.

S O S

Keep the fleecy wolves from bleating.
Hold the pack of jackals back.
Seize the greedy grubbers eating
Scraps from bowls of those who lack.
Bar the charlatans from cheating.
Quell the yak of quack and hack.
Snare the fat cats trick-or-treating—
Stealing sweets and doling flack.
Spare the chilled from overheating.
Steer the hotheads back on track.
Stop the parrots from repeating
Facts that make the stoic crack.
__Hear our words and heed our wishes.
__Feed the famished bread and fishes.
__Show the cheerless where the bliss is.
__Save__Our__Souls

Leash the war dogs. Splash some splendor
On this sphere of spleen and spite.
Force the shady to surrender
To the dazzle of the light.
Puncture every puffed pretender
With the marvel of your might.
Slay the dragon. Save the tender-
Hearted from the tyrant’s bite.
Fatten hopes (however slender)—
Nourish dreams through famine’s blight.
Warn the fork-tongued, horned offender—
Now’s the time to flee in fright.
__Soothe our pain and smooth our sorrow.
__There is no more time to borrow.
__Bless us with a bright tomorrow.
__Save__Our__Souls

.

.

Susan Jarvis Bryant is a poet originally from the U.K., now living on the Gulf Coast of Texas.


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49 Responses

  1. T. M.

    Brilliant. Sparkles with clever rhymes and oh-so-apt epithets. The rhythm is so brisk the poem fairly rushes over itself. It preaches like a stump speech or a rallying cry. And the prayers are the perfect SOS. Thanks for this poem.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      T.M. – thank you for reading and thank you so very much for your comment. It’s much appreciated. I’m thrilled you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  2. Jeffrey Essmann

    LOVVVVVVVE the roll of this, Susan. It just keeps moving along and nothing can get in its way. As I read it, I got the image of a marching band leading the townsfolk to the county fairgrounds for a revival meeting–and God knows we need revival! Thanks so much for this. It’s so lively, so wonderful, I may not need my afternoon tea! Hope all is well, Jeffrey

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Jeffrey, what a glorious comment, and what a huge compliment. I know the wonder of afternoon tea (being daily partaker myself) and to have written a poem invigorating enough to replace a refreshing cuppa is high praise indeed. Thank you very much!

      Reply
  3. Paul A. Freeman

    Amen, to that.

    ‘Leash the war dogs. Splash some splendor
    On this sphere of spleen and spite.’

    I think I’ll make this my mantra.

    Reply
  4. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Another poem for the ages with depth of thought and compelling power of speech. This one could have been written a thousand years ago and still be trenchant in your delivery of images that bite and stir the soul. Greatness is found in such poems, and I am the fortunate reader and imbiber of the messages lurking there and expressed with perfection.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Roy, what a wonderful comment. Thank you so very much. These words are particularly stirring: “This one could have been written a thousand years ago…” – I keep asking myself why the world never learns from history. Sadly, the answer is out there. History is being reinterpreted continually. I wonder why it’s taken me until this age to realize it… or has the skewing of past events reached new heights?

      Reply
  5. Warren Bonham

    Great message and great rhymes. I particularly liked the way you rhymed “bliss is” with fishes and wishes. If the cheerless knew where to truly find bliss, we wouldn’t have any of these issues to deal with.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Warren, thank you so much. If only those cheerless chumps out there would lighten up, brighten up and quit their bitching and battle cries – bliss may well have a chance of shining its gift on a world seething with misery and mayhem. One can but hope those stirring the pot will look above and beyond the materialistic world they worship.

      Reply
  6. Russel Winick

    I love this poem too, Susan, for all of the reasons others have already expressed. “Hold the pack of jackals back” — I sure hope so!!!

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you very much, Russel – the jackals and jackasses of the world have way too much power… as ever.

      Reply
  7. Joseph S. Salemi

    Wow, what beautiful trochaics! And all of them in the imperative voice!

    Ending both sections with the drumbeat of a molossus (Save Our Souls) is a great touch.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Joe – thank you kindly for this encouraging comment. I’m thrilled you like it.

      Reply
  8. Mark Stellinga

    Now this is what I’d call a brain-straining ‘workout’, young lady. The ‘messages’ are spot on, as always, and the ‘structure’ is as good as it gets. It’s actually fun-to-read!

    Spare the soul who means to save us,
    Guard him as he works the ‘stump’,
    Bless him for the good he gave us –
    Hold your nose and vote for Trump.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Mark, thank you very much for your lovely comment and for your topical verse… what more could I ask?

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      James, I love this whimsical comment… so creative, so apt, and so appreciated. Thank you!

      Reply
  9. Margaret Coats

    Prayers for saving souls are the kind that always gets an answer. Keep them coming!

    Reply
  10. Cynthia Erlandson

    Wow — just wow! What a pyrotechnic display of insistent rhythm, alliterative phrases, internal rhymes, brilliant wordplay (“Fatten hopes however slender; Nourish dreams through famine’s blight.”)! How could God say no to such a prayer, demanding though it is?

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Cynthia, I just love your comment – especially the “demanding” observation. I happen to believe the forthright approach is the best… no pussyfooting, no obfuscating, just plain raw honesty that’s straight from the heart – warts and all. After all, He who knows our hearts knows exactly what we’re after… even if our words are too quiet for others to discern them. Thank you very much for reading and always inspiring.

      Reply
    • Paul A. Freeman

      I read the poem as calling for understanding, moderation and restraint in the currently tense socio-political climates, both domestic and global.

      Reply
      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        Thank you, Paul – yes, there is that aspect to consider, as well as others. I like it when a poem leaves room for the reader, and I am pleased this one seems to have done that.

    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you, Yolanda, for reading and commenting. Your words are much appreciated. This poem is a little mysterious by design. I wanted to say it with imagery… I wanted to create an atmosphere more than an overt statement… but it’s all in there (I hope) if one has the time and inclination to dig deep enough. I am a fan of clarity, so I’m treading a fine line with this one.

      Reply
  11. Yael

    Amen to that Susan! This is mighty fine poetry, which I enjoy reading several times over. I love the rhymes, alliterations, and the rhythm for the auditory delights they create, while I enjoy the mental images which the words convey in the visual space of my mind. Can’t ask for more, except perhaps a Bluegrass backing track and a fiddle break:)

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Yael, I love your comment – especially the “Bluegrass backing track and a fiddle break” – what better way to deliver this poem for maximum impact! Thank you very much indeed!

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      “Ego mania manipulation” is something this world could most certainly do without, Norma. Thank you very much for taking the time to read and to comment.

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Absolutely, Dave! There are a whole slew of swindlers needing to be whipped from temples these days.

      Reply
  12. Cheryl Corey

    “Quell the yak of quack and hack.”? What a line! What a rhyme! I try to say it three times fast & I just can’t.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Cheryl, I laughed as I wrote that line… I wanted to capture the incessant yak attack from quacks and hacks who lack the honesty and ability to keep our country on track.

      Reply
  13. Brian A. Yapko

    I absolutely love this poem, Susan, with its prayer imperatives and its litany of the evils that good people face in this modern world – although every evil you mention goes all the way back through the mists of history.

    The poetry itself — as we would expect — is admirably constructed in a unique form of trochaic tetrameter. There is an almost incantory quality to the poem — its rhythm fueld by imperatives — that I suspect owes something to the witches in Macbeth. But that is an essentially stylistic aspect of the poem rather than a reflection of the content — other than that your speaker does seem to be engaged in casting an incantory prayer rather than a spell in order to bring about a deeply desired result. Especially with those unexpected rhyming tercets which lead to the ultimate SOS plea. And I suspect the number 3 here leading up to the prayer is no coincidence.

    But I must confess that on first reading I found the poem cryptic. A cris de coeur, certainly. But it’s not a plaintive poem but an action-oriented one with one particular focus: The imperative verb: save, which feels issued as both a plea and a commandment. And who can ignore your title – the only Morse code most people know and a clear distress call to “Save Our Ship.” (The resonance of “ship of state” strikes me as a felicitous coincidence more than an intended reading. But maybe that’s why you chose the title. You will tell us, I’m sure.)

    Ultimately, the ambiguity I found was in the direct object to which your imperative “SAVE” with reference to souls. Why souls? Why not save our world? Save our lives? Save our country? Save our democracy? Save our families? Save our sanity? No. You chose souls. Those other objects may have some bearing on your work because you present issues social, political and spiritual – but ultimately your focus is on the spiritual. The implication is what really matters: souls matter. The rest, though not unimportant, is secondary. What does it avail one to gain the whole world and lose one’s soul?
    That first line puzzled me until I recognized this overarching theme. Yes, you are talking about wolves in sheep’s clothing. In fact, you couldn’t be clearer but for some reason it took me more than one reading to get that – perhaps because none of the other wrongdoers that you mention are presented in all of their straightforward vileness and/or misguidedness. But it’s the wolves who are the greatest danger to the subject – and object – of your poem. Souls. You are very smart in the way you set this up because in the end we realize that all of these “subsidiary” evils – the fat cats, the greedy grubbers – are practitioners not just of greed and deception but spiritual warfare. Jesus warned us about such wolves. Our very souls are under attack and we need to wake up to that. Under attack from political candidates, from social justice warriors, from within the church itself. We are under attack from nefarious parties we don’t even recognize as deceptive! How do we cope with this attack? Recognizing the attack is a good place to start. And then recognizing our desperate need for divine intervention – and asking for it – is a good strategy to deal with it.

    This poem is of course a prayer. You make the focus on soul-saving and who else can do that but a God who is both Creator and Redeemer? Your imperatives are all prayers (aren’t most prayers thus? Give us this day our daily bread? Grant us peace?) But in your poem they are not the simple imperatives we expect in church. Reading between the lines (and the lines, too!) there is despair and a deep impatience for God to get on with it. Yours is a one-sided conversation without offering comfort or assurance as to the result. SOS. Will we be rescued in time?

    This is outstanding work, Susan. It is very powerful and, I believe, speaks for many of us. Will the Almighty listen? One hopes and prays.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Brian, what a magnificent tour de force of a comment that I am most honored to receive. The beauty of it is that it captures the very essence of my poem, which is most certainly a cri de cœur. I was also taken with your word “despair” used to describe my prayer. My initial idea for a title was “Prayer of Despair” – but, upon much thought the final choice of “S O S” was tossed to me by my muse like a life buoy to the drowning. Excuse my whimsy – I couldn’t resist.

      The choice of SOS (a universal distress call) seemed perfect, bearing in mind the widespread evil we are battling – the age-old curse of man that seems particularly fierce now. I mention the word “evil” because I truly believe this is a spiritual battle (just as you mention) – hence the reason for the word “souls”. Once one’s soul is lost or sold, then all hope for a peaceful, joyful, and beautiful future dies with it.

      I didn’t intend the poem to be too cryptic. As I mentioned in a comment above, I wanted to deliver my message with imagery. I wanted to conjure a picture to create an atmosphere. I wanted to convey the chaos of our current times without spelling it out, although there are plenty of finger-pointing clues if one has been listening with horror to the news. As for the wolves I wanted to set the tone by revealing the most reviled first. There are plenty of wolves in places we least expect. They have earned their position at the top of the list.

      I was most intrigued by your mention of the witches-of-Macbeth incantatory nature of the poem. I wasn’t aware of it, but as I look through the poem there are definite traces of all that has influenced me throughout. Of late, I have been particularly taken with King David’s psalms and how direct they are. In a world that is full of cloak-and-dagger, smoke-and-mirror, bread-and-circuses confusion, some forthright sincerity (however unceremonious) wouldn’t go amiss.

      Brian, I am over the moon you got to the very heart of my impolitic poem and saw the depth of care behind the demanding tone. Thank you very much indeed.

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you so much, jd. And, yes, what a wonderful exposition from Brian, that I’m most grateful for.

      Reply
  14. James Sale

    Brilliant Susan – well done – a tremendous poem. Loved it and got caught up in it – and your diction is so precise: of course it would have been metrically wrong, but so pleased it was ‘horned’ and not ‘horny’! Ha ha.

    Reply
  15. Joshua C. Frank

    Great one, Susan! I love the rhymes, the meter, and your usual alliteration, internal rhyme, etc. I especially enjoyed the extended repetition of rhymes, the ababababababcccD rhyme scheme, where an and c are feminine and b is masculine.

    Would that we could prevent all the evils you list! But, more and more, I’ve come to see that since this is not possible (because it’s outside our control), the most important thing any of us can do is maintain a free mind and not get carried away by the emotion of it all (easier said than done!). As the times get darker and the world turns more evil, we’re going to need free minds more than ever.

    Speaking of which, It’s interesting that you mention the Stoics (“Facts that make the stoic crack”), because I’ve found their ideas to be quite helpful in times like this.

    Reply
  16. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    James, I thank you very much for your continued support and appreciation, and I just love your humour… what is life without a laugh?! You’ve almost convinced me to stray from the orthodox to unleash that horny devil… almost…

    Reply
  17. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Josh, thank you very much for this thoughtful and thought-provoking comment. Thank you too for your continued support of my poetry. I believe the free mind is where it’s at – and the powers that be know it, which is why so many of them follow Yuval Harari’s philosophies of transhumanism. The tyrants must have our minds in order to win the culture war, and from what I can see, they have a pretty powerful hold on many minds. I’m with you on the stoicism front – the ideas are indeed helpful.

    Reply
  18. Adam Sedia

    You unleash the power of the trochee to great effect here, using it to project strength and confidence. And your alliteration is great. This is a poem that demands recitation. I would love to hear a recording. (“Quell the yak of quack and hack” I found especially delightful.)

    Reply
  19. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Adam, thank you very much for this encouraging comment. I’m thrilled you enjoyed the poem and I’m especially glad you enjoyed my quack-and-hack line. I love the aural delights of poetry and try to create poetry that’s fun to read aloud, so I’m particularly pleased that you have homed in on that aspect.

    Reply
  20. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    C.B., I am glowing with pleasure – a comment like this from you is a like a sip of amber nectar in a bitter world.

    Reply
  21. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    For some reason, my replies are not showing up beneath the relevant comments. I think there’s a glitch in the system, and only hope those who are affected by this look lower down the page. I wouldn’t like anyone to think they’re being ignored.

    Reply

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