avatarJ.D. Harms

Summary

The website content features a poem titled "Deleted Telegraph" by J.D. Harms, which reflects on the futility of seeking permanence and the struggle to find direction amidst chaos and change.

Abstract

"Deleted Telegraph" is a contemplative poem that delves into themes of impermanence and the human desire to create lasting legacies. It paints a vivid picture of a world where efforts to achieve immortality through art and memory are juxtaposed with the transient nature of life. The poem describes a scene filled with "stones" representing human endeavors, set against a backdrop of a "sun fighting with clouds" symbolizing the constant battle between light and darkness, or perhaps clarity and confusion. The narrator moves through this "mess," acknowledging the difficulty of repairing what's broken when the very notion of wholeness is uncertain. The imagery shifts to "smoked out rooms" and a window that serves as art, suggesting isolation and introspection. The poem concludes with a sense of resignation to the ever-changing nature of virtues and the passage of time, as the clouds, like the observer, are left without a clear course of action.

Opinions

  • The poem conveys a sense of skepticism about the ability of human creations to endure against "the misery of time and environment."
  • There is a palpable frustration with the attempt to preserve moments or maintain control in a world that is inherently transient and unpredictable.
  • The author seems to critique the superficiality of societal norms, referring to "painted hypocrisy" and the performance of poses that hide true emotions.
  • The struggle to find direction and purpose is a central theme, with the narrator acknowledging a lack of knowledge or ability to navigate life's challenges.
  • The poem suggests a sense of defeat or surrender, as the narrator contemplates "lying down to take life in the ass," indicating a passive acceptance of life's hardships.
  • The use of vivid imagery and abstract concepts reflects a deep introspection and perhaps a longing for meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe.

Deleted Telegraph

A Poem

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

All these stones we put here forever, hoping against the misery of time and environment to do something that lasts, painted hypocrisy, still lives of the desserts you couldn’t afford and didn’t know how to swallow in any case, the dreary light of a sun fighting with clouds for skywards supremacy

moving through the mess, trying to fix something that can be fixed, if there’s anything whole left, I don’t know, I didn’t ask the model to do that but here’s the pose, the crying colours something that was supposed to stay out

caught in smoked out rooms with minimal furnishings, the window the largest bit of art around, at least till you walk past the mirror, identifying individual moments has been a lost cause, remains a lost cause, lost as the mind trying to right a ship with no fucking clue how to navigate, or point things

in the right direction, to bleed a little more before lying down to take life in the ass, and spin around in virtues that shift and change, blown through like the clouds that stare on this and don’t know what they’d do, either.

© J.D. Harms 2021

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