Hard Pressed

Cherry

By Caldwell

Tue, 07 Jan 2025
  • 178 reads
8 comments
 

We've come a long way down the road.
Turns out you can't trust your friends
Like you can your enemies.

Seems everybody knows,
Before you've even said good morning,
They're all gossiping and talking.

Did you notice a click on the phone?

When I heard about my father's death.
When I watched my friend get lost on meth.
When I couldn't take it anymore -
The way they'd hound me to my door,
The way they'd hound me to my door.

And here I am,
A lonely man
With little left inside.

I go out for essentials
And consider
How I've tried

To live an honest life
Away from idle chatter
Because whatever they might say,
You know that truth is all that matters

And gossip is a poison after all.
Yes, gossip is a poison after all.

We all crave stories,
the highs, the lows,
the wreckage left behind.

Hooked on the rush,
Like we’re above
The desperate ties that bind.

We're all just looking for a fix
Be it backchat or a needle’s sting,
It’s the same cruel trick.

And gossip is a poison after all.
Yes, gossip is a poison after all.

Certificate PG
Poem
Poetry
Rant

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

gossip is a poison. 

 

Submitted by Caldwell on

I wrote half of this about the phone tapping scandal - around that time - and turned it into a song. However, it still applies to the salacious reporting of personal stories for an audience of gossip-hungry ghouls of which I am equally guilty, late at night when I can't sleep. Seeking that dopamine hit, feeling like you're getting the depraved and broken truth of those who have enough money and adoration to know better. Perhaps that need to pollute yourself is getting on for conspiration in their dark behaviours?

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." John 8:7 in the Bible.

What also grates is the unwillingness to accept that someone regrets/repents truly of an incident in their past, and to hound as if you were ever going to find someone with a perfect past, or in yourself. Only encourages deception the more. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Caldwell on

We have all done things that we shouldn't have, and if you disagree with that then you probably haven't got much of a conscience. I am bothered by the possibility that writing stuff like this comes across as too 'preachy' though. A little pious. I suppose there are two ways around this - one is to inject a bit of humour, and the other is to go "all in" on the message and be so clear and strong that the purity of the expression is undeniable - much harder to do and possibly in itself a kind of blind humour where your intensity may be taken as a kind of petrifying madness of the kind that people will laugh because it's the only rational reaction.

I suppose this is the task of a great writer - and for some reason, I am reminded of Philip Roth who, for me at least, was able to strike the right balance between humour and intensity. His characters often grapple with self-deception, guilt, and the messiness of life, all while maintaining a sense of irony or dark humour.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"When I heard about my father's death.
When I watched my friend get lost on meth.
When I couldn't take it anymore -
The way they'd hound me to my door"

I liked the speed in this, made me think of being chased, trying to hide. Yesterday I read about the internet being dead, so much of it is AI. Maybe, soon, people will not read about real lives, they will be happy with scandals happening to those fake famous, engineered to get the most clicks for highest revenue. Real people will not be exciting enough compared to created content. Or, will it even be possible to become famous, one day, if as seems to be wanted, all artists - in music, film etc, are going to be AI

Really good title!

 

Submitted by Turlough on

And who doesn't love a bit of gossip? Even if it's not true, at least rich people are making money out of it. I don't read newspapers anymore because it's easier to just make the stories up in my head.

So. the song... did you write the music for it too? Would you by any chance have a recording we can hear? That would make your words even better.

Turlough

Submitted by Caldwell on

it's a little slow in tempo. https://soundcloud.com/brotherdear/cold-wind-whispers when it was just the germ of an idea. I will re-record with the aid of someone who knows more about structure and progression and hopefully, it will sound decent.

I appreciate your interest though.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

That's brilliant! 

I'm looking forward to the update and the full song.

I read your words as I listened to the music. It was like a proper little karaoke session.

laugh

Turlough