Category Archives: identity

November 16, 2020 · 3:10 pm

The Sea Of Stuff – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: found on pinterest.com

“The nightmare of materialism, which has turned the life of the universe into an evil, useless game, is not yet past; it holds the awakening soul still in its grip.” Wassily Kandinsky

The Sea Of Stuff

To have is to drown in a sea of grasp,
like a pearl diver, weighting for the
deeper dive into mortality, driven by
addiction to the elusive hope that the
future past is more real than being
in the brevity of this present moment,
looking for meaning in the shifting 
shadows of the masquerade for which
we create the most elaborate fictions
for ourselves in metrics of the inanimate,
while our centre holds to true happiness.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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November 11, 2020 · 3:21 pm

Just Let Her Speak – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Peter is hosting Poetics and has invited us write a poem as witness (to a news event or an event).

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Poetry as Witness

Photo: Luke Stephenson, ABC News – Australian PM Scott Morrison interrupts Senator Anne Ruston who was asked about the culture of misogyny in the Australian Parliament, therefore ironically proving the point. The PM has long been questioned about his attitude to women. The question was set against the background of a public outing of government ministers who have had relationships (affairs) with their staffers (therefore a power relationship).

“Misogyny is hostility toward the women who threaten to remove the male status as superior to women.” Jill A. Stoddard

Just Let Her Speak

She appeared dressed for the microphone,
I even saw her lips move in pantomime,
but you voiced her down,
wrapping her in shrouds of misogyny,
swaddled her in your patriarchal goitre,
and gave your words to her lips
as you pigeon-chested the throng
with your smirk faced denouement,
a coda of lament for the poor boys
whose groins yearned for possession
of skirted public property,
how could you possibly listen
let alone reflect,
you members of parliament erect,
she appeared dressed for the microphone,
just let her speak.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Note: Misogyny:  from the Greek misein (μισειν) hate + gyne (γυνε) woman.

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August 27, 2020 · 1:38 pm

She – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: Getty Images

“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” Frida Kahlo

She

She had given of herself in a longitude
of fertile generosity wide,
though not yet the best of her,
for something felt stirs at 
her very core unleashed,
but time has dimmed her memory
now leaden with struggles past,
of the glories of her youth where
she learned to conquer the world
and make it shine.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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August 19, 2020 · 2:52 pm

Only Dreams – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Lisa at dVerse has invited us to write a poem using the word (or derivative of) clown. dVerse Poets – Poetics – Clowning Around

Photo: pixabay.com

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” Anais Nin

Only Dreams

We were agog in teens town,
all oxford bags and platforms
and we knew that the answers were
always at the back of the book,
there were no questions then,
only dreams to be made true,
including Romy, but she left the
party early, restless as always,
"Mate, don't be a clown, go after her"
they urged as if it were a sport,
but if it were the rules were unclear,
and I knew that her street smarts
would expose my innocent bravado,
so I clowned inside.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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August 13, 2020 · 3:17 pm

Exquisite – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

VJs Weekly Challenge – Taste

Photo: wallpaperflare.com

“…. true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.” Audrey Hepburn

Exquisite

The recipe was not lost,
simply one off,
never to be repeated, 
just one pinch of shyness,
a sprig of humour,
some joy generously added,
an abundance of love
layered in all its flavours,
with a dash of awareness 
and finished with a quiet
confidence lightly held,
such an exquisite being,
to taste her
is to taste the strength that 
holds everything together.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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July 26, 2020 · 3:13 pm

A Certain Substance – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

VJs Weekly Challenge – Quotation

VJ invited us to write using part or all of the following quotation by Maria Popova: “Strive to be uncynical, to be a hope-giving force, to be a steward of substance.”

Photo: popsugar.co.uk Veteran Captain Tom Moore who on the eve of his 100th birthday raised money for the British National Health Service charities by doing sponsored laps of his home. £32 million!

A Certain Substance

He had an air about him,
a certain substance that wove 
itself into his every movement,
as a weaver makes a cloth,
so he wove the fabric of his life
in neat, yet colourful rows,
with just enough peculiarity
to stand out in a crowd for
the right amount of notice
while retaining dignity,
a man of gravitas.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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July 20, 2020 · 2:03 pm

Yet You Are Blind – poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: http://www.pedestrian.tv Photo shows indigenous Australians as prisoners, shackled at Roebourn gaol, 1896. Today the rate of indigenous incarceration is high at %29 of the total prison population. There is little sign of that changing, not any change in the underlying and predisposing issue of poverty and inequality.

“Racism is a disease in society. We’re all equal. I don’t care what their colour is, or religion. Just as long as they’re human beings they’re my buddies.” Mandawy Yunupingu 

Yet You Are Blind

You can see clearly
yet you are blind to
the plight of your neighbour,
stealing their humanity for the
price of their lives which paid for 
the privilege of your wilful ignorance,
paved in the blood of their dignity,
bargained for the murderous dogma
prosecuted in the name of your right
to smile on suffering and misery
as you squash their lives for the turn 
of a dollar and smug satisfaction of
the exercise of your power.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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July 12, 2020 · 1:48 pm

If It Did – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: Human Metamorphosis by Taylor James, found on My Modern Met.

“Nothing ever really goes away, it just changes into something else. Something beautiful.” Sarah Ockler

If It Did

But
what if I wasn't,
or if I couldn't,
maybe never would,
and what if I didn't, well, 
would it really matter?
Because if it did, perhaps
you'd change your mind?
Whatever your disposition,
this dissonance won't leave.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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June 17, 2020 · 1:08 pm

The Sheer Exhaustion – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Anmol at dVerse has invited us to write a poem about Pride – LGBQTI. dVerse Poets

Photo: http://www.noircity.com Still from the series Babylon Berlin set during the heady days of the Weimar Republic, showing Severija Janusauskaite playing the cabaret artist Svetlana Sorokina. The series acknowledges the tension of the hedonism bewteen the wars, but also that the Republic acknowledged equality between men and women and sought to diminish traditional gendered roles.

“I feel like my body is in a waiting room.” Aimee Herman

The Sheer Exhaustion

The sheer exhaustion of externalities
enshrined in binary kitsch,
a black and white vaudeville,
pastiche of indoctrination,
a schema for knowing precisely 
where to park your genitals
and how to deport them,
cover them, name them
as if they were you,
betraying the fluid heart
and a free mind,
erasing true self,
denying the verb to be
in favour of determination
and benchmarked judgements
of approval.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

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