image is mashed up by SSJ from pixabay.com images of Eduardo-Silva and OpenClipart-Vectors
the unshining
there were these smart crows
who picked open the house locks,
and watched late night shows.
© said sadain, jr. 2018
Author’s Note:
If you’ve seen that 1980 movie of Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, then you would already be familiar with the story of Jack Torrance, a writer who accepts the work of being a caretaker to an isolated hotel closed down for the winter, hoping to cure his writer’s block in the solitude of it all. Things do not turn out well for Jack and his writing though. The story slickly, horribly unravels to tell us that no sir, you cannot have your work and your play both at the same time!!!
Like the writing of Jack, mine is also going nowhere these days, except for these spurts of terrible haiku — or more aptly, senryu — that I’ve so far churned out in 2018, in keeping with a weekly schedule. As Jack in the movie types repetitively: “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
This week, I offer you another 5-7-5 senryu, The Unshining as a warning to crows and non-crows alike about the risks of dumbing down even as we try to become smarter, maybe just too smart for our own good. 🙂
And further down is a film documentary for a better appreciation of Stanley Kubrick’s crafting of The Shining movie.
All YouTube movie clips linked in this post are courtesy of their respective creator(s)
— SSJ, 27 January 2018
interesting!
Thanks, da-Al!
I am not sure about my crow versus non-crow status but the message in the art and the far-from-terrible senryu is thought provoking. Is there a balance? If my mental attitude about doing a post once a week changes from “this is fun” to “this is work” I know I’m in serious trouble, I freeze up and I don’t stand a chance. I have to somehow let it go, and it doesn’t feel like an attempt at cleverness or late night TV or a murderous rampage would help either. 😄 What does work? Maybe the crows know.
Thanks for the good words about the senryu, Steve! 🙂
Is there a balance, you ask? Those smart crows would perhaps pontificate about the existence of a Balance that is to be lived and enjoyed as the Journey and not as the End to be sought after. But coming from crows that melted their brains bingeing on those late-night shows, we cannot but remain skeptical about this. Personally, I prefer to apply a scale of satisfaction (from the desperately unsatisfied to the deliriously satisfied) on my time-energy wave, regardless of whether I am swimming in play or drowning in work, rather than compare and contrast work and play on a balancing scale as if they are opposing forces trying to grab that time-energy wave from each other. By definition, there will always be enough wave for any sea. But then this is the stuff of seagulls now, and not of crows. 🙂
My Pleasure, Said, and what you say makes sense and is an interesting way to look at it. Hard work might be very satisfying while play might be the reverse at times. I’ll have to think further on it. I find I am a victim of my oscillating emotions, and this also affects my satisfaction or lack of it with my writing and art. Still, the Journey goes on even for those of us who are always seeking, seeking, seeking Ends … 😃
I guess, we will always be seeking Ends in order to have new Beginnings, Steve, as long as those emotions oscillate. We can only wish each other well on our journeys 🙂
The muse will be back. It simply needs a little break. 🙂
Yes, Imelda, the muse could not stand the small talk at the office coffee room, and left the building for her coffee break. Let’s hope she doesn’t run away with the barista. In any case, thanks for the reassuring words 🙂