Skip to content

Tag: meaning

Too Much is Still Unsaid

Too much is still unsaid that lies beneath
the words we loosely share in public space,
and in that gap between the truth and lies
we share what guilt there is to spare.

Our conversations tend to short and sweet,
like advert jingles meant to sell the steal
from our too willing hands caught in the till.
We keep our missives to the point and brief.

The dialogue may seem a bit one-sided,
since by and large we mostly talk alone.
There is no use in trading misperceptions,
nor wasting time in chasing some strange dreams.

Too much is still unsaid that must be heard:
the words we use all seem to miss the point,
and in the gap between the real and fake
we learn the lessons keeping us alive.

04 Aug 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

On Sharing the Wealth

If you do not add something of yourself
to everything you choose to pass along,
what kind of an inheritance is that?
Why should your downstream children give a damn?

What good is simply sharing more bad news?
How does that help us to improve our lot?
There is no solidarity in that,
just mindless repetition, nothing more.

If all you do is blithely sing along,
what matter if your protest is heartfelt?
If you would fight the mindless, faceless crowd,
it must be with your own identity.

So share a little something of yourself
when you repeat some bit of what you’ve seen,
or else what difference that it comes from you?
You have a song to sing like no one else.

Why did you share that last report or meme?
Do you have nothing of your own to add?
It must mean something to you, after all,
or else why waste your time and energy?

27 JUL 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Talking Heads: sonnet (Sicilian)

Who in the world do we believe we are,
imagining our words alone suffice
to change the future’s course or shift our stars?
How much can you expect for that small price?
So little fuel will take us just so far.
What’s worth achieving takes some sacrifice;
the answer is never a lower bar,
unless your goal is a fool’s paradise.

There is no evolution of the mind
without some kind of action made out loud.
It’s not enough that a thing is conceived,
a mere equation with all terms defined.
So you can talk – no reason to be proud.
It’s only by your acts you are believed.

07 Jul 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

With a Whisper: rhopalic verse

A little whispering, un-hearable
by any listening un-awakened,
can convey purposeful information.

It appears trivial, unimportant,
to someone expecting revelation,
but supports meaningful activity.

On hearing transmitted encouragement,
the human animal transmogrifies.
It becomes completely integrated.

20 Jun 2025

© 2025, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Nothing to Say

Social media is an infectious disease, spread by word of mouth. We pretend we have something worth saying out loud each day.

Who cares how diligently we reshare or like? We like to think we improve silence, but no one listens.

What real change are we making, parroting this stuff? No one sounds original speaking others’ words.

Why are we so important? Our lives go so fast. Before the ink dries, our contract expires.

10 DEC 2024

© 2024, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

Some Sense of Meaning: ballade

The world is what it is, the pundits claim;
and City Hall no pugilists defeat.
No matter where you go, things stay the same;
you either like your bourbon iced, or neat.
A thing is in itself almost complete;
just unifying theory holds it back,
a brave philosophy in which to beat
some sense of meaning when they feel its lack.

The picture is designed to fit the frame;
and even honest men practice deceit.
No matter how its critics might defame,
life runs along, wash, rinse, and then repeat.
As even excess sugar loses sweet,
so kindness turns to malice on the rack;
and gives to those who think best on their feet
some sense of meaning when they feel its lack.

The clever find someone to take the blame:
a scapegoat they will not most likely meet,
some part of their brave psyche soaked in shame –
the heart perhaps – and never miss a beat,
while fools still strive to enter and compete
in one more pointless lap around the track.
Like sheep, they seek for answers, as they bleat,
some sense of meaning when they feel its lack.

The world is what it is, wholly complete;
Each moment marches on, not to come back.
Men write philosophy to give blank sheets
some sense of meaning when they feel its lack.

13 JAN 2017

© 2017, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment

The Slightest Remnant

Along the edge, the slightest remnant lingers
before it falls away into the void
and dries like alcohol upon the fingers,
its essence there but nonetheless destroyed,

the merest memory of thought or action
caught only by a sentimental whim
unable to return the satisfaction:
the empty echo of a finished hymn.

And yet, that tiny fragment’s lack of meaning
unlocks what always follows, in the end:
an empty room assaulted by spring cleaning
that only waits to be filled up again.

Before the dawn, the night feels it is endless:
a gaping maw that, in the sun, is friendless.

05 JAN 2015

© 2015, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment
error: Content is protected !!