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The Horror The Horror (Free verse) by Nicholas Jones
‘The horror the horror’ is our favourite line: not because we see it in our lives but because we do not. Late night trash tv and three minute pop songs articulate our days. Imagine being able to say ‘The Horror! The Horror!” And meaning it! That is not an option Which basically is the problem. But we are not like those who embrace the trash and make a virtue of it, We want more but cannot achieve it, Our inability killed western high culture Which is all we revered and it all dead now like Mistah Kurtz who we associate with Conrad and Coppalla equally Jim Morrison and Wagner But we still can’t explain the ending Poor old us. We can’t adapt. Only collapse. Said Orwell: 'Our civilization is decadent and our language... Must inevitably share in the general collapse.' I used to believe that I am perfectly adapted for these superficial modern times Happy with the high and the low The ancient and the modern. But my secret is this: I am out of step Yes, I can be clever and ironic But that’s not what I want. Instead I go to gigs looking for art and am disappointed when I find only entertainment. I joined a party to fight for socialism but found ideology was out of fashion and we’re all in the centre ground now. And I can do nothing and can create nothing of any real worth I go to church each week but don’t really believe in heaven hell resurrection divinity. Enjoy instead minutiae of useless theology. Pointless controversy. Though perhaps this is just the historicist excuse? I cannot succeed because of the times. Not because of me. Real rapture? Use fragmentation to escape my culture. Abstract disconnected must fucking try. And this is not even an attempt just an explanation that I expect to fail. Fingers now going numb from the cold So time to stop. Cannot even churn out crap any more.

Up the ladder: Walking Out
Down the ladder: broken

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Arithmetic Mean: 5.6666665
Weighted score: 5.179294
Overall Rank: 4831
Posted: March 17, 2006 10:24 AM PST; Last modified: March 17, 2006 10:24 AM PST
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Comments:
[8] Ranger @ 62.252.32.15 | 17-Mar-06/10:29 AM | Reply
Stanza 9 - so very true. Well, I've never joined a socialist party, but still I hear what you're saying.
Having missed the news yesterday I didn't get the story of those drug tests that went wrong...but that sounded like a 'The horror! The horror!' moment...
[8] ecargo @ 167.219.88.140 | 17-Mar-06/1:30 PM | Reply
"Mistah Kurtz—he dead.
A penny for the Old Guy"

Lots to work with here--many good lines and thoughts. Leans a little to the side of polemic though.
[2] nentwined @ 76.167.62.172 | 15-Feb-07/6:10 PM | Reply
Not reading the whole thing, but caught something that might be a good hook; "Imagine -- saying it, meaning it" ((no need to repeat the title, we know, we know the reference))

Run from there.

I like "I joined a party to fight for socialism
but found ideology was out of fashion
and we’re all in the centre ground now." Tell me more?

I think you're all over the place on this, and I'm not feeling any of it, except the odd scrap.
[n/a] Nicholas Jones @ 86.141.28.29 > nentwined | 16-Feb-07/4:23 PM | Reply
It is supposed to be all over the place, because that is the postmodern condition which is what the thing is all about. If you think that's just pretentiousness then I don't care; this is the life we all lead whether we want to or not.

The joining a party to fight for socialism thing is specifically about the Labour in Britain (which I still belong to). It's gone in fifty years from creating the welfare state to being best friends with George Bush. But that isn't the point. It's about wanting meaning, objective truth, to assert that George Orwell is better than Celebrity Big Brother; but how can I do that because I share in the shallowness of our culture?

Ok, so the Conrad / TS Eliot thing isn't exactly subtle, but fuck it, all poetry is really about poetry anyway.
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