Usual
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| Wikimedia Commons |
One could say he had a usual life
with a usual wife and usual kids.
He always went to work at the usual time
driving his usual route in his usual truck.
He fulfilled his usual responsibilities
came home at the usual time
ate the usual family dinner
then watched the usual TV.
Weekends he did his usual chores;
Sunday went to church at the usual time.
He had the usual hopes,
and he dreamed the usual dreams.
At the end of one usual day
he shot himself to death
with a very usual gun
ooh, this usual poem has unusual all over it-creepy good! :D
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ReplyDeleteHi Mary... do you know the poem 'Richard Cory' by Edwin Arlington Robinson? ...the scenario in your poem reminded me so well that poem of Robinson... dark & pessimistic yet unpredictable.. truly there is more to a man than what appears on the surface...... some thought to ponder this afternoon as i head my way off to province... smiles...
ReplyDeleteOMG, I knew we were in for trouble when I saw the gun!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was the usual wife. :D
ReplyDeleteOoops ... this is un-usually haunting ... loved it :D
ReplyDeleteugh. the usual has a way for working it into you...too much of the usual...and when shooting oneself becomes a usual way, that becomes rather scary for me.
ReplyDeleteAs usual you pull off a usual write, which is usually great at your site, so as usual it is great, although not a fate I would want usually at my gate, or at all, but it is usual at many a stall.
ReplyDeleteThis goes to show you there's more than meets the eye, huh?
ReplyDeleteAh, the life of quiet despair ... knew it didn't bode well when the gun sat at the top of the post ... sometimes routine can be so mind-numbing that it breaks a person, sadly.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface it was usual but apparently not on the inside
ReplyDeleteMary Ma'am,
ReplyDeleteI like this kind of posting. Every line is written the usual, normal way until 'wham'! We get the punch-line at the end after all the suspense! Brilliant!
Hank
Mary the lead up to the slap in the face ending is just awesome! Wow.
ReplyDeleteRight up to your usual high standard. I especially enjoyed the irony of the repetition, emphasised in the ending.
ReplyDeleteA twist ending... or simply the sad normalcy of such an act? Thought-provoking, either way; thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete... unfortunately, there's nothing unusual about that happening in our communities
ReplyDeletesadly true inn so many communities
ReplyDeleteEchoes of Edward Robinson! Love those "surprise" and ironic ends. In Richard Corey, he provides an audience to narrate, you make that audience US. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteOuch...that gave me goosebumps...very chilling and exciting.
ReplyDeleteHow sad this is--there can be so much going on inside while all these usual things are going on. Really awful to think there is a usual way to shoot oneself! Good prompt Mary.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of a Mother Goose macabre poem. I like it.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of a Mother Goose macabre poem. I like it.
ReplyDeleteOh... this just got to me. I haven't swung over there to Poetry Jam yet. You struck it out of the ball park. Repetition really works here, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteMary, this rings with truth. "He was a quiet guy, a good neighbor." The 'usual' repeated throughout led to the inevitable conclusion... leading a life of quiet desperation, right? Haunting and scary.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind a bit of suggestion, I think I would have put the gun at the bottom, so as not to give away the clinch. But that's just me... Great write, Mary, and thanks for hosting!
Amy
An excellent poem, so often we don't see what's under the surface, life goes on as usual and then one day everything changes... the repetitiveness of "usual" really worked well to bring the message home.
ReplyDeleteA point well driven...sad but true.
ReplyDeleteA point well driven...sad but true.
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