There are old posts that were written years ago yet they attract readers every single day since then. One such post is “Mary Oliver’s “Singapore” As a Pseudo-Liberal’s Manifesto.” I just reread it, and I still agree with myself completely.

13 responses to “A Popular Old Post”

  1. cliff arroyo Avatar

    Random thoughts

    How is the work in question a poem? Making random line breaks in prose passages doesn’t/shouldn’t mean it’s poetry.

    It doesn’t have to rhyme or scan but there needs to be some kind of conscious manipulation of language forms to make it poetry (for me) and I can’t find those.

    On the incident my first reaction was that the janitor was smiling because she’s been told to smile in any interactions with travellers and/or she’s been caught doing something she’s been told not to do (washing ashtrays in toilets makes no sense whatsoever and sounds like an unapproved improvization) and hoping she won’t get in trouble.

    Bonus question for anyone who might know: Who (ethnicity) worked as menial labor in Singapore in 1990?

    But yeah, full of “I’m so sensitive, worship me!” attitude.

    What is your definition of a third world country?

    Like

    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      “RANDOM THOUGHTS” (A free-form poem by Cliff Arroyo)

      How is the work

      in question a poem? Making random line

      Breaks in prose passages doesn’t/

      shouldn’t mean it’s!

      Poetry.

      It doesn’t have to

      rhyme or scan but there needs to be some kind of?

      Conscious manipulation of language.

      Forms to make it

      poetry.

      (For me);

      and I can’t

      Find those.

      There, fixed it for you, Cliff. Your classic thirteen-line free-verse masterpiece in now ready to be submitted to The Atlantic, and you should demand at least one-hundred dollars per line for this literary spectacular.

      Like

      1. Jones Avatar
        Jones

        i shall now be here

        writing in a haiku style

        to be annoying

        🙂

        Like

    2. Clarissa Avatar

      I don’t see much artistic value in this either but English speakers do tend to refer as poetry to pretty much anything.

      Like

  2. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    It’s bizarre that she picks Singapore, of all places, to patronize. Has she even been to Singapore? I lived in Singapore for a few months, and it’s an extremely technologically advanced and globalized city-state.

    Like

    1. Clarissa Avatar
  3. Z Avatar

    Oliver is intolerable but many affluent Americans who are depressed and trying to meditate like her, I have noticed.

    Like

    1. cliff arroyo Avatar

      “affluent Americans who are depressed and trying to meditate”

      Did you mean meditate or (self)-medicate?

      meditate? She puts her readers in a trance?

      medicate? She dulls the senses?

      Like

      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        “Did you mean meditate or (self)-medicate?”

        No answer this late at night, just an observation: Google the words “Meditate or medicate,” and you will receive many webpages showing links to dozens of articles debating the subject at length.

        If you’re interested, you will find more than enough material to keep you reading all night.

        At this point in my life, I will leave that argument to other people whose decisions on the issue will outlive me. GOODNIGHT!

        Like

      2. Jones Avatar
        Jones

        Does Western Buddhism come in tablet or capsule form?

        [… try sitting zazen, and if that doesn’t work, take two of these and call your sangha in the morning …] 🙂

        Like

      3. Z Avatar

        Metitate, Cliff Arroyo. She is supposed to be full of homely wisdom for people who are trying to be “mindful” — .

        Like

      4. Z Avatar

        *meditate

        She has homely wisdom
        for readers who
        need
        it
        and are trying to be
        mindful

        Like

  4. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    I attempt to meditate
    (self) medicate
    mediate
    the war between wakefulness and sleep
    medi -ate?
    kale broccoli
    spinach
    cruciferous crucified vegetables
    make one
    smell like lucifer
    lucid sulfur
    my zantac doesn’t work any more.
    I feel guilty, Dr. Oz…
    where is the rainbow?
    I can’t taste it
    anymore.
    Does my heart burn
    or it it…
    sdfah;lhuqgjpitgfnhpp

    Like

Leave a comment