CEREBRAL HYPOXIA.

seven in the morning

feels like burnt toast

and endless coffee,

to wake me up

for nothing at all.

the peaking sun

a dull and distant ember,

igniting the path

to discover

more of the same.

you can fan the flames

with folded newspaper,

but arousing the fire

is harder than

it sounds.

i used to love it here.

yes, i loved it here,

but now i just

know my way around.

passion and proficiency 

are never interchangeable.

Reviews

[redzone]

Losing the passion for life and just going through the motions, is indeed "hypoxia", the lack of oxygen. I don't think you are alone in this feeling. The world around us is imploding. Who we are, what we have become, or are becoming, is stealing the air from our lungs. After all, a robot needs no oxygen or passion to be proficient. Your poem is deeply felt Emunah, and appreciated.

-Curt

[Lorry]

My first thought rather strangely went back to the coved lockdown, so forgive if I am off a tad on this one, but to me at least it sounds like what I saw in hospital staffs eyes as they dealt with the worst nightmare to ever hit us.
I mean, why is it only in bad times do we see the service for what it is, barely clinging on under all the strain it's put under and once lockdown eased, did we learn? Did nursing staff get a free months holiday in the Seychelles and massive enumeration, which is a very bigly word for three minutes past 6am!
It was in their eyes, or rather wasn't. They had lost the sparkle of doing a valued job and all they got in return was more risk of infection themselves and a Thursday night clap!
We acted like we cared, but now that it's over we just find newer and stranger ways of taking up their time and making them do that silent sigh that itches your soul.
Your last line sums it up perfectly.

[.]

This poem flows and flows and feels like a hot cheese in my mind… i love the effect, i love the taste, i love the use… image at the start is so powerful. And the feeling and thoughts at the end is even way more powerful. I keep reading again and again, and i am sure this is one of favorite poems i read in here. I just loved the use of everything here! Wonderful! Such talent and i am so happy to read you!

[carl]

passion and proficiency
are never interchangeable.

Great lines full of insight and understanding - Sounds like the mike drop ending a classic break up song - not to diminish the beauty of your expressive words - as evidence I submit what I think are quint essential break up songs - It's All Over Now Baby Blue, and Don't Think Twice It's Alright.
- Enjoyed your work - great use of alterations in third stanza - carl

[jacob erin-cilberto]

This makes me go in two directions. I think of my retirement and how part of me feels that my proficiency and passion have retired also.
Another part of me reads this like a relationship with no spark anymore...as in Carole King's "It's too Late"---

"It used to be so easy living here with you, you were light and breezy and I knew just what to do. NOw, you seem so unhappy...."
Yeah, like that. This piece is so wistful...I felt a slam of emotion.
j.

[Emunah June.]

Jacob, I always enjoy your reviews. I know you're always going to be honest and thoughtful.

This is more about feeling little to no pleasure in life as of late. I do things mostly for the sake of going through the motions, less for the joy of it.