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djkillj0y — Our Time
Published: 2003-12-24 04:14:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 138; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 20
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Our Timeby Scott Walldren
We often are not appreciated in our time.
Either good earth covers us
or we mix with the air and the sea
long before we are quoted from memory
or gilded in galleries proclaiming our names.
But I live now.
And only now can you say
freely what is your heart to me.
And I will reply (probably glibly)
with what is in mine to you.
Yet, we often are not appreciated in our time.
Allocated to the bargain bin of life's past been-there-done-that hits.
Always aspiring, yet we all share this self-same fate,
another new flame eclipsing our fire before we burn out.
Such is our law.
But I did not come to change the world.
I came to be myself, of myself and for myself.
The world was its own before I came along.
A social creature, I create nothing new but share my sight
and in yours, my kin.
Still, we often are not appreciated in our time.
Those who turn their backs to us
(or is it we who turn from them?),
convinced of our banal inanity
and of our purposeless pursuits.
Ragamuffins, gently touching the fringes of this enforced reality
where others commit to ideology, progress, posterity--
and here lie we in our idolatry.
Dare we dream differently, our selves unique against sameness
to be forgotten in our time?
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Comments: 29
Well Scott, you once again captured truth in its purest state, if it is possible. Everything in this world is subjective. For us, perhaps the path we took may mean the world and for other's it's just a fool's quest. We may never find out whether our pursuit would bear fruit or whether it would simply be forgotten. Yet, I hang on. The dream is the only thing that is solid. Solid enough for me to stand on while the rest is washed away by the tides of time or blown away by the winds of change. I thank you Mr. Walldren for letting me know that I do not stand alone. +fave
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You're very welcome, and I think you've received the poem exactly in the spirit it was written. Hang in there!
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thanks so much for including me in your hall of fame. i hope i can say this without sounding tooo cheesy, but i think you are a pretty cool guy.
im suffering from deviantart block. after having a few days off for christmas i am finding it really hard to catch up!
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Well, thank you very much, my friend. I go around telling my friends, "Hey, you sass that hoopy Olly? Now there's a frood who really knows where his towel is."
I know what you mean about the block. I always try to comment on everything, but sometimes I find a few I must skip. I'm sorry if my magnitude of submissions has contributed to your backlog. Only comment if a piece behooves you.
Best of luck!
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haha i am usually behooved
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Speaking of being behooved, I'll share a tid bit of trivia with you I learned from my theology teacher. We all know that Jesus was described as compassionate...or in the texts "he was behooved by compassion"...well, the original manuscripts' compassion is "his bowels were moved". So to be compassionate means to have your stomach/low internal organs turned by seeing someone in pain.
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crikey!
i must remember to limit my compassion to times when i am near a toilet then
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Or...just keep a large jug handy at all times. Or adult diapers?
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adult diapers? now theres a fetish for you
i think i'll stick to fetishes where i can keep my bowel movements private
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Aww. Remember what Jesus said. Sharing is caring. 
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haha. oh YESSS.. i'm still feasting on yesterdays mango float.. mmmm.. 
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yea.. this is very true. and your so good with truth scott. i applaud you. so beautifully writ. i cant help but imagine all of us walking the same path struggling to be different or to stand out but always ending up in the same path were everybody else goes. convincing others, giving up, ahhh.. life. we think and then we dont think. either way, we feel.
thanks scott for sharing a piece of your mind
its always a pleasure reading your work
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Indeed. I like the way you said that. And thank you.
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May I take a different spin on this one? OK.
I'd say "fuck you" to all people who don't think that you are special!
The way I look at it is that everybody is special in his/her own right. And you certainly don't need to have had your 15 minutes of fame to be so. People who go out of their way just to become famous (for whatever reason) are usually the least interesting.
This is not envy talking, I'm as fortright and honest I can be and I will tell you right here and now that if ever I become someone successful (Pulitzer price 2014 comes to mind) I will not indulge in idolism, I will avoid being in the public eye as much as I can and I certainly won't feel better than anyone else just because I made it.
It is very true that most people only see someone's beauty after they're gone from their lives and it's praiseworthy to make an effort to see the good in people now, because everybody's has his/her effect on the (way of the) world, however small it may be. Remember it's not only high-level politics that rule the world, but also feelings of love between two people, respect for others and open-mindedness.
Scott, I am sure you have made an effect on the world already and you will continue to do so, seemingly insignificantly, but not unnoticed. I'm honored and humbled to be among your friends ... this is just one way of touching people ...
Anyways, I may have strayed from the point you tried to bring across, but what I tried to say is ... dig the poem
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*snaps like a beatnik in appreciation of everything you've just said*
I suppose what I was getting at by 'another flame' or the angst against those who get their 15 minutes is merely my own disdain for people like Warhol, or artists who get famous for signing others' work. Outside of art, it represents the poseur mentality, the ass-kissers and the fake.
It's good to hear, and I do not doubt that you will always be genuine. And you make a good point, there are other forces at work in the world beside conformity and politics. I reckon one reason for my discontent lately is my lack of social interaction since my graduation. I am a social creature, even though I love my alone time. But too much can be such a drag.
Yeah, I suppose this whole poem comes out of a dislike for the fake, and editors in general. I understand they have a magazine or review to put together, but in the literary and art communities the higher ups experience as much "groupthink"--a social behavior that has so twisted both the content and way things are presented. I liken them, while they as 'artists' state they rage against such machines, to mass broadcasting corporations. In a way, it is abysmal to think that each micro group of society exists as a reaction against some other group or groups. Likewise, it also illustrates a point...we are social, like it or not, and choose sides accordingly, as if life were a game of elementary school recess basketball. "Oh, I don't want him on my team." Hehe. I suppose in someways, when we first begin something new, we are all poseurs. After all, what good is skill if you don't make it to the dance?
Social prophecy. Justified poseurism. Ooh. Then again, different tastes are different tastes. *shrug*
Anyways, I'm glad you're my friend, Rene.
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I think everybody is a social creature, but some are just more outgoing and extravert, others are more laidback and introvert. That is nothing to do with being a hermit or anti-social. I too used to be very quiet when I found myself at parties or gatherings where there were more than 2 people and everybody was always asking me if I was having a good time and I was. Just because I hardly spoke didn't mean I was just waiting to go back into solitary confinement. Through my "career" I have changed a little to be more vocal these days, but still that doesn't mean that I too love my alone-time.
This probably gives us an advantage over people who just yap and yap, because we tend to think things through and those things can be anyting from Lego to world politics to social elitism. Being so we steer clear from fake, because if there's one thing I've seen in all mass gatherings is that people always agree with each other, first just for keeping the peace, but later just to keep things simple for everybody at all times.
Even though you describe yourself as some sort of a loner you do go out of your way driving your sister to and from work, you cook for Xmas dinner ... what I'm saying is, you show genuine interest in others which in my eyes is so much grander than, for instance, gladhanding at an office xmas party.
Thanks for sharing emotions and thoughts and stuff, your friendship means a lot.
Anyways, have a great day today and enjoy, no wallow, in the festivities.
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I hear you. I've been to a few private parties thrown by friends. Most of the time it's just, among my generation, to get blind stinking drunk. But I usually enjoyed myself there. There were usually other fellow musicians, or a guitar about that I could play for people and make an ass of myself with.
And yes, working an IT job where manage was deaf, dumb and blind taught me to share my opinion and carefully explain things, even though my supervisor told me to pipe down. His boss told me to say what I thought important. So I did. I went in the first round of layoffs, along with a lot of others who had raised their questions, but also along with many who were past their usefulness. I was pretty stoic about it though, and as you can see, I am quite a bit stronger today for the whole experience.
I guess you are right. I am a family/close-friends kind of man. I think the season's just made me lazy and tired out. But that's what these days are for. Relaxing. Doing some light work, nothing grand.
And now I'm off to wallow in the food like a greedy pig. Mmm. Hehe. Have fun!
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Well, this is simply beautiful, very 
Thank you for this..for being YOU, for your sweet friendship.
Have a nice holiday, and peace, love and joy in the new year for you...
I'm so proud of your accomplishments, you know.
Love Ya,
Lorri
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It is the nature of life. Be that eccentric fly on the wall, or be a clone of society. I do believe that the bizarre ones are silently treasured and we are the ones who will never know to what extent we have been appreciated and acknowledged for the immensly wonderful difference we make in our lives, the world, and the lives of the people we love. And society's clones wonder what people see in us and they are envious of the authentic appreciation we receive and they are dumbfounded as to why we don't notice the appraisal we indefinitely acquire.
You are awesome Scott. And you know I appreciate you for being you. I know that you will always and forever, long past you time, continue to hold the extraordinary position of you.
Love,
Gita
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Thank you so much for your kind words.
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Anytime, hun.
And thank you!
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