OTI:one poem and notes:7/11/16

Open To Interpretation

Matter

Oh!
The coach is going nuts
And the referees huddled at center court,
Going over the particulars--
'The devil is in the details'.
On the screen, the red laser pointer
Dot
Points to each players' gesture
As the play is replayed
Over
And
Over
On the giant led screen
For us in our study class.
What could we have done
To prevent the damage we see done?
'Damage happens on the Basketball Floor'.
Bemused, I think to raise my hand,
Suggest,
"The devil is in the minute particulars
Neglected,
Or some such, you know,
Blake",
But refrain,
Class is doing fine, and will get
There.

DolphinWords

Notes: Matter...there's puns in the title...reference 'black lives matter' in the current news stories...and the poem has what I call 'side by sides'...each 'side'  a connotation that can be interpreted...unlike prose, poems need to be 'open to interpretation'...that's how one sees the side by sides, the puns...one pun, one side, in the title 'Matter' reaches all the way to Democritus and the Old Greeks concept of atoms...William Blake, 'Blake', picked up on this and came up with his own atoms, 'minute particulars'...I just finished a two day weekend basketball referee camp, time in class room, time on floor, much review, much discussion, and one refrain instructors have, is to prevent trouble from happening by attending to details, from the clothes we wear, the way we walk, gesture, everything we do on the floor, so many things to consider!...coaches have a counterpart effort, another side, in teaching their players...basketball is a game, but it is a common place to draw from it lessons about the day to day...I just wanted to write up a poem about the weekend, which was much fun, for a memento, and first titled it 'There', but in considering the essays on Blake's 'minute particulars', and how they go on about Blake's notions of 'Newton's Sleep' (I'll not attempt an essay!), the word 'matter' came, and of course its popularity in the slogans, 'black lives matter', 'white cops matter' 'everyone matters'...the facebook black scroll is cluttered up with slogans!...I link the blog, and this post as usual, to my facebook, and facebook just has a text blurb alongside my photo...so thought to post the poem up to facebooks, so reader can see it complete without link clicking...but refrain...oh, one pun in 'matter' is to matter, as in make a helpful effort...oh, I can't explain everything, Blake tried too!...and my classmates are smart...smarter than me by far!...really like to use my 'Black Deck' for 'giant led screen', but if the poem travels, good poems do that, and one never knows if one's poems will 'travel', it would need an elaborate note with it!...'damage happens' references slang slogan, 'shit happens'...which is a catch all for things 'going south'...

:)

DavidDavid