The Joker

 

Why would I want to be 

Like those who conspired to destroy me?

Like those who used and abused me?

Does it really mean that much to belong

With those who comply with whatever Simon says?

A flock of mindless sheep.

Damaged beyond repair by my past

I have no worthwhile future.

Those who ridiculed and abused me will pay.

There is no solution when debasement of those who are different

Is condoned by the culture.

Your worst nightmare didn't arise out of nowhere 

With no reason for existing.

Society created me.

Without a significant change in the way the outsider is treated

There is no solution for me.

I am a complexity.

In a world where ridicule is the commonly accepted response

To those who cannot comply with rigid standards of perfection

Chaos will continue to be the order of the day.

notes

I added effects to the base photo using Pixlr.

Today's prompt asks participants to write a poem from the point of view of a monster or jack-o-lantern. What does the monster fear?

https://experiencewriting.com/2023/10/15/oct-15-prompts-carving-scary-faces/

As for the suggested form, do you Bop?

https://poets.org/glossary/bop

The first stanza (six lines long) states the problem, and the second stanza (eight lines long) explores or expands upon the problem. If there is a resolution to the problem, the third stanza (six lines long) finds it. If a substantive resolution cannot be made, then this final stanza documents the attempt and failure to succeed.

As the third stanza reveals, there is a possible but not likely solution to the problem presented in the poem.

I love my hyperbolic comic Jokers. Nobody can touch Cesar Romero as the jolly madcap villain in the campy 1960s Batman TV show. While I enjoyed Jack Nicholson's performance as The Joker in the 1989 Batman movie (Michael Keaton did a fine job as well) I didn't care for the film overall. Kim Basinger was wasted in a role that reduced her to arm candy. Mark Hamill's Joker in the Batman animated series captures the essence of the comic book Joker. 

The tortured soul portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix is different from every previous iteration of The Joker. While his murderous actions can't be condoned, they are understandable. 

In this world, no one can be different or strange or damaged, or they lock you up.

--John River

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Jim Cooper from Pixabay

"I never pictured you playing Maria in The Sound of Music, Harley Quinn, but I must say your commitment to method acting is impressive!"

"Thanks, Owl! Do you think my girl Poison Ivy would be better as Mother Abbess, or as Leisl Von Trapp?"

https://odysee.com/@ZeroSmoke:b/%EF%BD%82%EF%BD%85%EF%BD%94%EF%BD%94%EF%BD%85%EF%BD%92-%EF%BD%83%EF%BD%81%EF%BD%8C%EF%BD%8C:d?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

http://myjustsostory.blogspot.com

November PAD Challenge 2021: The Ghost of Thanksgiving

 

Image by Oberholster Venita from Pixabay

Ornery Owl Sez: This Bop is a Bit Bleak. 

If you prefer to avoid morose verse, you have been warned.

As a child, I could look forward to the third Thursday in November

Being a time to refresh and connect, a day of quiet, untroubled play

In the home where I lived during the year that everything was almost perfect

Except for the ferocious bullying I endured at school, but so it goes

There may have been a fire burning bright in the fireplace

When we sat down at the table, I was truly thankful

For whom the bell tolls, time marches on

In current times I've found that everything has changed 

Time does not crawl, it hurtles forth like a bullet train

Crushing my memories beneath its merciless wheels

It took loved ones and ideas from me without a backward glance

There is no doorway through which I can return to that year of perfect holidays

But if I could find a filament of the hopefulness I felt

Perhaps I could sew patches over the holes in my heart

Maybe I could recall the feeling of the third Thursday in November

For whom the bell tolls, time marches on

I sit staring out the window wondering who I think I'm fooling

For decades now Thanksgiving has only been a harried mess

We usually don't even celebrate it on Thursday if we bother with it at all

It's just a day when the stores won't be open if I need something

My father believed in the promise of Thanksgiving

But he has been gone now for eleven years

For whom the bell tolls, time marches on

~ornery owl~

prompts

https://godoggocafe.com/2021/10/23/brave-recklesss-november-creativity-prompt-challenge-autumnblings/

I changed the poem's title from "The Ghost at the Table" to "The Ghost of Thanksgiving" as I thought it was a better fit.

https://dversepoets.com/2021/11/16/poetics-epiphany-in-the-time-of-holiday/

Prompt: Write a poem about an epiphany experienced regarding the holidays. 

Perhaps the child I was experienced the unfortunate epiphany that a happy holiday does not guarantee a lifetime of happiness.

Perhaps the older adult me experienced the epiphany that although the holidays can never be the same I can still make them happy if I care to.

Perhaps it's a bit of both.

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2021-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-18

Prompt: Write a Thursday poem

http://www.octpowrimo.com/2021/10/octpowrimo-day-9.html

Prompt: Write a Bop poem

https://www.pw.org/content/the_bop#:~:text=The%20Bop%20is%20a%20form%20of%20poetic%20argument,or%20documents%20the%20failure%20of%20resolving%20the%20problem.

https://sundayswhirligig.blogspot.com/2021/11/whirligig-345.html

The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)

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