Never Mind the Old Man - by Doodleslice
Your weekly dose of fresh poetry #121
We all know that your Christmas goal
Is to avoid that lump of coal
Acting on your best behavior
Just to win the old man’s favor
Well dear children time to rejoice!
No need to use your indoor voice
Forget the old and tired fable
Put your elbows on the table
Go ahead stand up on a chair
Even pull on your sibling’s hair
Be sassy and be back-talking
It won’t harm your Christmas stocking
Why? Because Santa’s lost his list
Now how’s that for a plot twist?
He can’t track who’s naughty or nice
So here is my yuletide advice:
When you’re ready to deck the hall
Change the game, have yourself a ball
Don’t use plain holly like a dud
Decorate with some Christmas mud
Then finger-paint with green and red
On the sofa or on your bed
Make a fuss even start a fight
This will not be a silent night
If you’ve got a cat or a dog
Let them bathe in some fresh egg nog
And don’t forget to floss your teeth
With some tinsel plucked from the wreath
And lest you feel guilt or remorse
Just remember this in due course
There’s no need to fuss, fret or faint
Because you see old Nick’s a saint
Without his list to be his guide
His Christmas spirit’s on your side
You’ll reap benefits of the doubt
When he’s doling the presents out
Still, naughty you might be branded
If Santa finds you red-handed
So this Christmas some mischief make
But wash your hands for goodness sake!
This week we have a special guest delivering the poem. A man known as Doodleslice. I got to know him because we both like to publish our poems as digital collectibles on the blockchain. Yep, you can call them NFTs if you wish. Anyway, Doodleslice is first and foremost a kind and generous soul. He shares his work and empowers you to share it with your friends. He is an artist and poet, but also refers to himself as an imperfectionist. He offered to share his poem with you, and because today is the day before the day before Xmas, I was delighted to share this with you all. As I’ve mentioned before, I want to open up the lead section of this newsletter to other poets once a month. To shine a light on the talent that is out there. And if you become a paid subscriber when I open that option, you can help pick the poets that we invite on stage here.
Now the main question is: will you be naughty or nice, or both?
Have a delightful Christmas if you’re celebrating that.
PS1: Check out the work of Doodleslice via his Linktree.
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Poetics in life
Want to visit a museum that has hundreds of galleries showing contemporary art, including poetry? You can, without leaving your home. You can even collect art with a couple of clicks (and a crypto wallet). In a very ambitious project, photographer Dominique Weiss, AKA Wildalps, has started a project creating precisely this in the Open Metaverse. Apart from the joy of viewing art, this project is also important because it aims to cement the decentralisation premise of web3. It’s an important premise. It’s how users and creators can stay in control of the future internet. So, if you have a bit of time, dive into the virtual world of the Open Metaverse 6529 Museum District.
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It’s the season to… make lists. Have you check your Spotify wrapped already? Well, here’s something better if you are up for discovering some new music. In three parts, Kevin Alexander is sharing newly released records from 2022 with us. It’s a very expansive list, with some amazing gems in it. Please, do yourself a favor and check out part 1, part 2 and part 3. Or start by clicking on the snippet below. The clip above this paragraph is from part 1.
If a tree falls in the forest, does it make any sound if there is no person there to hear it? It’s an old question, and if a machine is not a person, you could argue that you can install a sound recorder and just wait to get lucky. NASA did something of that sort, but differently. Their InSight Mars lander was equipped with sound recording capability. And recording it did. Not a falling tree, but a crashing meteorite. Listen for yourself:
This poetry magazine is building a fund to support crypto poets and other artists. Collect one of the All I want for XMas tokens and help get this fund off the ground.
Poetry elsewhere
Last week we had my poem inspired by the daily cinquain prompt on Twitter as fresh poem. If you remember, the prompt word was ‘stable’, and my poem was about AI art algorithms. This poem here was built around a very different interpretation of the word stable. One that is quite familiar to me as well, since our kids ride horses…
Sherman Alexie is one of my favorite poets since I found my way to his work this year. His poems are open, honest, and share insight into worlds that are unfamiliar to me. This is one of the reasons I love poetry so much: you get to learn about the other while enjoying great writing. He also writes, at times, about love. And these poems always touch my heart. The love he writes about is strong and deep. I recognise that. Please read this poem, Cooking With No Recipes, to start with:
Metacarpus is another multi-talented artist and poet, writing short poems and creating wonderful (NFT) art. This poem, I found on Twitter, was particularly endearing:
Loved the poem by Doodleslice. And Kevin's Substack is a must-subscribe for all music lovers!
Thanks for the shout out, Arjan! Your support means a lot to me. 😀