Uncomfortably Numb (string tanka)

by Larry Chamberlin   Jan 9, 2013


When the world conspires
that you succeed with only
a token effort
and with your heart unheated,
slink away to wilderness.

Nature will grind you
quick and keen or will crush you
for running slower
or fighting without bare teeth
or below your earnest best.

No corporate cush
nor trophy spouse and 'cedes
compete with the blood
on beast's bare claws cleaving deep
to prove that you are Alive.

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  • 8 years ago

    by Ben Pickard

    A very clever poem. We do indeed sit far too comfortably in the world we have fashioned and could all do with a few volts up us from time to time, just to make us feel something.
    Surviving is easy in the modern world but it really can be a bore, can't it? Imagine a life never knowing where your next meal will come from and competing for everything. It may kill you and 'crush you' and I'm sure it's much, much harder. But should you rise above and find yourself a real survivor - one who is not found wanting when truly tested - how very much more .....ALIVE.

    This is excellent.

    SL

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