Daughter of Paradox Lake

[hester_prynne]

Paradox Lake
is not often in the news.
You can imagine
all the ripples,
(more like titlewaves)
the day we were mentioned
on page 5,
near the police reports.
Man, it was chaos squared.

Especially since my name
was mentioned in the story.
I was,
in their estimate,
considered as
a viable candidate
to use as a model,
for a new worldwide
charity project
being planned.

Seems some group,
(a band of unknown scientists),
was making a bold effort
to create a new goddess,
"for those of us living at the lake,
to worship".
"She will be seen as
a distant cousin
of Perse-phony, Sapph-foe
and Afro-dighty,
as an arch McCoy/Hatfield enemy,
to Venus, The Empress,
and Eve.
Indeed, she will be called:
Perspectiva, daughter of Paradox Lake".

Their reasons for doing this
were laid out in bold print.
Paradox Lake has too long been ignored.
The rising populace in the area has to be addressed.
A goddess created for these folks to pray to,
in the name of Jesus the Father.
A hell of a grand idea eh?

Yeah. Well.
Like you, dear reader
I was instantly skeptical.
Fact is,
I was already considering
drumming up libel charges,
before we even found out
the truth of it.
I mean,
how dare they?
Drilling holes in their shallow,
man-made ponds,
then syphoning it
into our beloved lake.
All their crappy
little one-sidednesses.
It was sugarwater!
Concealed in babbling gunjets.
Calculated crumb reconciliations,
conducted in secret meeting rooms,
midst effeminate, shrill bravados.

I exposed their game pronto,
in a letter to the editor.
"I wanted no part of this scam,"
I wrote,
"goddess candidate or not!"
I demanded that my good name
"immediately be sunk back down,
effervescently,
into the luscious
animated bottom,
where I lived
my little
crapshoot life happily,
causing no one any harm".
(Dammit.)
I told them, in my letter,
to "suck back
all their good stuff,
their fears, silences,
blessings and greed.
We don't want that shit here"
I said.
"We know how it kills,
we get that it causes blindness."

A bunch of us got together
not too long after the story came out.
We cut off their stinking seepage
in the darkest of night.
Then we stood fast
around Paradox Lake,
in our huge lilypad numbers.
We were too damn big a perspective
for those clowns to ever affect us.

You see,
they know.
They know that when they are ready,
really truly ready,
we'll take them in.
We'll let them live here
happily, and greatfully,
with us,
here in Paradox Lake.
No questions asked,
many comforts given.
No stories in the newspapers either.

[gypsyjoker]

I am happy now.
I am ready too

thank you theda very

I have only read it once
Well more like inhaled it.

[Doreen Peri]

This is WAY creative, hest!

It's humorous, it's witty, it's fun, it's got fantasy mixed up with real and I just way dig it, girl!

Nice!

(Oh and btw... you ARE a goddess.. just sayin' in case you didn't know.. lol )

[Lightning Rod]

charming, hest

some years ago, I met Tom Wolfe
he said to me, "I never call myself a 'Free Lance Writer'"
This is because of the stories you see on the back pages of the newspaper.
You know the stories about the guy and the chick getting busted in some motel room? She is always a 'modern dancer' and he is always a 'free lance writer.'

Your poem reminded me of this episode

[hester_prynne]

thanks you all for reading this long thing.
I dunno.
I am struck so deeply lately, by the camaraderie I am perceiving, (due to my unemployed state), between paradox, and perspective. I mean right now, I am at the paradox of everything my life was before, and I am teetering on grave pessimism and negativity taking over me completely. I mean, I got fangs growin! I mean, this is not like me...I never give up!!!!!

Thankfully, however, I am also sensing this odd romance between paradox and perception..(.despite their chaperone, whom I call rude awakenings....)

Then there are all these pseudo hangers-on entities, who gush around in ignorance, totally unaware of anything real, yet they are making choices and decisions which are huge, in between watching hardball and america's got talent.
I have never been more annoyed by these fucks than now.

There are lessons in the paradoxes.
Rude ones, yes.
But they sure can expand one's perspective to an even bigger sense of general benevolence, and love for all.
Go figure..??
H

[gypsyjoker]

It is a world apart
and when I find something that pleases me
It just aint so lonely hester
I been wondering why people go see scary movies
Thanks for this poem is what I am saying
I don't feel so lonely now.
I have met the goddess of paradox island

signed
puckered up in texas.

where paradoxes abound

Watching game shoes and soap operas to pass the time
but it makes them happy
is that an opium pipe?

paradise lake
paradise something

don't ask me why I thought it was about feminist rants.

[gypsyjoker]

the best dam thing I have read in months
Like I wonder what the hell I will do if ever thing goes the way it always seems to.

sorry hester
did not mean to cry on your shoulder
call me a panderer but feminism is the only revolution that matters to me.
i thought it was a feminist poem not to stick a label on you.

Seemed like you were saying to me cowboy change your ways or with us you wont ride.

Plenty of fucked up women in the world but even so

I am digging myself in deep
don't mind me
you know it is just a another careless fart of mine

[judih]

brilliant, theda
and your explanation is right there in an equally brilliant parallel plane
romance, pulp fiction
bullshit hanging out with 'you'll thank me laters'
ah, the melodies of white noise so permanently pressed in our days

this hiatus of observer (not free lance writer) is a goddess-send.
oh, put it to music and you can open for dylan or sing your message on international radi-Oh,(i wish you would)

[westcoast]

fantastic! a joy to read.

~westie

[emel.scott]

I like reading this, I like reading it a lot and I'm going to keep reading it till it starts to gel in my mind exactly what you are talking about...

[mtmynd]

inspired writing, Hes'... great read!

[saw]

this is great writing theda.....beyond the message for us to contemplate...the opening stanza is killer, as good as any I have read
in quite some time, a real hook.....many terrific lines throughout...I was particularly fond of, "Calculated crumb reconciliations, conducted in secret meeting rooms, midst effeminate, shrill bravadoes."

good stuff, Pespectiva.....Much of what passes for correctness comes
directly from our current station in life....it we are healthy, fat and
prosperous, our opinion, however pompous, reflects that current
state of being....if we are cold, hungry and desperate, we may espouse a different view point.....people like George Bush, born with a diamond encrusted silver crack cocaine spoon up our ass, will never,
ever be able to relate to the woes of common man ....for those that have never had to worry about paying the mortgage, getting good
health care for their children, etc....they can only be detached and
in Bush's case, delusional....
These are the toughest times since the Great Depression, and my
hope for the future is that we will not turn into savages as the conditions around us disintegrate....that's where the love, you spoke of comes in.......very nice write...I will have to go back and read many more times......peace and contentment... steve

[Perdida]

Hester, loved this from the first line to the last, you had me transfixed to your words, the imagery and like Doreen said to the fantasy mixed in with the real. Very clever and creative writing indeed.

Thank you!

oh and i love the title too.

[hester_prynne]

I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the great responses to this.
To be honest, I was afraid to post it, because it's the longest poem I have ever written in my life, truly.
Studio eight is an amazing source of strength for me right now you know.
It's so far above and beyond anything mainstream.....Organic food, as opposed to mainstream slop.
Really appreciate you all.
Salllllllllllllllllllllllllll-ute!
H