Poetry Slam #1

Perhaps, dear reader, you can indulge me a bit. I am a fan of poetry. Haiku. Iambic pentameter. I get a kick out of the various ways to use language, I suppose. But, since I enjoy humor so much, I think I most enjoy the limerick, which lends itself so beautifully to silliness.

And, I’ve recently been inspired through some everyday silliness to write a one of a kind, multi-verse limerick.

Since I don’t consume much in the way of advertisements these days, when I see one now, I can’t help but laugh at the way they draw parallels between happiness and their product(s). My favorite marketing pitch is the age old idea of trying to save time, which inspired this ridiculous blog post.

Enjoy!

If there was a bank

Or a hole or a tank

That could hold all the time we could spare

From modern appliance

To corporate compliance

Each minute packed tightly in there

We should feel just fine

Retrieving this time

To use how exactly we pleased

Like time at the beach

Or stewing a peach

Or enjoying a day full of ease.

For each wave of tech

Reduced pains in the neck

Of spending a long day in toil

Each minute saved

Turns to leisurely days

A value that no one can spoil.

Our stockpile of hours

Will let us smell flowers

And enjoy the fresh light from the sun

We’ve put in our work

So now we can shirk

Further duties and just go have fun.

We can run and can play

Friends and family, hooray

Memories all in the making

Our labor all done

The minutes are won

And the stockpile of time’s for the taking.

Wait, what’s that, you say?

You’re not finding the day

That you saved in the tank all along?

The software and apps

And all the life hacks

Didn’t work, were all of them wrong?

You organized life

To minimize strife

Get your time back minute by minute

Where do they show?

You’ve looked high and looked low

In the bank but there’s just nothing in it.

All this saving of time

I’ll admit, it’s sublime

And magical thinking at best.

The time that we “saved”

Just means that we cave

Working more, and displacing good rest.

We value the sheen

Of just being seen

As productive, and simply do more.

Or we give the few hours

Of limited power

To electronics whenever we’re bored.

Truth to be told

We never can hold

The elusive nature of time

“Now” never can be

Bottled up, can’t you see,

It’s mysterious nature sublime.

Stop trying to save it

And hoard it and crave it

With spreadsheets you made in Excell.

There is a limit

To your time on this planet

So instead spend the time you have well.

 

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Books I Love: The Deepest Well Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris