for old time's sake

for old time's sake

 

 

 

in a subjunctive mood

the verb sought

to pluralize itself

 

but the spell checker 

inspected

objected

rejected

 

as if it were its job

or as if it was its job

or,

 

as if i were to write this poem

from a plural-self point-of-view

a hyphenation fest

 

the spell checker 

might inspect

object

reject

 

just as if it were

a God without feeling

telling me

 

"it's not personal,

just business."

 

 

erin-cilberto

12/29/2020

Reviews

[Stella Armour]

Spell checkers have no sense of poetic meaning, .... i know what i want the word to say and to h* with precise technology lol..

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes yes yes...technology, pooey....
thank you, Stella....
the checkers have no sense in general.

[VelvetPotato]

I have never thought of the spell checker as God, but this brings a whole new light to it. The spell checker is Big Brother. Always watching.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, Big Brother...we are in 1984 as a time warp...that year will never end.
I know I dropped the gun and thought I took the cannoli ....I thought I did.
thank you , V.P.

j.

[Eilis]

I love this, Jacob. It reminds me of Billy Collins’ poem about poetry and how his students want to tie a poem to a chair and force a confession from it. Sometimes the rules or technicalities come between the art and receiver. Sometimes we need to just allow ourselves to be open to the what rather than the how. Kind of makes me think of the debate about whether you need to understand a poet’s life to understand the poetry. Certainly not, if you allow the poetry to talk. But sometimes that is not an easy thing to do. Great poem.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I feel that as a reader, Eilis, you certainly do let the poetry talk...I find too many readers try to psychoanalyze the poet...
often a poem is just a poem...and can have significant meaning for each individual, regardless of what was going through the poet's head at the time.
And that Billy Collins' poem is one that I teach in my 102 class.
By the time we do that poem, the students all seem to grasp the idea that we don't want to "beat a confession" out of the poem....we just need to "hold it up to the light" or "put our ear to it"--

thank you for your kind review,
j.

[Light and ashes]

You're SO good, Jacob. Bravo.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

you are kind, Light...thank you.
j.

[Light and ashes]

You're welcome. :)

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

As always a creative use of metaphors.

You can try to rewrite your destiny but the ending will always be the same

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind words, Dale,
j.