Sardonic

It's not a word used every day. It is nearly similar to sarcasm...except with an important difference. When using sarcasm, one generally doesn't actually mean the words conveyed. 

Sarcasm: 
              1). the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny.
           2). a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual.

Sardonic:
           1). disdainfully or skeptically humorous :  derisively mocking.

With Sardonicism, one actually means what they say. I only provide this prologue to the Five Hipsters poem because when looking for a way to describe this poem, sardonic immediately came to mind. I mean every word of it.

But first:

Let Me Tell You About A Girl (part 2 of 3)

Let me tell you about a boy
who would learn to fly,
though a fledgling without feathers or wing.
A bird with mocking dreams
is doomed to flutter
on teasing winds.

Long from the nest departed,
he again plummets to ground, baffled.
To ever increasing heights he climbs, unafraid,
but blind from the illusion
that flight and falling are the same,
that all he needs is more air to survive.

So cruel is Nature
to invest such desires in flesh,
yet divest it of all means.
But fly he tries
over, over, over
"It will happen some day!"
over, over, over
"Don't try so hard!"
over, over, over...
And not for lack of bruises and broken heart
            he remains
                           earthbound.



Five Hipsters

Five Hipsters sit in a room
a vacuous cube painted beige
( by someone they care not who )
because
a tavern would be too cool.

They sit, peering into their unnecessarily obscure thoughts
never making eye contact
never a smile or nod
because
noticing others is for commoners.

As they wait, staring with glass-less eyeglasses, they yearn...
they hope someone else will speak first,
break the silence
because
talking, communicating is a sign of weakness.

The first to acknowledge another human being,
to validate another's existence with a glance,
to connect with another human through words
is the first to loose points, to loose status
in the self-important, self-absorbed secular cloister 
where the last one to be human
         wins.

A glass half-full...of poison.

This is a snippet of a quote from Woody Allen in his 2006 film "Scoop." I find this turn of phrase, a play on the adage that optimists see the glass half-full, as one of Allen's more humorous. As someone who routinely forgets quotes, this one sticks with me for some reason. Perhaps it resonates with my optimistic nature, a sort of naive optimism, which friends remind me is rather dangerous.

But today a different sort of meaning came to mind for this turn of phrase. In creative endeavors, 'filling up the well' is a process I've come to believe in and trust. Drawing from the creative well daily requires a replenishment of the aquifer supplying that well. As Stephen King (and most authors) advise young writers, read. Read a lot. This is a form of 'filling the well.' Visiting museums, catching a movie, playing a game...can all help fill the well.

Unfortunately, I've poisoned my well accidentally. And though I know it is temporary, it is poisoned nonetheless. This poison happens to be sweet, and addictive. It is the latest television show I'm obsessing over (five years late), namely, Battlestar Galactica.  Being able to watch episode after episode, season after season of this gritty, compelling Sci-fi show on Netflix Instant is proving detrimental to the young adult, playful writing mode I'm in now.  While writing Mary Margaret's next adventure, with its mixture of whimsy, seriousness, and escapism, I find myself second guessing those qualities...wanting to interject more grit, more nihilism, more corruption...in short, more reality.

That is the poison, and the challenge: Balancing realities with fantasy and escapism for a younger audience, while myself being exposed to (one might say inundated with) harsh realities.