Excuses, Excuses, Alexander Fayne (March 2026)
Excuses, Excuses
The Book of Genesis does not
record
if, ordered to convene His beastly horde,
our father Noah felt unease or stress
before the Lord.
Nor, for that matter, did the
man profess
even a hint of hesitance. I guess
he must have felt a sort of embarras
at such richesses.
The line of nervy animals went
far.
Creeping or cutesy, fleshly or bizarre,
all wanted saving. How did he appraise
which ones to bar?
But there were giants in the
earth those days.
For midget-moderners, it’s hard to gaze
even at laptop-screens and work out who’s
a worthy case.
We know the ass of Buridan would
choose,
so why don’t we? The needy on the news
depress us, yes, but that should make us pay,
not merely use
their wretchedness as aid to our
dismay,
or talking-points when wondering at the way
that we do not care much, or do not feel,
or simply stay
seated, and eating, while the
Good appeal.
Nothing that flashing glass cannot conceal:
the little black boy dribbling flies and blood
quite as unreal
as agèd Noah saving for the
Flood.
if, ordered to convene His beastly horde,
our father Noah felt unease or stress
before the Lord.
even a hint of hesitance. I guess
he must have felt a sort of embarras
at such richesses.
Creeping or cutesy, fleshly or bizarre,
all wanted saving. How did he appraise
which ones to bar?
For midget-moderners, it’s hard to gaze
even at laptop-screens and work out who’s
a worthy case.
so why don’t we? The needy on the news
depress us, yes, but that should make us pay,
not merely use
or talking-points when wondering at the way
that we do not care much, or do not feel,
or simply stay
Nothing that flashing glass cannot conceal:
the little black boy dribbling flies and blood
quite as unreal
Thanks for this. I was glad to see a poem of yours - so far I have just read your prose. This is the kind of clever substance I would expect . The last stanza, with "...seated and eating" and "dribbling flies and blood" bring the poem home. "dribbling" in particular was an inspired choice - it brings up the image of a boy playing soccer but also dripping - both what he should, in a just would, be doing, and what he endures.
ReplyDeleteI'm delighted that you liked it, and that you responded to that last stanza. You know, the connection of the word 'dribbling' to sport hadn't consciously occurred to me - it's wonderful to find other suggestions that I didn't intend. Who knows - perhaps it was somewhere in the back of my mind.
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