Chattering teeth.

[Richard Oakley]

Was it fear becoming real?
What is real to you, is it to me the same?
I have come to my own perspective
after tying off a few, and slamming my
brains against the bar, scrambling thoughts
and I turn in my stool towards the flush...
this isn't new and now my teeth chatter--
isn't it only fear?

[&]

are you afraid of coming out of the closet oakley

[Richard Oakley]

Boo-urns!

[Michael Pendragon]

That's a favorite expression of my wife's as well.

[Richard Oakley]

lol Burns or Boo-urns?

[Michael Pendragon]

Boo-urns.

Until 15 seconds ago, I thought she was the only person on the planet who'd ever quoted that episode, but I just googled it and it's in the Urban Dictionary.

[Richard Oakley]

what can I say? been a fanatic for years.

[Michael Pendragon]

I've been watching it (although not regularly) since its premiere. Way back then, I was in college, and one of my roommates insisted that I watch it with him. He was a big fan of Matt Groening's "Life in Hell" comic strip that appeared in the "Village Voice" ... and that I rarely (if ever) understood the humor in. He also laughed out loud at the "New Yorker" cartoons, so I wasn't expecting much from "The Simpsons." But it turned out to be pretty funny, so I became semi-regular viewer.

When I met my wife in 1994, it had been on for about 5 years, and she had never watched it. She was (correctly) under the impression that it contained a lot of off-color, low-brow humor, which she supposedly finds unfunny and offensive (more to her cultural development than morally). Naturally, she ended up being a bigger fan than I am. The same thing happened with "King of the Hill" and "Bob's Burgers." I haven't been able to get her into watching "The Family Guy" yet, but it's only a matter of time.

[bby6...@gmail.com]

Interesting poetry...

Thanks for posting this...

[Richard Oakley]

...I'll ask this once, how did you read this: firstly, line by line and
then, as a whole?

I'm interested, if it means the same to you...

[Richard Oakley]

On Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 8:56:42 PM UTC-4, bby6...@gmail.com wrote:
> Interesting poetry...
>
> Thanks for posting this...

btw. thanks G. stick around this time?

[Will Dockery]

On Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 10:44:26 AM UTC-4, Richard Oakley wrote:
>

I like this poem, raises many universal questions, is it chill, fear, nerves, all of the above?

[Richard Oakley]

Try to look at it line by line, then put it all together. Be sure to use your experience--
here's one hint though--when you really gotta go, do your teeth chatter as you get
the chills?

[Will Dockery]

I'll try that at my next pit stop.

:)

[Michael Pendragon]

On Saturday, May 6, 2017 at 3:17:52 PM UTC-4, Richard Oakley wrote:

You should probably have that checked out.

[Richard Oakley]

Micheal, perhaps a reread would lead to a
proper Dx?

[Michael Pendragon]

From your comments to both myself and others, I'm guessing that your poem is some sort of riddle; and that if one considers each line individually, the meaning will make itself clear.

Here goes:

> Was it fear becoming real?

The "it" in question remains a question. The speaker is asking himself if something was triggered by his fears.

> What is real to you, is it to me the same?

The speaker is a Hungarian immigrant who talks like S.Z. Sakall. He is either asking a companion, or else the reader, if reality is subjective.

> I have come to my own perspective

The speaker has come to his own conclusion (either about fear manifesting itself in real, physical symptoms, or about the subjective nature of reality).

> after tying off a few, and slamming my
> brains against the bar, scrambling thoughts

Ouch! Slamming one's head against a bar sounds painful enough, but smashing one's gray matter down like Silly Putty has really got to smart.

I'm not familiar with the phrase "tying off a few" (and, apparently, neither is Google). I've heard of "tying one on," and assume that "tying off a few" would entail a temporary period of abstinence. But, as that wouldn't make any sense, I'll write it off as a regional dialect that merges "tying one on" with "having downed a few."

> and I turn in my stool towards the flush...

This passage reminds me of a scene from Luis Buñuel's "The Phantom of Liberty," wherein a group of people sit around a table to defecate (on toilets), but go into a small, private room to eat.

https://magnoliaforever.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/unforgettable-scenes-9-phantom-of-liberty/

IOW, I'm envisioning a man seated at a bar on a 4 foot high toilet-stool, which he turns toward while seeking out the flush handle.

> this isn't new and now my teeth chatter--

He is seemingly an habitual bar-pooper, but is suddenly gripped by an intense fear of that unnamed something (the "it") alluded to in the opening line.

> isn't it only fear?

I really couldn't say, because I haven't figured out what "it" is.

I'd recently mentioned that I don't believe a reader should supply his own explanations when reading/interpreting the meaning of a poem, but should stick to the words and images that the poet has supplied. In this case, the speaker seems to be afraid of something that he'll find inside the toilet. Is he afraid that he'll eject one of his intestines into the bowl? Or, perhaps, that his male organ has surreptitiously fallen off, and will be glimpsed swirling down the drain? I can't say, because the speaker hasn't made the cause of his fear sufficiently clear.

But, I'm forgetting about the scrambled brains. Rather than shivering over an irrational fear (as postulated above), the speaker is justifiably frightened over the consequences of having splattered his brains all over the bar. Although this raises the question: can a man's teeth chatter after his brain has been removed?

[Michael Pendragon]

Have I earned a hint?

[Richard Oakley]

You can persist in idiocy if you like, no problem to me. I keep expecting more
but get less, why do I persist? It's like i'm beating my intelligence against a wall
of morons.

...alas, I enjoyed the read and interpretation.

Bon nuit.

[Richard Oakley]

On Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 3:22:45 AM UTC-4, Michael Pendragon wrote:
> Have I earned a hint?

Why do you need one? It's black and white as always.

oh well, here goes.

Was it fear becoming real?

Should be self explanatory: did his fear (it) become
real (become it)

What is real to you, is it to me the same?

Seems like (it) being your real fear might also
be a real fear to (you)

I have come to my own perspective

This seems a recent thing, why and how?

after tying off a few, and slamming my

Yes, I merged colloquials.

brains against the bar, scrambling thoughts

Note: I didn't say head, I said brains. Drink too much you just
don't make any sense, you get stupid after awhile.

and I turn in my stool towards the flush...

Turn, get up and stagger to the bathroom, with an
added meaning of flushing away your bad thoughts,
or trying to.

this isn't new and now my teeth chatter--

He's done this all before (most likely when drunk)
and as he really had to go, he gets that chill that
makes his teeth chatter, but he might be even more
afraid. Are his fears justified, after all?

isn't it only fear?

Is it all real? Or not? What makes him persist in it?

[Will Dockery]

In a way I'm gad I missed that one, though the short bit of LB's fils I have seen I have loved, 35 years after seeing "The Exterminating Angel" it is still fresh and interesting to remember:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exterminating_Angel_(film)

I found it to be very much like an extended Twilight Zone episode, one that keeps on going, while the viewer waits for that Rod Serling bang up shock ending that never seems to arrive... the surreal spookiness just continues on and on, as the viewer feels drawn into the story himself, or at least I did:

"During a formal dinner party at the lavish mansion of Señor Edmundo Nóbile and his wife, Lucia, the servants unaccountably leave their posts until only the major-domo is left. After dinner the guests adjourn to the music room, where one of the women, Blanca, plays a piano sonata. Later, when they might normally be expected to return home, the guests curiously remove their jackets, loosen their gowns, and settle down for the night on couches, chairs and the floor.

By morning it is apparent that, for some inexplicable reason, they are unable to leave..."

> IOW, I'm envisioning a man seated at a bar on a 4 foot high toilet-stool, which he turns toward while seeking out the flush handle.
>
> > this isn't new and now my teeth chatter--
>
> He is seemingly an habitual bar-pooper, but is suddenly gripped by an intense fear of that unnamed something (the "it") alluded to in the opening line.
>
> > isn't it only fear?
>
> I really couldn't say, because I haven't figured out what "it" is.
>
> I'd recently mentioned that I don't believe a reader should supply his own explanations when reading/interpreting the meaning of a poem, but should stick to the words and images that the poet has supplied. In this case, the speaker seems to be afraid of something that he'll find inside the toilet. Is he afraid that he'll eject one of his intestines into the bowl? Or, perhaps, that his male organ has surreptitiously fallen off, and will be glimpsed swirling down the drain? I can't say, because the speaker hasn't made the cause of his fear sufficiently clear.
>
> But, I'm forgetting about the scrambled brains. Rather than shivering over an irrational fear (as postulated above), the speaker is justifiably frightened over the consequences of having splattered his brains all over the bar. Although this raises the question: can a man's teeth chatter after his brain has been removed?

This opens the poem up to a wider range than what I got from it, my comment, I think, gave my take on the piece, and I haven't bone the line-by-line yet, perhaps I will now, but I also want to go back and view, perhaps add to, my original comment.

:)

[Will Dockery]

On Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 10:44:26 AM UTC-4, Richard Oakley wrote:

Okay, though my original critique pretty well nails the poem and my take on it, I'm going to go for the line-by:

> Was it fear becoming real?

Sounds like paranoia that the paranoia is more than that.

> What is real to you, is it to me the same?

Is one man's perception of what s real, or differences of levels of fear in individuals.

> I have come to my own perspective

The view of the poet s coming, this line announces.

> after tying off a few, and slamming my

Well, "tying off" in the classical Beat/Bukowski lingo, is wrapping the arm with a tight band, in order to make a vein pop up, to inject drugs... which would indeed produce such an intense high (Heroin, Cocaine, Speed) tat the effect would likely feel like a /slam/ to the system.

> brains against the bar, scrambling thoughts

If the drugs are real and good, most likely classical Heroin injection and buzz, some "nodding off" as in head/brains resting on the bar, as thoughts race around in narcotic visions... "scrambled".

> and I turn in my stool towards the flush...

This one loses me, not sure what the "flush" is... perhaps the speaker turns on the bar stool and sees his "flushed face", as in pale from the sudden drug high, in the mirror?

> this isn't new and now my teeth chatter--

The drugs are giving the addict chills, or some other jittery effect, making his teeth chatter.

> isn't it only fear?

Or he is worried that he has overdosed?

That;s what happens when I read reach line lietrally, but in the end I like the general sweep of the poem which simly gets me to:

"Raises many universal questions, is it chill, fear, nerves, all of the above?"

So, o the record, I will let the first critique stand, as the way I see it.

:)

[Michael Pendragon]

I still think you should really have that checked out.

[Richard Oakley]

That's a nice take, and I thank you!

[Richard Oakley]

You first.

[Richard Oakley]

The hammocks sway in the breeze,
soft in the hush, there's no one here.

How at ease we lay with our fear,
how smooth it gently sways, and these

are those times where tips lead
to the pop of the strings, and we

fall as ghost from the tree
and are snap-drawn as thread.

[Will Dockery]

I know you probably didn't intend it literally the way I got the line-by-line, but the "teeth chattering" and "tied off" did remind me directly of the old school "Jittery Junkie" of Beat era writers like William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

:)

[Richard Oakley]

Who kniws what rubs off, and when?

[joefin...@gmail.com]

I hope to....

Getting on the line is tuff...

This be G.J.