H IS FOR "HEROES" & "HORRIBLE HANKY HAIKU"

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“That's right, it filets, it chops, it dices, slices
Never stops, lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn
And it mows your lawn and it picks up the kids from school . . .”

GOOD STUFFS
H IS FOR “HEROES” :
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In my late teens and early twenties I had three heroes: one an actor, one a painter, and one a musician. Hero worship is a phase that most of us pass through in our youth. It seems we need a person to emulate or inspire us. As we grow older, we come to learn that heroes have feet of clay, we become disillusioned and cease holding up others as necessary examples. In other words, we begin to really find ourselves. Well, some of us do. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of people never really do discover their own unique voice. I’ve addressed this topic before on this Blog in ‘#1 Rule Of Selfhood.’

At this tired, old stage of my life, I have gone well beyond idolizing other human beings, and other than Jesus Christ, I don’t really have a “hero.” I suppose the nearest person to it would be the late Senator Joseph McCarthy. I certainly don’t idolize the man but I have tremendous respect for him. No mere mortal in history, attempting to do what was patriotic, good and right, was ever subjected to more bullsh#t than was Senator McCarthy; he was and remains one of the most wrongly maligned individuals in humankind’s history.

Below is a poem I wrote about one of my heroes back in August of 1980, when I was 19 or 20. The following month, I left a copy of it on his tombstone in Indiana. It may not be any good but it definitely captured the naïve, youthfully overwrought feelings from that period in my life:

A CHANCE AT HEAVEN

While I sit alone, reels of film play in my head
Flashing on the screen a reality to all I have said
There was a time when my words spoke my belief
But now the thought of each statement only brings grief
For I am older but still the clocks tick away
And tomorrow is here before I’ve lived today

And now in the dwindling days of my youth
I have chosen you as my symbol of truth
Because I know where you were, I can feel your doubt
And like you, I am searching to find a way out
I live in my mind in a world of seclusion
For I can’t find a way to transcend this confusion
Mislaid in this land, a lifetime to roam
Safety in loneliness, the place we call home
To exhibit a vision with your rise to fame
This too is something that I’d like to claim
Breaking through all the boundaries imposed by time
Yet I’m held back by a fear of attempting the climb
And though people argue I have nothing to lose
What becomes of the dreams that I might abuse?

I guess heroes are those who gambled that thought
Got up from the ground and persistently fought
This is my time to try the chance that I clutch
To ascend to the heavens, beyond everyone’s touch
And now I am ready to act the ultimate scene
To reach immortality just like James Dean

BAD STUFFS
H IS FOR “HORRIBLE HANKY HAIKU” :

This is really terrible but it just popped into my mind the other day and made me laugh. (But then - as Lisa has already figured out - I’m weird.)
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“Hand me a tissue;
I am going to— HAIKU!”
“Oh dear! God bless you.”

Le McQuote Du Jour:
Some of what has still to be learned by the West may appear to be almost absurdly simple and elementary, but it is important nonetheless. For example, never to use a long word where a short one will serve equally well, never to write with the idea of proving one's own erudition but rather in order to ensure that one's ideas shall be made as understandable to the reader as possible.
~ Douglas Hyde
(from his book "Dedication And Leadership")

~ Stephen T. McCarthy
Doggtor of Semiliterate, Half-Naked Blogological Studies
Stream O’Consciousness University in Hatsastraw, Honduras

Letter Links:
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