Ironic Distancing
The mind wanders
I think of a word that rhymes with ‘banker’
and marvel at how
in the middle of a global crisis
my brain still tilts
towards the trivial, the juvenile.
I try a sound poem
panic, pandemic, pandemonium
but it’s missing something,
panache, perhaps.
I make up a joke involving Peter Pan
but decide now is not the time to share it.
I detect the late onset of maturity
and feel depressed.
I text some friends,
we try to out-snide each other
but after a while
we are all chewing on the same bone.
I’m besieged by an idiocy of idioms –
the whole nine yards
the whole kit and caboodle
and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
I re-assess my relationship with surfaces
I can no longer count on
that counter to lean on,
and as someone inclined
to whistle past the graveyard
walk past the writing on the wall
I have to admit
that the object in the mirror
was a lot closer
than it first appeared.
I write a haiku
four in the morning
moon shining on toilet bowl
porcelain pathway.
Watch your back! Basho!
Taking part in open link weekend over at earthweal.
Stopdraggingthepanda 
Oh my goodness, I enjoyed this so much! The out-sniding each other, the untold joke, the being at loose ends. I am glad to be old in this age as staying in suits my energy level. Smiles. Your poem lifted my spirits and made me smile. Loved it!!!
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The haiku finale is the perfect touch!
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Love the Haiku ending!
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Excellent, especially the ending lines. (K)
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“I detect the late onset of maturity/ and feel depressed…” Okay, I was smiling up til this line, but then I had to bark out a laugh, that uncomfortable sort where the truth is a little too close for comfort. Fortunately, by the ending haiku I had set down my coffee. This delivers irony as titled, in spades, and every bone that’s chewed leaves the skeletal remains of our current reality lying there discarded, but impossible to ignore. Really enjoyed this skillful, thoughtful and quite amusing take.
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I’m besieged by an idiocy of idioms –
and you certainly found quite a few at 4:00 am. The mind does seem to stir with unusual thoughts at that time of the morning.
I enjoyed this read and it made me smile and smiles are rare today.
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It’s whistling in the dark here for me, which beats cowering or clubbing. Keen edges here in this vatic doodle. – B
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Thanks Brendan…now you’ve gone and made me look up “vatic”…!
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I couldn’t help smiling at the word that rhymes with ‘banker’, Jim – I immediately though of the trivial and juvenile! Playing word association football in the middle of a pandemic is a great idea. My favourite lines:
‘I detect the late onset of maturity
and feel depressed.’
I know that feeling – ad the scenario in the haiku is familiar too!
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