Charlie Brown

[jisbell00]

Charlie Brown


A little mystery, where what you get
is not quite what you wanted. Take a look
with your two eyes: the football’s gone. It’s not
as though you weren’t alerted. In the grand

majestic scheme of things, there is a time
our trust in what the worm corrupts – which has
a sort of dumb nobility – is vain.
There is a raincloud overhead and rain

is falling just for you. The sunny day
of childhood bathes the neighborhood. Your dog
has stepped into the spotlight. What we do
in part decides our value, but the world

around the Sunday papers, where a man
must greet the nine to five, is not so fine
as not to earn a holiday. The work
we do, the things we love – these trace a line

we follow willy-nilly. What is art
to make of this? What is the final word
in our existence? Is it that we ran
when Lucy called? That rainclouds make us wet?

[Macavity]

I must admit my knowledge of Charlie Brown is somewhat vague John, but there was enough in the poem for me to engage: childhood trust, experience corruption, the symbolism of sunny/rain days, the valuation of self by others through what we do. The poem's reflective register perhaps keys into a stage in life, though there is that irony of still asking questions (a characteristic of childhood).

Bw

Phil

[jisbell00]

Hi Phil,

Just a quick moment to post Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and Lucy yanking it away.

Cheers,
John

[Macavity]

[ray miller]

Enjoyed most of it. Got quite lost in 2nd and 4th stanzas.

[jisbell00]

Hi Phil,

You were I think pretty much spot on, despite not knowing the football meme. That's peanuts and Charlie Brown.

Ray, glad you enjoyed this! The second stanza is about CB's trust in what is fallible - i.e., human things, or Lucy in this instance. And S4 is about how Peanuts is from the Sunday papers, all well and good, and in the end, we deserve a vacation from the 9 to 5.

CHeer,
John