HAS THERE EVER BEEN ANOTHER STRETCH OF DECADES as interesting as the ones we have lived through? If we could have cut out the damned wars, it would have been even better. So many things have disappeared, and come into existence, during my lifetime and I’m pretty sure that there’s plenty I don’t even know about. Color photo, color TV, color movies, have all arrived since I was born in 1942. Whitewall tires, mimeograph machines, and short shorts on basketball players have all disappeared. Everyday computers, telephones in your pocket, and scanners at checkout counters have all arrived in my time. Cars without power steering, ice boxes, and leather football helmets have gone the way of the dinosaur. These examples make up a very short list of everyday examples that I’m sure can be elongated greatly. It all seems extraordinary to me, but maybe it’s as natural as any growth. But then we run headlong into the question of whether certain growth is good, or not. Just because it’s ‘progress’ doesn’t make it a positive thing. And then (speak of the devil) …and then, there’s the Internet. Has it done more harm than good?
Hello Henry.
As an ever increasingly 'elder' guy, one of the things that fascinates and amuses me somewhat, is the way some things go in and out of fashion. I am not only referring to clothes, but to many other fads, fashions and concepts that come and go in a repetitive cycle. Each time, the 'new' order implies that this or that has never been thought of before, or the modern version is so much better than the old one was.
This has been so apparent in wars, management styles, in 'going-green', and indeed, in rhymes themselves. All concepts which I have managed to capture in rhymes. I will only share two such rhymes (from the book 'Unfashionable Rhyming Verse'. 2014) with you here, lest the post becomes overburdened with an old-man's mental meanderings.
Best wishes
Bill
UNFASHIONABLE RHYMING VERSE.
Just because it’s not in fashion
I trust my rhymes do not lack passion.
But fashion’s like the sun and rain
it’s likely it will come again.
With rhyming verse, some aren’t so keen
it’s not got worse, that’s how it’s been.
They may curse the stuff they see
as verse that is both naff and twee.
And once upon a time I too
might look on metered rhyme askew.
But most of that was just pretend’s
so I would not offend my friends.
I’ve found out things about the rhyme
that goes beyond the bounds of time.
It might be rhythm or the beat
that binds the rhyme so it’s complete.
When a base for rhyme is found
then is it this that makes it round?
Or is the story that is told
what gives it glory to grow old?
I have always had the notion
rhymes may start with an emotion
long before the rhyme is formed
or the lilting words performed.
I don’t wallow in fashion trends
but follow my own means and ends.
It’s highly likely some rhymes may
never see the light of day.
But bear in mind when rhymes you’ve read
you’ll find by then I might be dead.
But as I’ve published them you’ll see
they will still be,--- long after me.
B. Withers 2013
NO LONGER IN FASHION.
Rhyming verse, that’s not in vogue
is just like spats or shoes in brogue.
Those hats I donned in yester-year
are now old-hat and gone I fear.
Fashion is like a fairground ride
that pushes everything aside.
A whirlpool of huge turbulence
of decadence and indulgence.
They try to make some things a craze
but nothing ever really stays.
They tend to use both good and bad
but in the end it’s just a fad.
Those things that once were all the rage
get pushed and shoved and fall off stage.
And if nobody makes a fuss
the cost must be they’re lost to us.
The dresses that the ladies wore
expresses that which is no more.
They all were fashioned, so they tend
to fall to fashion in the end.
All things must be replaced until
everything’s just standing still.
Then from the cold they’ll reinvent
to give old things a new assent.
If you stand still it can be found
that fashion will go round and round.
One senses it’s a vast maelstrom
that ends up where it started from.
I bet those who chose the fashion scene
get lower odds to vent their spleen.
So I will write my poetry
in rhymes that chime just right for me.
B. Withers 2013
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First off, this is a pretty cool site with 33,379 members. Get inside and you will see.
It's not all about ostomy. Everything is being discussed.
Many come here for advice or to give advice 🗣, others have found good friends 🤗, and there are also those who have found love 💓. Most of all, people are honest and truly care.
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Create an account and you will be amazed.
I'd say the internet itself has done more good than harm, with one exception, social media. Yes, I'm aware this site is social media. I have a tendency to treat it more as a support group though.
I've given up on Facebook and deleted my account, and I am much happier without it.
If I am on any other social media site, I certainly don't tell anyone I know about it. I'd rather follow pictures of English Labrador dogs, cityscapes, model trains, and ostomy topics. The politics, cruelty, and religion were more than enough to get me to leave.
Great topic, Henry.
Thanks Henry and Bill - this was a good morning read.
In terms of fashion, I try to follow my favorite fashion rule which is
"If you're old enough to remember it, you are too old to wear it"!
Perish forbid a "post becomes overburdened with an old-man's mental meanderings." LOL I can't even imagine such a thing...
I'm with you, Abe. This is a support group; if it has become more sociable of late, all the better. I also quit FB years ago because it was so inundated with BS and FB just let it all ride. Freedom of the press is fine, but screaming lies about Trump being denied his so-called victory, when he lost by 7 million votes and is too thin-skinned to deal with it in a healthy way, is tantamount to the proverbial yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, as subsequent events have proven.
Hi Henry, I've often marveled at the extraordinary events and advancements that have taken place in my short lifetime, and it occurs to me that there are periods of history, pretty long periods, where nothing much of consequence has taken place. Is it a blessing or a curse? An old Chinese curse wishes that you "live during interesting times". Ours have certainly been nothing, if not interesting. I'm glad that I was not born later, that I am not a young person with my life ahead of me right now, because I fear that what is to come may technically be "progress" but it won't be positive. As for the internet, I guess it is a good thing when you weigh the pros and cons. Probably the biggest con is that we have become so dependent on it that we have forgotten how to function without it. That is kind of scary!
Terry