Poem: "The World Breaks Everyone"
May. 18th, 2022 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the May 3, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places." (A Farewell to Arms) square in my 5-3-22 card for the Mixed Quotes Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America. It follows "Draft Dawgs," so read that first or this won't make much sense.
"The World Breaks Everyone"
[Friday, May 5, 1961]
It started when Luther
dropped a cup, slipping
out of his metal hooks.
The cup shattered on
the kitchen floor.
Biff started crying.
Jeff leaned over
his wheelchair and
picked up the pieces.
"Maybe we can make
something from these,"
he said. "I've done it
before with flowerpots."
There was one of those
in the yard, in fact, because
a terra cotta pot had come home
from the garden center in pieces.
Jeff had tucked the broken bits
inside the remaining shell and
filled it with potting soil to make
a charming little fairy garden.
"Yeah, that should work,"
said Kittyhawk. "Groovy."
"I'm sorry I'm so broken,"
Biff said with a sniffle.
"The world breaks everyone,"
said Moon, "and afterward, many
are strong at the broken places."
"So let's see what we can make
out of those pieces," said Jeff.
"We're hippies; we're good at that."
He fixed the cup by mixing up
a batch of gold epoxy and using it
to glue the cup back together with
glimmering metallic lines.
"Beautiful, man," said Biff.
"That looks better than
it did before it broke,"
Luther said, nodding.
"Let's have a craft day,"
said Moon. "We can fix
whatever needs fixing."
So Kittyhawk and Biff
used buttons to cover up
the cat scratches on a couch.
Moon and Jeff took out all of
the chipped and cracked pottery
or glassware that they could
find in the kitchen cabinets.
Luther was still good with
a hammer taped to his arm,
helping break down the stuff.
They used the best pieces
to cover small end tables.
Others went to decorate
pots and pipes to use as
planters in the back yard.
Some they even put on
cinderblocks, since hippies
used those to make benches,
bookcases, desks, and beds.
They used metal hoops and wires
to make a garden chandelier with
teacups to hold the tall candles,
then hung it from an apple tree
that stood in the back yard.
Meanwhile Kittyhawk had
gone on to mend holes in
a sweater with bird patches
and cover the worn toes of
her shoes with colorful calico.
Biff's sewing skill was less,
and his sense of humor
had turned darker.
So he had created
monster patches on
the ripped knees of
his bellbottom jeans.
"It's hard to believe
you made this out of
junk," Biff said, tracing
the edge of a mosaic table.
"Things can be broken and
still be beautiful," Moon said
with a smile, "and so can people."
* * *
Notes:
Upcycling is a hippie tradition.
Broken glass or china can make many beautiful craft projects.
Creative repairs make broken things beautiful again. Kintsugi is the art of mending pottery with golden epoxy.
Buttons on a couch cover up cat scratches.
Follow the instructions to make this mosaic table.
The garden chandelier is made from broken china.
Explore some cinderblock projects.
Moon's bird sweater has creative patches.
Moon's shoes have toes covered in calico.
Biff's ripped bellbottom jeans have monster patches.
Browse more ways of reusing broken things.
wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places." (A Farewell to Arms) square in my 5-3-22 card for the Mixed Quotes Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America. It follows "Draft Dawgs," so read that first or this won't make much sense."The World Breaks Everyone"
[Friday, May 5, 1961]
It started when Luther
dropped a cup, slipping
out of his metal hooks.
The cup shattered on
the kitchen floor.
Biff started crying.
Jeff leaned over
his wheelchair and
picked up the pieces.
"Maybe we can make
something from these,"
he said. "I've done it
before with flowerpots."
There was one of those
in the yard, in fact, because
a terra cotta pot had come home
from the garden center in pieces.
Jeff had tucked the broken bits
inside the remaining shell and
filled it with potting soil to make
a charming little fairy garden.
"Yeah, that should work,"
said Kittyhawk. "Groovy."
"I'm sorry I'm so broken,"
Biff said with a sniffle.
"The world breaks everyone,"
said Moon, "and afterward, many
are strong at the broken places."
"So let's see what we can make
out of those pieces," said Jeff.
"We're hippies; we're good at that."
He fixed the cup by mixing up
a batch of gold epoxy and using it
to glue the cup back together with
glimmering metallic lines.
"Beautiful, man," said Biff.
"That looks better than
it did before it broke,"
Luther said, nodding.
"Let's have a craft day,"
said Moon. "We can fix
whatever needs fixing."
So Kittyhawk and Biff
used buttons to cover up
the cat scratches on a couch.
Moon and Jeff took out all of
the chipped and cracked pottery
or glassware that they could
find in the kitchen cabinets.
Luther was still good with
a hammer taped to his arm,
helping break down the stuff.
They used the best pieces
to cover small end tables.
Others went to decorate
pots and pipes to use as
planters in the back yard.
Some they even put on
cinderblocks, since hippies
used those to make benches,
bookcases, desks, and beds.
They used metal hoops and wires
to make a garden chandelier with
teacups to hold the tall candles,
then hung it from an apple tree
that stood in the back yard.
Meanwhile Kittyhawk had
gone on to mend holes in
a sweater with bird patches
and cover the worn toes of
her shoes with colorful calico.
Biff's sewing skill was less,
and his sense of humor
had turned darker.
So he had created
monster patches on
the ripped knees of
his bellbottom jeans.
"It's hard to believe
you made this out of
junk," Biff said, tracing
the edge of a mosaic table.
"Things can be broken and
still be beautiful," Moon said
with a smile, "and so can people."
* * *
Notes:
Upcycling is a hippie tradition.
Broken glass or china can make many beautiful craft projects.
Creative repairs make broken things beautiful again. Kintsugi is the art of mending pottery with golden epoxy.
Buttons on a couch cover up cat scratches.
Follow the instructions to make this mosaic table.
The garden chandelier is made from broken china.
Explore some cinderblock projects.
Moon's bird sweater has creative patches.
Moon's shoes have toes covered in calico.
Biff's ripped bellbottom jeans have monster patches.
Browse more ways of reusing broken things.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-18 08:31 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2022-05-18 09:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-18 11:11 pm (UTC)3p3p3p3p3p3p3p3p
Yes ...
Date: 2022-05-19 06:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-19 01:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-19 02:01 am (UTC)These are great!
Our cat litter (which by the way is made from recycled paper!) comes in very strong cardboard boxes that are a little bigger than cinderblocks, and a heck of a lot lighter. They work perfectly with 1x12's, and can be covered with paper grocery bags. You can also turn them into storage bins, taking advantage of the handle on top and cutting the open end down to make them fit on the shelves.
I've also seen an old guitar mounted above a door to serve as a "doorbell" by way of a pick attached to the top of the door.
And you can make an incredible number of useful things from wire coat-hangers for large things, and paper clips for small ones.
Thoughts
Date: 2022-05-19 02:17 am (UTC)Awesome. :D
>> I've also seen an old guitar mounted above a door to serve as a "doorbell" by way of a pick attached to the top of the door.<<
*laugh* That's a new one to me, though I have seen doorharps.
>> And you can make an incredible number of useful things from wire coat-hangers for large things, and paper clips for small ones.<<
True, and I've done that.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-19 02:59 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2022-05-19 07:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-20 12:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-20 12:30 am (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2022-05-20 08:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-05-20 08:48 am (UTC)I couldn't bear being broken if I hadn't become stronger at the broken places.
Yes ...
Date: 2022-05-20 09:05 am (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2022-05-21 12:50 am (UTC)reread
Date: 2023-01-22 03:48 pm (UTC)