1.
Six poems — a selection of haiku from Jay Sullivan
From the Community
Turn
Slowly the world turns,
but it does not turn out well.
Sorry I said it.
The first Haiku that I read on
was 'Turn' (👇🏽). I found it funny and relatable. I also thought it was cynical... and I worried that I liked it - because does this mean that I'm also cynical? And if I really were cynical would I grow old and die alone as a crazy dog lady?Sun
Frosty morning walk,
watching the Sun try to work.
Knowing how it feels.
I am cynical. Sometimes downright resigned, resentful and bitter. And angry, and kind of an arse. And maybe I will grow old as a crazy dog lady.
The dictionary will tell us that the antonym of cynicism is optimism. As such, common wisdom will convince us that optimism is also the antidote.
But it isn't. It's the other side of the see-saw that has us be hopeful that 'it can be some other way than it is', all the while we ready ourselves to be disappointed. Cynicism comes back around with more momentum, propelling our optimism to do the same.
Friendly Tree
An old tree stands tall,
A twisted trunk catching light -
sharing shade with me.
Rather, on other side of cynicism - if we can stop the see-saw and get off it - is innocence, and gratitude. A gratitude for the little things like a friendly tree, or the golden light of dusk, or the delicious plump strawberries staining our lips red.
The Big Hand
The face of a clock,
is telling more than the time.
But you are silent.
It's this gratitude that gives meaning to the abstract things we pay our attention to. Like time, and relationships.
Titled Untitled
A single word said,
reaching for the infinite,
in an empty room.
And language, and thought and loneliness.
Introspective Insects
A mosquito knows
to get what it can today.
The moment passes.
It's what let's us be in the present moment. It's what has us reckon with our own death and finiteness.
It's what has us see the comedy, and laugh, and not take ourselves personally when we're cynical and sometimes an arse.
Haiku about Jay's Haiku They're silly and cynical... And sometimes profound. Don't think too much, enjoy it. - Raphy Mendoza
2.
Poem About a Kettle When Listening to a Lot of Leonard Cohen — a poem by Rob Auton
From the Library
I filled my kettle with tears
The tears I stole from your eyes when you weren’t looking
Clicked it on to boil
After a minute I could hear your distant weeping
With the heat came the cries
Before long the kitchen was full of bubbling screams
The kettle peaked, extinguishing the little light it had
I poured your sorrow onto the teabag of my life
And drank the sadness of your being
- Rob Auton
The theme this week, it appears, is things that make me laugh and feel cynical. On first hearing this poem recited by Rob Auton himself (👇🏽), I was driving by myself on one of these long late-night drives from London. I was quite tired, a little bit sad, and very much wanting ('gagging' as the Brits would say) for a cup of tea.
I laughed out loud for an inordinately long time. On reflection... perhaps I laughed at the sheer silliness of the poem. I laughed because I'd had a running monologue for the last 10 miles about wanting a cup of tea... and a complaint about how at Starbucks and Costa (the only things open at silly o'clock), you can't just get a standard cup of tea and instead are faced with an array of fru-fru flavours that I don't want.
I laughed because I was sad. Nothing had happened to be sad about... but I often feel a deep sadness that's always already there in the background late at night when I'm tired and driving. A kind of existential grief. The kind of sadness that Leonard Cohen taps into in his songs, which is the reason I love Leonard Cohen's songs but I don't like listening to them.
Rather than listen empathically to Leonard Cohen sing about sadness, I'd rather be cynical and a bit of an arse. Sometimes :).
3.
Asteroid City — a film of a play in a play, that involves an alien but is actually, really, about grief... directed by Wes Anderson.
From the Movie World
Apart from indulging my cynicism... this week's Three Things have one other thing in common: beauty.
I won't tell you too much more about the film, in case you haven't seen it and want to. For all its convolution, a kind of frivolity, and perhaps its own brand of cynicism... it really was beautiful. The set was beautiful, the cinematography was beautiful, the lines were beautiful.
Perhaps, we can be less guarded about our cynicism, for on the other side of it is beauty.
🖼 ACCIDENTALLY WES ANDERSON 🖼
I also accidentally came upon this Instagram account. Enjoy!
I always thought of naivety as the opposite of cynicism, but I suppose naivety is a kind of foolish optimism. Laughed out loud about loving Leonard Cohen but never listening. Subscribed!
I love Asteroid City. Such an intriguing film, and one I still find myself thinking about. I love your discussion of beauty and cynicism. I’m a fairly snarky optimist. But that is not always very healthy. Gratitude does bring me some semblance of balance