My style is not refined
And that might be how I'm defined
Though conventional wisdom I defied
It's in the heart of poetry I reside
My heart bursts with words
All I want is my soul to be heard
For this is my tonic, my cure
That will leave my spirit pure
Monolithic testaments to my aspiration
Have sometimes fueled exasperation
I might have done it for the attention
But all I want is an arbitrary mention
I may not have a poetic voice
But my words are more than noise
And if it's a little verbose
That's just me I do suppose
ckering beauty
Enticing force
To draw ever closer
suddenly, I'm toast.
Succumb to attraction
is to draw to the heat.
Conventional wisdom
calls for retreat.
If I soar ever upward
away from the flame,
I'll enjoy the warmth
and finish this game.
I hover in silence.
I hover alone.
Force and determination
draw me toward home.
There may be beauty and new opportunity in death, but am I ready for it yet?
A kind of cultural sensitivity,
that strengthens discovery; a space
for identity and history.
It’s a style of thought,
chosen to highlight its core;
A lengthy discourse that
acts and synthesizes.
Significant efforts that deal
with elements of change.
It’s a trend to implicitness
that evolves on the Asian heartland.
Discoveries and re-discoveries
about Asianness or Orientalism,
its nature and institutional sense
has its roots to share; a wealth of faith.
Features of the colonial past
reflect the emergence and growth
of that conventional wisdom;
At the same time, a reaction –
to sensitivty and understanding.
It’s an important element to draw
and carry out integration anew;
with other cultures or global forces
in developing nations; a relationship
a blend of strength, a sharing of gifts.
Asia seeks and grapples
with a great deal of systems;
In a world market swamped
with Eurocentric mindsets, a challenge-
a reinforcement that has its semantic shield,
that defends otherness and people with differences.
He Puts His Pants on One Leg at a Time
By Elton Camp
This is a flip expression that I’ve always hated
For to demean somebody’s success it is related
This bit of conventional wisdom is made known
Often about the president or a king on his throne
But for any ridiculers, I have a starling bit of news
Pants can go on two legs at the time if you choose
In my case, since first wearing pants I did begin
I stand them up and with both legs jump right in
Or flat on the floor a fellow could decide to lie
Raise legs, pull pants on both he could easily try
So you mockers, why not lay this old saying to rest
Men can put on their pants in the way they see best
Conventional wisdom means:
Compliments
Smiles
Artificial flowers
Restraint and order
It’s like an English garden
Trimmed and accurate
Where nature is masked
And curves are beaten
It’s like an artificial flavour
Disguising the sweetness
Of the fruit
To constrain, to restrain
To hide, to abstain
Conventional wisdom is
Quiet and nice
Polished and wise
Yet sometimes like volcanic
Magma the feelings burst
Out unconventionally
Proclaiming my spirit my
Pain my laughter my
Essence – unconventional
And wild – like
The howling wind
The ocean storm where
Everything is thrown aside
And gets very messy
And not very quiet and wise like
An English Garden
We live in a free verse universe.
And yet, some want conformity
when it serves their own purpose.
Societal rules do not apply to all.
The only thing that is consistent
is the inconsistency of things.
Life’s only normality is
the abnormality of life.
For some, a free verse universe is a curse;
It is synonymous with chaos.
For others, anything less would be too confining;
Slavery in the disguise of conventional wisdom.
Even the laws of nature have blurred boundaries;
Bumble bees defy the laws of physics
and can only fly in the free verse universe.
Try to demand conformity
and you are doomed to fail.
Try to exist with non-conformity
and anarchy will rule.
The irony of it all?
There are defined parameters for meeting the
definition of a free verse universe.
Fly little bee, fly.
"You must go fourth and one!" They all shout.
while conventional wisdom they flout
Yet Lombardi once said:
"Never waver, instead,
put the three on the board and get out."
If
one is a coincidence,
and
two is a trend.
Then...
Three is an emerging pattern.
Four is a set schedule.
Five is an unwritten rule.
Six is conventional wisdom.
Seven is accepted practice.
Eight is standard procedure.
Nine is etched in stone.
Ten is the law of the land.