cannot buy food or love) #(because it's beauty is scorned by humanity as filth)
13. be nigger. #be poop
14. We are living, we are dying,
15. inside each-other’s cracks. #what is inside our cracks has a greater effect on our lives than is commonly realized

16. and in five years, this pain can only become harsher. #as we age, we develop hemmorhoids and constipate easily

II.

17. It fades to the humdrum,
18. Bum-bum ching! goes the ash #sounds of the bowel movement, note: author seems to have misspelled "ass"
19. goes the gold, fueling another day’s addiction, #the act of pooping is beautiful and we are addicted to and rely upon it
20. as innocent dreams revert to ash. #yet we reject it's innocent beauty, and send it to obliteration
21. Space-ships fly so far, parallel #space-ships is an excellent symbol for the turds
22. boys competing in the woods
23. over whose piss flies farther, #more reference to our "waste" products, the naive of childhood is capable of celebrating it
24. This is the melting pot, #aka the toliet
25. this is life! #yes, the toliet is life
26. One moment, so loud #a magnificent trombonous explosion type poop
27. the next, a funeral-procession. #a soft rainy spatter type poop
28. But it fades to the hum-drum, #sadly, it comes to an end
29. we lived on the very top floor
30. & know it falls, too, into that grand Sadness. #it falls from our body, a missing part of us, and causes unexplained anxiety

III.

31. Sand is blown #the poop is broken down
32. over wide, crinkly dunes #and spread thin
33. that catch the sun-light,
34. divide its strength, and fracture its message #it is destroyed, we lose our connection to it, we lose a part of ourselves
35. into endless, blowing sand.
36. I can’t stand the Humdrum. #the narrator can't stand the lack of reverence we have for our excrement

37. Yet on the other side of this sleepy barroom conversation,
38. tragedy lies defeated, and nirvana-man #the one society calls insane, the hero of this poem
39. sings silently to himself as I babble,
40. he cherishes the eternal inescapable beauty
41. that I perceive as God’s most sadistic joke. #he sees the beauty in the poo that most humans see as vile
42. Inside his mind, love scissors through fear
43. and he’s the true poet, #because he shows his love for the poop, the poop rewards him
44. recording the beauty that’s so breath-taking,
45. celebrating the life-times that pass quietly by
46. and screaming in victory #only when we embrace our entire selves and stop hiding parts, can we be happy and complete
47. that “heaven is real,”
48. “life is good,”
49. “love is the way,”
50. and “Heaven is on Earth!” #it can be found, but not through conforming to convention
51. with every ounce of himself, every moment.
52. He dreams of beautiful oceans,
53. celebrating the bewilderingly-fantastic freedoms
54. of living between the cracks. #he is always content, as he embraces what is in his ass

There are parts of us that we hide, that we are ashamed of. Only when we embrace all that we are, including our excretory functions, can we truly be happy. Scorning our poop creates an unseen conflict between our unconsious self (the poop-lover), and our conscious self (the poop-hater). Only when such conflicts are resolved can life be lived as it was meant to be.

Overall, I really love this poem Mr. Frugo. I may even print this one off, because it really says some deep things about life and it is something that I would like to keep in mind. A true classic, no matter how you interpret it!

Indeed, I loath you.

This...well, I can't really offer an opinion on it because some of the words you used in here turned me off. But trying really hard to be open minded (breathing yoga...ahhhhh) i felt that it actually WAS a good poem. I liked how you divided it into different sections. And Roman numerals, thank god...I hate people who try to do that using numbers.

Yeah, "nigger" really is a dirty word, and I hate it, and I assure you, I was using it in what may be the only appropriate sense that I, a white boy, can use it in: to say, for instance, "student is nigger", "woman is nigger" etc. is saying that people treat them like black slaves. It's...really an expression, and its purpose is not to be offensive, it's purpose is to use a terrible situation and word to emphasize how terrible other oppression is.

It does add that feeling. You were successful.

Lol, the author got banned. In my opinion this poem is not offensive. Mr. Frugo does not assault anyone with his word choice. YWS is wrong if they are banning people for excersing free speech, especially when the appropriate rating was on the poem.

And now they've banned me too! Er...blocked my IP... Silly moderators

Yeah, whatever. Bye bye!