Monday, April 25, 2016

862 - Can real punks spell cappuccino?


Sunday Whirl (Wordle #248) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

scar, hide, fire, prophet, vision, unholy, 
naked, sin, close, hills, climb, light


Can real punks spell cappuccino?*

It was sung that
The words of the prophet 
Were written on the subway walls.
Alas, this is no longer so.
The walls hold no prophetic vision now,
Just the unholy scars 
Of narcistic tags
Of the graphically talented
But cognitively vacant.
Mongrels,
Pissing on the walls
To mark their territory.
Their sin is a naked ego,
Devoid of a cloak of thought
Or wisdom.
What has become of clever graffiti?
Stuff that made you laugh?
Stuff that made you think?
Stuff that shined an awkward light 
On life’s foibles
Or injustices.
Sure, the new breed are equally athletic,
Not wanting to hide their work,
They climb fences, fire ladders,
Anything necessary,
To urinate their particular
Close and curlicue scent
On society's walls.
But where are the clever ones now?
Retired to the hills?  
Tired out? 
Died out?
Writing Facebook memes, perhaps.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2016
---

* A wall on the train line, outside Melbourne, 
used to declare: "Real punks can't spell capuchino".
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6 comments:

  1. Facebook gets a bigger audience, you can sit where it's warm, drink capuchino and not get hit by the 5:06 express to Belgrave.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha! I still leave the occasional quip on the bathroom walls in pubs. But I feel you. So much of what's out there now is not legible to these old eyes. Well-wordled.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this. "Of the graphically talented
    But cognitively vacant."

    Unfortunately, I agree with you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good old graffiti won the war and gained acceptance now his dirty horrid brother has taken his place...we never learn do we?

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is a slight hiccup in tagging your own name - might as well boil the kettle for the police - but when does well, graffiti is magic - Banksy...whoever s/he/they may be are probably counting dollars and sipping capuchinos with an ironic smile

    ReplyDelete
  6. Interesting rant about today's level of art, though I kind of like with the street artists are doing – and to be honest with you I don't remember much street art being of much import from the 1970s through to the early 2000's. I mostly remember artist writing gang and street numbers, and scrolling versions of their names. Today I see visual scenes of languishing hillsides, or cool motorcycles, interesting faces, children at play, and so.

    Also, as an aside, narcistic is not a word. I believe you were trying for narcissistic.

    And I too liked the line "Of the graphically talented
    But cognitively vacant."

    Randy

    ReplyDelete

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