All That's Left of the Old Man, Day 83 of the 100 Days of Poetry, Digital Art and Tree Tuesday @old-guy-photos and @d-pend
All That's Left of the Old Man
there’s an eerie whine
under the rustle
the leaves given voice
the oak playing tricks
old men and their love of unnerving
the young and unsuspecting
it is what comes
from being rooted
in one spot for too long
boredom sets in
something wicked
comes this way
the wind abets
his evil ways
grants an alibi
by pointing a finger
at his next of kin
but has the old man ever asked
who is really in charge
instead, he insists
no pictures, please
the oak hides in the shadows
but I have him in my focus
click, click, click
time now to retire
from the coming storm
the wind blows
a little too hard
and it’s done
all that is left of the old man
his soul and wicked ways
is a captured photograph
Attributions
Public Domain Image
Other images used and All That's Left of the Old Man are copyright Pryde Foltz
Link to contest page ...https://steemit.com/steemitschool/@d-pend/announcing-the-steemit-school-poetry-100-day-challenge
Join the steemit school on discord https://discord.gg/q9VEn5n
It’s amazing what you’ve done with the image of the old man. I couldn’t see his face in the image at first. It looked abstract to me. But then it kind of emerged out of the picture. (It helped to follow the link to see the original one.) Wonderful poem, too. There is so much going on there. I would love to know the story behind it.
Thank you, Jayna. No back story, except we have a lot of very old trees in our neighbourhood and sometimes the wind makes short work of them. We do love our trees:)
Oooh this one is intriguing... the metaphor of the tree and the wind!
'the wind abets
his evil ways
grants an alibi
by pointing a finger
at his next of kin
but has the old man ever asked
who is really in charge'
It works whether read as literally the story of a tree, or a metaphor for a human man, but I tend to think it's the story of a man. A familiar story... accumulated resentment and boredom turned to malice... but then the character of the wind: one who is seen as an accomplice, but actually is plotting the protagonist's undoing. Brilliantly written.
Thank you, Bennett:) Nature made us and can unmake us too ... lol ... I guess:)Love when you pop by:)
Haunting. I especially like the line:
"it is what comes
from being rooted
in one spot for too long."
I think I have been in that place before.
Thanks, Samantha. I remember as a kid being like that some times:)
Quite a lovely capture!
Thanks, Paul:)
Hi @prydefoltz,
I really love what you have done with this poem. The commentary on the picture that runs through it and the clever double extended metaphor of the tree with the old man. As someone who had a rather cantankerous grandfather I can relate to the imagery in this poem ;-)
I am running a regular curation segment on the Whaleshares discord server on Monday evenings called literature corner. I wondered if you would be available to chat on a live curation discussion on Monday 04th June. This post (or another poem of yours) will be awarded a 30 Whaleshares, as well as the vote of some of the curators. It would be great if you have a microphone maybe to perform this poem and perhaps to answer some questions about your influences/inspirations etc. I read this poem out to myself just now and will be happy to read it out myself if you're not keen on doing so.
The event will be held in The Curation Lounge on the Whaleshares server. I hope you can join us. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me on discord where my user name is the same as my steemit name, @raj808. Thanks
Thanks, Raj. It sounds very interesting but I am confused a little by the date ... May 21st???
So sorry, you are right to be confused as I didn't change the date from my last curation on the show, many apologies, it is in fact on Monday 04th June, in two days time :-)
I have updated the message above also
Here is a graphic which shows the time it's on etc:
Let me know if you are available and if you would like to read your poem out etc as I will be releasing a promotional post for the show tomorrow and will mention that you will be on the show if you can make it. Thanks :-)
I will have to figure out some things ... but I should be able to do it. My son will be around however and he may add some exuberance to the background. Also ... I think by this time this post will have aged out of for upvoting. Will that be a problem ... I am not sure how whaleshares work ... is there a link that might work for this.
I will look at locating everything on discord later today ... about to click out of steemit for a bit:)
It's absolutely no problem about your son @prydefoltz we had a guest on a few weeks back who had a young daughter and she kept joining in the background lol. It's an easy going curation show. You are right in regards to this poem being out of time for the vote, I just really enjoyed this poem and the themes and imagery around nature, which is why I wanted to discuss it. A lot of my poetry is nature orientated which is why it spoke to me strongly. I will put the whaleshare vote on another more recent poem of yours so that you don't miss out on the reward. Sound good? If there is a particular post out of your most recent just let me know and I'll put it on your preference :-)
P.s. The link in the original message includes an invite to the whaleshares room.
It's absolutely no problem about your son @prydefoltz we had a guest on a few weeks back who had a young daughter and she kept joining in the background lol. It's an easy going curation show. You are right in regards to this poem being out of time for the vote, I just really enjoyed this poem and the themes and imagery around nature, which is why I wanted to discuss it. A lot of my poetry is nature orientated which is why it spoke to me strongly. I will put the whaleshare vote on another more recent poem of yours so that you don't miss out on the reward. Sound good? If there is a particular post out of your most recent just let me know and I'll put it on your preference :-)
P.s. The link in the original message includes an invite to the whaleshares room.
It's absolutely no problem about your son @prydefoltz we had a guest on a few weeks back who had a young daughter and she kept joining in the background lol. It's an easy going curation show. You are right in regards to this poem being out of time for the vote, I just really enjoyed this poem and the themes and imagery around nature, which is why I wanted to discuss it. A lot of my poetry is nature orientated which is why it spoke to me strongly. I will put the whaleshare vote on another more recent poem of yours so that you don't miss out on the reward. Sound good? If there is a particular post out of your most recent just let me know and I'll put it on your preference :-)
P.s. The link in the original message includes an invite to the whaleshares room.
Great ... let me attend to a few others things and I will work out the logistics of getting on Discord ... I don't usually spend a lot of time on there:)
I will have to figure out some things ... but I should be able to do it. My son will be around however and he may add some exuberance to the background. Also ... I think by this time this post will have aged out of for upvoting. Will that be a problem ... I am not sure how whaleshares work ... is there a link that might work for this.
I will look at locating everything on discord later today ... about to click out of steemit for a bit:)
Good one bro
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