Get Your Premium Membership

Read Slovak Poems Online

NextLast
 

Au Revoir Oh Perilous Freedom

Au revoir oh perilous freedom...

Since pledging my troth
to the missus July 25th, 1996
after the comma error
punctuated mein kampf with disequilibrium.

Ever since the notions
of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
coalesced within the mindscape
attributed to one
or more anonymous forebears
way before the advent of civilization
when written language preserved
(homo sapiens communicated
virtual primal groans and grunts),

nevertheless witnessing inchoate awakening
visa vis dawning enlightenment
bajillions of years after
earth, wind and fire
affected ideal environment
for Beatle browed foo fighters
Nirvana oriented proto humans
among rival capital one group
of beastie boys versus another.

Each subsequent generation embodied
propensity to acquire heavenly delight
characterized courtesy
storied primeval human associations
to wrestle with promotion
of mental, physical and spiritual autonomy.

Once self-determination awoke
animal hides did cloak
daggers if antagonism occurred
especially as high society
coaxed fibers inviting village people
to invent legislation to evoke
amity particularly once firearms
witnessed proliferation of gunsmoke
(and the Western genre as film noir)
after shoot-'em-ups erupted,
when scapegoat mustered courage

(after chomping powder milk biscuits)
bad to the bone bully underestimated chutzpah
courtesy said shy person,
yours truly did invoke
adulation and garnered
within figurative keystroke
generated winning vote
cast strictly by menfolk
if I vouchsafed would
NOT be pig in a poke

as happened countless millenniums later,
when forty fifth president
of lands slated to become
United States of America
would try to revoke
his successor mudslinging him,
(the latter, a common joe biden time),
a veritable teetotaler,
who swore, he rarely took a toke.

Blame aforementioned 
blue collar Scranton boy yup
blimey bloke woke up 
after leaving Oval Office 
early one Autumn morning
bright eyed and bushy tailed 
after an eight year stint, 
whereby the electorate majority
approved former occupant 
of “Executive Mansion” 

(circa 2020 - 2028)
admitting admirable administration
donned hat of clown
earning a living wage 
and taking page from playbook of bozo,
who brought good humor and laughter, 
where tragedy wrought woe
visited webbed wired wide world 
(once trod upon by the noble savage 
as described by Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

whipping out trademark Dobro,
(a contraction of "Dopyera brothers" 
and a word meaning "goodness" 
in their native Slovak,
who introduced said instrument in 1928)
kickass nimble octogenarian 
(accompanied by the band 
Tripping Up Stairs) 
performed outstanding show
capering, dancing, gliding, 
high jumping, et cetera across the stage 

hither and yon, to and fro 
contagiously gifting, letting riotous hoopla
ring out across Land of Lake Wobegon
spontaneously kickstarting 
audience of senior citizens 
(including yours truly) 
to shuck off mantle of senescence 
(and clothes in the same process
after gaining courage 
to join Barenaked Ladies)
hooting and trumpeting nouveau
playfulness summoning 
rebirth of childlike spirit.

How carefree and ideal to identify 
with mindset of Alfred E Neuman 
Mad Magazine what me worry
unfortunately as a little boy
yours truly beset with mental health issues
Anorexia Nervosa the most serious
potential to develop healthily 
self starvation eradicated 
courtesy the expertise of psychiatrist 
Ted Goldberg my parents did employ
subsequently eating disorder 

manifested as hair obsession
with a vengeance,
when maybe some dozen years later
while completing a co-op
linkedin to enrollment at Antioch College 
at facility I chose called
Chicago Ecology Resource Center in Illinois,
and who should make 
a small teleporting cameo appearance, 
but none other than Leonard Nimoy,
albeit his likeness manufactured as plastic
popular gewgaw enterprising toy.

Courtesy the most flimsy tenuous 
designs linkedin to above lines 
availed and linkedin thru 
Unitarian Church affiliation while a youth,
(now negligible participant, 
who would never join any group 
that would accept me as a member)
an important connection throve with 1976 
Norristown Area High School alum
Frankie Augustine Junior a brain,
plus admirable ruler 
of tribbles and klingons to boot.

As an otherworldly webbed wordsmith,
I befriended said lad,
who became best earthling chum,
whose birthday (January eleventh 
nineteen fifty nine) two days before mine,
our camaraderie did rattle and hum
until he attended Rensselaer 
Polytechnic Institute (majoring 
in nuclear engineering) 
landing himself a plum job.

Our friendship since foundered
unlike the enterprising television show,
which captured the imaginations
of countless young and older people alike.

By 1986, 17 years after entering syndication, 
Star Trek considered 
the most popular syndicated series; 
by 1987, Paramount made $1 million 
from each episode; 
and by 1994, the reruns 
still aired in 94% of the United States.

Copyright © Matthew Harris

NextLast



Book: Shattered Sighs