Nasreddin Shifflett

By Raven Mack

Nasreddin Shifflett is book two in Raven Mack’s freestyle sonnets project – to write over a thousand sonnets spontaneously, woven into heroic crowns. With the heroic crown, sets of fourteen sonnets are connected by the last line of one becoming the first line of the next. Additionally, the last line of all fourteen compose a heroic crown sonnet, so it's super-nerdy mathematical poesy nonsense. Nasreddin Shifflett is his immersion into mountain mystic traditions, attempting to become a true Sheikh of the Sonnet. All of these were written in "freestyle" mode, meaning more gut and heart than brain thought, skip conscious mind as much as possible, with minimal editing mostly done just to fit the strict mathematical form of the project. Themes explored mostly revolve around mankind's self-destructive reliance upon technology and brain knowledge, but in honoring the freestyle mode of writing, Nasreddin Shifflett scatters word seeds in all eight directions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raven Mack
• Release date: Jul 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310528118

Raven Mack

Raven Mack writes. Sometimes it is carved into metal along railroad tracks, sometimes it is etched into 0s and 1s for new-fangled cyber-devices, and sometimes it is spoken unto the wind. But that is what he does. He has been involved in self-publishing through zines, blogs, printing presses, pamphlets, smoke signals, street art, oral tradition, and astral projection for a couple of decades human time. But let's be honest, he's been doing this forever, or at least since the T'ang Dynasty.

Book preview

Nasreddin Shifflett

By Raven Mack

Copyright Charles Raven McMillian 2015

Published by Workingman Books at Smashwords (Workingman Books #006)

Hey you, this ebook is supposed to be licensed for personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or re-distributed. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy, or direct them to www.rojonekku.com. If you’re digging on this book but did not purchase it, please try to do something to support the author. They tell you to do these little disclaimers in the beginning, but look, let’s be real, times is hard and people are struggling. If you’re truly in the struggle, hit me up – I’ll probably give you a copy. If you just took it to be taking it, whatever man. If I could make a dollar off my writing, I’d be stoked, but honestly I’d be even more stoked if we just smashed this whole bullshit system to pieces. So if you stole this but you’re not actively working towards smashing the whole bullshit system to pieces and just trying to get cool stuff for free, you are perpetuating the problem, not changing a damn thing.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the anonymous and obscure wandering poets lost behind today’s abundance of mostly white noise.

Introduction

About two years ago, I started dabbling in writing sonnets utilizing accepted Shakespearean rhyme scheme. I found quickly that ten syllables per line didn’t feel right, due to freestyle MC hip hop background from my youth. So I ended up going with twelve syllables per line, and trying to see how fast I could freestyle sonnets, without too much thought and tinkering and traditional serious poet wrestling with every word. It became a little too easy once I unlocked it, so I decided to complicate matters by writing heroic crowns where fourteen sonnets connected through last-first lines into a circular crown, but also the last line of each also composed a separate crowning sonnet. This became an obsessive habit. This is the second of four collections from that Freestyle Sonnets project, where I started shifting into a wanna-be Sufi hillbilly mystic form poet, hence the name Nasreddin Shifflett.

Heroic Crown #20

Heroic Crown #21

Heroic Crown #22

Heroic Crown #23

Heroic Crown #24

Heroic Crown #25

Heroic Crown #26

Heroic Crown #27

Heroic Crown #28

Heroic Crown #29

Heroic Crown #30

Heroic Crown #31

Heroic Crown #32

Heroic Crown #33

Heroic Crown #34

Heroic Crown #35

Heroic Crown #36

Heroic Crown #37

Heroic Crown #38

(Nasreddin Shifflett is a junkyard mystic who I sit with as often as possible, while he tells me stories which are like nuts in that if you can crack into them, there is life-sustaining fruit. But cracking into them ain’t necessarily easy. Most all the heroic crowns in this part of the freestyle sonnet series were inspired by his stories to me, usually while sitting on the exposed front end of a ’69 Chevelle Supersport, engine long ago stripped and disappeared off to parts unknown, most likely for cash long since gone. In fact, it was while he explained the beauty of this particular hunk of rusting machine still being in his life, valuable parts stripped to where there was nothing left to sell – or at least nothing left he wanted to sell, but rather than dispose of what remained, he kept it on the land he occupied, to slowly flake back into the earth, probably long after he is gone and flaked back into the earth himself. This car is junk to most folks, but it’s been here for 25 years, and for me it’s a very stabilizing lesson to meditate upon every day. This was a classic muscle car, full of physical power achieved through combustion, which is fire and air confined to explode within engine block. That’s all gone. And yet it still sits here, with a natural patina that has learned to blend in with the surrounding scenery easily. I’d never get rid of this car, and it’d never get rid of me. The usefulness of useless objects was not lost on me, considering to many eyes I have lived a somewhat useless life myself. Junkyards, back roads, jails, prisons, landfills, graveyards – they’re full of useless things which have been stripped of all valuable parts, and then abandoned like an apple core. But even an apple core has use, whether the seeds re-generate into more apple trees, or mass of seeds creates cyanide, there is a use. Positive and negative outcomes emit from all pieces of matter, because at that molecular level there is always positive and negative in complementary balance. Not at war, not good versus evil, but balancing each other. So this particular heroic crown of sonnets was born sitting on the rusted Chevelle with Nasreddin, and him talking about how wonderful becoming rust truly was.)

#267

Dispassionate heart heavy with melancholy,

morose post-modern bureaucratic existence

in dysfunctional workplace, repeating folly

of daily procedures with insane persistence,

atheist praying for differing end results,

chasing monetary ends justifying means

of demeaning self’s spirit for life, catapults

of endless paperwork, without purpose, count beans

upon abstraction of abacus, physical

world dominated by sensory distractions,

ignorance applied stubbornly to mystical

realities as non-scientific, actions

based entirely upon consensus external,

without consulting with what’s been known eternal.

#268

Without consulting with what’s been known eternal,

inner circles create eternal outsider

statuses for lads like myself, endless journal

scribblings during stolen free moments, abider

of time’s lying promise that retirement awaits,

indulgence positioned between hard work and death,

except privilege ain’t birthright, so heart creates

art from suffering, attempting to stall last breath,

because essence escaped from physics means this name

Raven Mack will no longer claim ownership – thought

made by pure energy’s not property to tame,

floating wild like universal synapses, sought

by carbon-based earth life as spiritual source,

left lost laying along false paths, par for the course.

#269

Left lost laying along false paths, par for the course,

call of the crows deep in the woods beckons strongly,

longing for life that feels right without undue force

of self-justifying philosophy wrongly

applied as right and just; might trust a sage’s words

for insight, but following dogmatic mandates

never feels true as there’s no straight path – watching birds

soar overhead, flapping and coasting all creates

meandering motion in direction that’s deemed

necessary in moment, though those goals may change

according to experiences felt, hopes dreamed,

keep your eyes on the prize as life will rearrange

obstacles, don’t get stuck staring at infernal

fears overbearing intuitive truth kernel.

#270

Fears overbearing intuitive truth kernel

got folks reaching with worry, just can’t seem to shake

snake nightmares from day dreams, but stay woke, folks; journal

emotional clutter, untangle past to make

more sensible than simply being afraid; fill

empty spaces created by chopping away

fear with love, as much as you can, remaining chill

with your judgment – even opposites deserve day

and night, air and food; that’s our natural birthright

as humans being – being alive, existing,

resist encouraged divisions of black and white;

people is people – we all need power fisting

of sky, in unison, let hate and heart divorce,

because being afraid subdues natural force.

#271

Because being afraid subdues natural force

collectively empowering actual change,

fear is planted in our hearts from external source,

divisions cause philosophies to rearrange

friends and enemies constantly – "Eurasia has

always been…" type shit, but in our real lives, splitting

unified fist into individual spaz

of disconnected middle fingers wagged, pitting

human against brother, while inhumane power

structures continue to manage human culture

using psychological fire hoses’ shower,

washing brains of what’s real through media vulture

hovering overhead, wirelessly, at all times,

ends justifies means thinks most governmental crimes.

#272

Ends justifies means thinks most governmental crimes

committed against us bitches permitted to

feel free so long as we obey orders; sometimes

authoritative gas masks demand you move through

without question, no congregating, conspiring,

manifesting mistrust, dressing without respect

to business convention, despite pre-retiring

from work force due to lack of job source, genuflect

silently, contrary opinions spoken out

are subject to arrest, detainment, containment,

quiet release at new dawn – night time’s angry shout

reduced to groggy morning statement, complacent

faces never mourning state, deaf dumb and blind eyes –

dark and terrible times begging for fresh sunrise.

#273

Dark and terrible times begging for fresh sunrise,

seems like societal new moon, so let us plant

less suicidal ways, less paths consumed by eyes

attached to prize instead of moral steps; days grant

chance to improve ourselves, untangle the clutter

found in every skullcap attic – mistakes made,

cruel games played, and outright lies spoken; we mutter

hopes for forgiveness under our breath – ain’t no shade

to hide from a new day rising – no metaphor,

real talk: end of an old era needing dying

to fertilize the way of more tomorrows, more

babies being raised with open hearts, minds trying

to escape mental fetal position – harsh times

to realize we built poor sense for nickels and dimes.

#274

To realize we built poor sense for nickels and dimes

is to sit outside far from centers of shopping

dropping constant neurological triggers – chimes

of insatiable industry are dropping

past dubstep levels, subliminal conditions

to consciously navigate – wait, a paradox

of thought – where taught, sought, and bought given permissions

to be wrought together, by authority’s locks

on legality and what’s wrong, or seen as such,

thus the All-American vision’s stuck gripping

at straw men means justified with ill logic clutch

touching five senses – sixth non-existent, slipping

into the future backwards, trusting what now buys,

stacking abstract coins for comfort between blind eyes.

#275

Stacking abstract coins for comfort between blind eyes,

divine lies intertwine behind pineal gland

to reprimand heart thinking; chemical disguise

diagnosed as depression is just out-of-hand

brain emotion sinking to reconsider heart

thought; we often say heartfelt about simple words

spoken softly with self-importance – not a part

of heart at all, but ego; think of loudest bird’s

most heartfelt chirp, brightest sun’s most heartfelt rising;

human etymology disguising intent,

attention deficit ears absorb, realizing

subconscious knowledge which bastard fathers invent

through manipulation of mother tongues; actions

concentrated upon amassing distractions.

#276

Concentrated upon amassing distractions,

off-gassing plastics polluting home base ozones,

no groans and sighs though, oohs and ahs and inactions

attracting like-minded like button finger bones

not breaking final nail in collective coffin,

rolling on the floor laughing our ass off typing

but not doing, nodding through scroll, refreshed often,

updated automatically, fresh swiping

of fingerprints finding newer nothingness blast,

algorithms of life altering past, refresh,

missing comments from outside perspective, so fast

with speed, no fast with cleanse, refresh, internet mesh

capturing future, fracturing future, complete

into collections of shards quickly obsolete.

#277

Into collections of shards quickly obsolete,

I build digital mosaic of Raven Mack

thought seed scattered as fast as dumb brain can secrete

nonsense gibberish forever, passive attack

of aggressive endeavors self-identified

as clever (by creatives); egotistic tricks

to portray mystic poet role real life denied,

though