Well Versed Reality: A Poetic Version of Life as I See It

By Samuel Mackey

We spend a great deal of time in life wondering what is going on in various situations. Sometimes we are misled by people who have an agenda, other times by people who have the wrong impression, and other times by situations involving subtle realities that intertwine in confusing ways. Having gotten two degrees in engineering and applied them in industry as an analyst, the author long ago came to regard the provable truth to be something breathtakingly beautiful. In this regard, the author has also been left with the impression that there are many good, intelligent people wandering around with marching orders, saying, "Believe this or that!" but the results of this belief seem incongruous with reality. And so it seemed that there was a need for a well-versed reference source to better explain reality. The author didn't realize what service was being provided by his poetry until long after the first poem had been written. The fact that the title referred to a verse and that poetry contains verses serves as a pun in the title. Not all poems in this work refer to the same subjects. Many things we encounter in life can be confusing, including love, patriotism, politics, the feminine mystique, modern business, spin doctors (whom the author is none too fond of), advertisers, and pets, to name a few. It will not be claimed that the interpretations of what is happening are infallible. But the author did get more than a few happy a has at the end of various poems and hopes that the reader will respond with similar pleasure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781642141887

Book preview

Four Eight Four

A glorious self-contradiction,

Its drive rods dance into view.

Empowerment of strong conviction,

Let the mail and the people come through!

The steam-powered passenger train,

A nonpareil majestic sight,

Is analyzed wholly in vain—

Especially on a snowy winter’s night.

Cold and mechanical without,

Warm and alive within.

Tiny creatures that ride it leave doubt

It was made by the species it’s taken in.

With wheel arrangement four eight four,

This beauty writes power’s epistle.

As the ground shakes, the monster might roar

But instead your ears hear a shrill whistle!

Pirouetting around the broad curves

And waltzing over a mountain ridge,

It’s nearly too much for the nerves

To watch it charge through a small bridge!

Behind the steel chugger there trails

A town’s count of flesh and blood souls,

Abiding in homes on the rails

In pursuit of their various life goals.

And what brings out such romantic feeling

While watching enigma in awe?

Inexplicably what’s so appealing

In whatever one thought that one saw?

Perhaps the answer is not to know

And the most one can do is enjoy

The stimuli that gladden us so

Be we man or woman, girl or boy.

Leviathan is what it is, you know.

And Leviathan’s not what it’s not.

Whosoever would dissect a rainbow,

According to Twain, should be shot!

What It Costs Us to Be Free

What it costs us to be free,

We relearn this repeatedly.

Throughout the course of history,

Peaceful life may cease to be

All we know disastrously . . .

Young people in the prime of life

Are drawn from peacetime into strife

Trained to march, to drum and fife.

Protecting family, husband, wife

Through helmet, gun, grenades, and knife.

In battle trauma, what to do,

Primed for justice through and through,

Bent upon survival too.

Say a prayer and I love you.

Dash through gunfire in full view!

Sprinting under burning skies,

Through combat scenes in half surprise,

Small bands fiercely keep their ties.

Visions now before the eyes,

Friend and foe cries out and dies!

Armored monsters day and night,

Turret cannons blazing bright,

Set each other’s fuel alight.

Who would think this titan’s fight

Sprang from chivalrous horse and knight?

Take that building on the hill!

No time to think or gird your will.

Up the stairs! Your task fulfill!

The sniper with that vantage will

Not hesitate to make the kill . . .

At length, a tear rolls down the cheek

When reason has a time to seek

Rationales that maybe speak

What brought about this violent peak

That all destruction does bespeak!

What it costs us to be free,

We relearn this so frequently.

Throughout the course of history,

Livable life may cease to be

All we know so suddenly . . .

Who’d think that failed political schemes

Might impact peace, upset our dreams?

But politicians press their themes.

Von Clausewitz’s warning intervenes:

War is politics by other means.

Should not each of us who cares

Ask God’s guidance in our prayers—

Run for office, make sure there’s

Responsible people in governing chairs?

To pass the buck breeds gaunt affairs!

This is what it means to me

To say it costs us to be free.

Personal vigilance is the key

For citizens of democracy

Who’d pass on peace and liberty.

Winter Survival

The harvest is in.

Now it’s time to retire,

And for people within

To sit by a fire.

The provisions are done

And the winter snow flies.

Time to meet everyone

And to share what we prize.

Inside, where it’s warm,

We’ll dance and we’ll eat,

Sharing stories of charm

And adventurous