Tuesday, December 1, 2009

In Lomo's Mind on a Cold Brooklyn Morning

KK
…I step off the subway and realize its cold again in Brooklyn. Again the wayward clouds play their old sun-hiding trick, and again the howling wind rushes between the buildings as if it's a hardened New Yorker on the way to catch a train. Again, Brooklyn is a dismal town. Even the Bangladeshis are wondering if it was really a good idea to come here. "What were we so lacking in Bangladesh that we had to come here?" they ask each other. The Puerto Ricans are asking each other the same question.

Yet they and we still walk these streets and politely let the hurried wind pass. And for what do we trudge through this daily rat-race when we don't really need a lot of money to get by on our own? Just to buy a better one of those accident-mobiles? Why? Just to impress some pampered, self-absorbed witch who wouldn't put-up with the slightest infringement when the time came? To trap yourself in a never-ending load of responsibilities only to raise and support more of the same unappreciative takers? All to continue the circle of Brooklyn life? Perhaps it’s just a mood I get into, but again the whole cycle seems pointless to me. ..or perhaps since I haven’t quite lived yet I can’t imagine giving my life up so fast..

(I’m attempting to write in that narrative style that most people find so natural, but just seems to allude me. Just needs some getting used to, ..but I've still got a ways to go.)

10 comments:

inkstainedhands said...

Well, G-d seems to think that the cycle isn't pointless, since He put you into this world.

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Well I never said "life" was pointless.

..and it's funny, because I wasn't thinking of this when I wrote this, but my namesake sad some pretty similar sentiments: "דּוֹר הֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא, וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עֹמָדֶת. וְזָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ, וְאֶל-מְקוֹמוֹ שׁוֹאֵף, זוֹרֵחַ הוּא שָׁם. הוֹלֵךְ אֶל דָּרוֹם וְסוֹבֵב אֶל צָפוֹן, סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב הוֹלֵךְ הָרוּחַ, וְעַל-סְבִיבֹתָיו שָׁב הָרוּחַ", etc. (beg. of Kohelet). I guess I didn't fall far from the tree!

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

It's just that starting a family can put you in a little pickle...you know.

inkstainedhands said...

But remember:
סוף דבר...

And you're making it sound like starting a family is some sort of burden that should be avoided as long as possible.

"Just to impress some pampered, self-absorbed witch who wouldn't put-up with the slightest infringement when the time came?"

Well, that's a cynical (and uncalled for) attitude and those are unnecessarily harsh words.

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

"you're making it sound like starting a family is some sort of burden that should be avoided as long as possible"- Well, it's a big responsility no? All of a sudden you want to go motorcycling in Wyoming and--you can't, you've got two babies and you can't go anywhere till they're married-off and you're 65!

"Well, that's a cynical (and uncalled for) attitude and those are unnecessarily harsh words"- Oh come now, you've been much harsher in your day. ; )

inkstainedhands said...

Well, if endangering one's life and going motorcycling in Wyoming is more important to an individual than raising a family and creating a Torah home, then yes, that individual should probably not be getting married until he straightens his priorities.

"Oh come now, you've been much harsher in your day."

I beg to differ.

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

"...then yes, that individual should probably not be getting married until he straightens his priorities."- See? You agree with me. ; )


"I beg to differ"- Oh come on, you've got your (word for a girl who hates guys?) tendencies at times and I've got my misogynistic tendencies at times!

inkstainedhands said...

A girl who hates guys? I'm sorry, but that seems to be describing another person, not me.

I dislike immature, selfish people in both male and female form; I don't discriminate. I also try not to generalize by judging the entire male population based on some rotten apples or negative experiences.

lirridum said...

nice writing

hehe trying narration
"keep a journal" they all say

my blog is from mine

there is a world out of brooklyn

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט said...

Ha. Thanks. Nice poetry you've got there..