the prose we crave
forty three crosses yet not found
axes in the synagogue
darkness of
the words we need
that bleed with greedy indexes
pointing up or down
undulating in
the sentences that urge
us into dirge of passiveness
our morning mess of
cereal and news
From Wikimedia commons
Today I run the bar at dVerse MTB. The subject is defamiliarization as defined by Viktor Shklovsky. One of his technique of making the familiar seems new is to take an ordinary thing like reading the morningpaper and not mention what it is until the end. More techniques are describes in my article that goes up when the pub opens at 3PM EST.
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November 20, 2014
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Interesting write. I look forward to reading your prompt.
Bjorn, I read the paper at night. I don’t want to start my day with the news you read these days. — Suzanne
Sometimes digesting the morning mess leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth!
Absolutely. I can’t face that morning mess too early!
The world is still bleeding. The trickle seems to have turned into a hemorrhage. For breakfast, give me the cereals without the news. It can wait a little bit longer.
oy… i cannot stand the news so early in the morning… usually i have poetry with my müsli… and a candle lit… smiles
This is so vigorous & delightfully disfamiliar; it spews out on us in one emotional exhalation, one long burst of words, descending on the spoiler like an anvil falling from a loft; a fine illustration of your challenge, brother; nice job.
This is awesome! It has me picturing crossword puzzles over coffee.
Wise (and scary) words dear Björn.
How passive we have become – in that the extraordinary has become the ordinary – as in news saturation.
The sleeping dogs are not sleeping – but we fail to see it.
I am glad that I can be defined as old and (hopefully) will be dead before the volcano erupts. But my children and grandchildren will not be – and this scares me silly.
Anna :o[
Ah.. the ticker tape parade of ‘good’ news at the bottom of the ‘news’…
Fruit loops might be another metaphor for that…
i switched to oatmeal.. and now i go regular..
since i turned the ticker tape…
off..;)
Oh no.. you were
talking about scrabble and not the news..
Well that’s okay.. at least i am still regular with or without…
the words…:)
Bjorn, this one took me offguard, a potent and surprising windup. That “Morning Mess” has sometimes gotten me off to a bad start, but I tend to do it anyway. Hey, the coffee washes it down well. Amy
Some bleak images here. That massacre at the synagogue in Israel was especially disturbing.
This is fantastic, I can’t handle the news in the morning – I need my filters in place before I let in all the world’s crazy. You know, get further out of that hypnopompic state.
Indeed, fun way to view that morning print. Love the accompanying cereal photo!
One can let the news be. Just having a light breakfast is ideal not to be bothered with lots of unpleasantness. Wonderful write Bjorn!
Hank
wow… I’m intimidated, but will try
You’ll do great.
No news for me in the morning either.
The stuff of days turn into a calendar of anxiety fraught with cultural juxtapositions where the world village struggles with fear and the unfamiliar. This poem is brilliant.
Good defamiliarization, Bjorn: a summary without being too obvious…the way it should be.
Also clever. A lot of mess! K.
Ugh . . . mornings. Awakening to the daily downer of the “crisis du jour”. I try to move through it by switching things up a bit: listening to light classical music I might not routinely put on until late afternoon or eating a bit of soft cheese and fruit, instead of toast. I suppose it is a form of active passivity – but for me, it is preferable to just sitting there, feebly, letting the blue news wash over you.
I agree with Claudia…can’t do the news in the morning, but tea and poetry gives me a gentle start before I face this crazy world.
This was a bit of a mystery to me until the end…so bravo! 🙂
Thus we swallow words with our morning coffee. Dangerous.
I do not listen or read the news to stay fresh and in a good moon to work with my youths at the crisis line. But on WP and FB I do get enough news…your poem depicts a sad society:(