Banal

Summary

The poem "Banal" by Jonathan Greene expresses a yearning for a simpler, more mundane world amidst the chaos and turmoil of current events.

Abstract

In the poem "Banal," Jonathan Greene captures a deep desire for the comfort of normalcy and predictability in a world overwhelmed by a pandemic, police brutality, and societal discord. The speaker longs for the days when the most pressing concern was the banality of everyday life, such as office meetings and trivial personal dramas, rather than the relentless onslaught of distressing global issues. The poem reflects on the pain of living in a time where every day brings new horrors, and the speaker's wish for a return to a world filled with trivialities and devoid of the intense racial and cultural conflicts that define the current era.

Opinions

The speaker expresses a wish for a world that is less eventful and more predictable, where the biggest concern is the monotony of daily routines.
There is a sense of fatigue and being overwhelmed by the constant barrage of negative news, including the pandemic and police brutality.
The poem conveys a longing for a time when social media trends and public discourse were not dominated by images and discussions of violence and injustice.
The speaker feels that the current state of the world is a "hellscape" and finds the intensity of confrontations and the prevalence of "spittle-fueled screen rage" to be exhausting.
There is

A Poem

It’s weird to wish that the world was more well, boring, right now So lacking in originality as to be obvious would be a welcome distraction from this litter box of detritus that is free-flowing into the rivers of our hope

With a virus readying itself for a new round and police brutality all around, this hellscape of a modern world is anything but banal

The axis is pulsating with discordant anger confrontations filled with contorted danger and here I sit, out of expletives, wishing it was all a cliché

I want to just go run some errands and then sit at a coffee shop and listen to a conversation about how Janine is so mad because, um, well, Bobby called her J-nine and she doesn’t know what this could possibly mean and now, Janine and Betsy are betwixt confusion and laughter and there I sit, listening to the banality of life

But no, instead I have to be peppered with white fragility while the “Presidential” decision-making is killing me I have to inadvertently look at what’s trending only to see another arm or back or neck bending Spittle-fueled screen rage encapsulates my bubble as I long for a world of resplendent boredom

Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up tomorrow to a world lush with banality where the worst thing that could happen would be another office meeting with pie charts and bar graphs all about the stocking of pens and paper? Give me that, not this Not this dump truck of sand burying me from head to toe but still putting headphones on my ears so I can listen to the cries for justice fall deaf on crumpled ears hiding from the truth and the history

Give me trite and vapid, a stereotype of a stereotype, conventional and ordinary, a cone of vanilla ice cream, a bowl of spaghetti Don’t give me this smorgasbord, this diaspora of race and culture Don’t give me a composted world Just give me Banal

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