March 31, 2022 · 4:12 pm
↓ Jump to Comments

Mean Street – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: Sammy-Sander at pixabay.com

“You are the hero of your own story.” Joseph Campbell

Mean Street

The hero's journey is very bleak,
everyone tells you as if you never knew,
they hold you as a child in your place
knowing that you are nothing of the sort,
fearful of your confident advance,
they neutralise your every step,
hoping against your success and
waiting for your tumble with pregnant
glee, rather than see you, know you,
as real.



Copyright 2022 ©Paul Vincent Cannon
All Rights Reserved ®

24 Comments

Filed under awareness, Free Verse, identity, injustice, life, poem, quote

Tagged as , ,

24 responses to “Mean Street – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon”

  1. ben Alexander
    March 31, 2022 at 5:06 pm

    so true, Paul. so many of us are raised for mediocrity.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. blindzanygirl
    March 31, 2022 at 5:10 pm

    Very true

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • pvcann
      April 1, 2022 at 3:48 pm

      Indeed, I think I’ve had enough (I retire today, a sudden decision yet long held, sudden in the timing) I think we hold similar views of the way things are in work and institutions.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Liz Gauffreau
        April 1, 2022 at 6:51 pm

        Congratulations, Paul! From the tenor of your poetry recently, I’ve been concerned about you. My retirement last August came about the same way. Decision made in April, couldn’t bring myself to do it until July. One too many splendiferous raiment speeches from the naked emperor: I submitted my resignation the same day.

        Liked by 1 person

      • pvcann
        April 2, 2022 at 4:06 am

        I certainly get that. I was treated with indifference and when I tried to explain some of the issues that were like a powder keg head office simply said let it go. My issues were around the stupidity of congregational life, head office politics and self-serving nature, the fact that insurance companies now dictate our policy and behaviour …… I was also attacked last year by a street person and there was an indifference to my PTSD as if it should all just go away after the allotted 6 sessions. Gah!!!! So I just thought, I can’t fight this stuff, and they’ll just blame so I’m out and just beginning to like it. 🙂 thank you Liz.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Liz Gauffreau
      April 2, 2022 at 9:10 pm

      You’re welcome, Paul. I hope you find retirement as fulfilling as I do.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  4. rugby843
    March 31, 2022 at 5:47 pm

    Love the photo. It speaks of many different “heroes”

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  5. Jennifer Arimborgo
    March 31, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    There will always be opposition to those courageous enough to be heroes for sure!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  6. Priscilla Bettis
    April 1, 2022 at 2:34 pm

    Excellent poem. Unfortunately, I do thing there are people who are gleeful when others stumble.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Pingback: Mean Street – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon – Nelsapy

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.