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Press On, Regardless
Conduct a full internal audit,
Then throw all caution to the wind.
Expect a decent measured plaudit
No hypercritic can rescind.
And if you think you can’t do better
It’s time that you should think again.
Follow the rulebook to the letter,
And pay no heed to careless men.
No matter what you do, your critics
Will try to drag you through the mud,
But half-baked psychoanalytics,
Though they may sting, will draw no blood.
Preserve your strength, for you will need it
When doubts begin to weigh you down,
And if the Beast awakens, feed it—
Increase thereby your own renown.
It’s fortunate that God’s existence
Does not depend on one’s belief.
You know that you can go the distance,
So let the fond farewells be brief.
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Here’s the Deal
Angel of death, please send your grimmest reaper
Directly to the houses of those folks
Who render me the butt of constant jokes,
So I may then become a sounder sleeper
In debt to you alone: My constant prayers
Shall evermore be offered in thy name.
And as for beastly men who would defame
Me, tame them all and drive them from their lairs,
And to their offspring do the same, until
Their generations stagger and collapse.
When I am lost on land I beg for maps,
But when I’m lost at sea I need your skill
To guarantee my passage to a harbor
That’s safe from storms which gather on the Deep.
If you’ll allow me time to catch some sleep,
Then I’ll instruct my monthly-summoned barber
To cut my hair in any style you choose.
You are my favorite deity—through thick
And thin, no matter whether I am sick
Or healthy. You’re my go-to guy, my muse,
The fount of privileges I will abuse
Until I’m beaten senseless with a stick.
first published in the author’s e-chapbook A Walk in the Dark (2007)
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C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden. Hundreds of his poems have appeared in scores of print and electronic journals out of North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Australia and India. His collection, Mortal Soup and the Blue Yonder was published in 2013 by White Violet Press.
If you never take a walk in the dark, how can you appreciate the light?
Both are thought provoking and technically brilliant as always.
Yeah, Mike. In for a dime, in for a dollar. One must always be careful where one walks, with eyes open wide.
I, too, enjoyed both. Press On finely captures some thinking that’s quite frequent at this end. Excellent work, Sir.
There are times, Russel, when I feel I’m speaking directly to you, and this is one of them.
I’ll take that as quite a compliment, especially given that I’m no closer to your league as a poet than I am as a gardener.
Kip, these are a couple of really tough-minded and kick-ass poems. This is the stuff we need — not hearts-and-flowers emoting. And they are structurally flawless.
That’s heartening, Joseph. You will have noticed that the second poem was first published due to the indulgence of our departed friend, Leo.
Your deal with the angel of death had me simultaneously looking at the technical aspects of the poem and the entertaining content. I can’t think of anyone else who presents the truths of life in such an eminently readable form.
Well thank you, David, but as for “anyone else,” I have in the past suggested Richard Wilbur and Stephen Edgar.
Yes, you have indeed. Better to say that you are up there with fine company.
“Press On” has irrational recommendations if the whole poem represents a program. But with “Regardless” as governing principle, feeding the beast half-baked pyschoanalytics may serve.
Yikes, Margaret! I hit my head on the nail I had hammered into the ceiling joist to hold the drawstring of my bag of bad advice, but you have hit the nail on the head. The only program here was to titillate or disgust the reader. I do not pass myself off as a deep moral philosopher.
More thanks than usual for a comment from someone who can see right through me.
C.B., these poems get straight to the gritty point with poetic punch and panache. They have a ‘to thine own self be true’ feel about them that makes me want to pick up my pen and kick ass… linguistically, of course. Thank you for the inspiration!
Well,… ok, but don’t you think that I might have gone a bit too far with impetuousness (in the first one) and with pride and avarice (in the second)?
Realistically, yes. Fictively, absolutely not!