Wasted People and other poems by Klaus J. Gerken Wasted People we are the wasted people the old men and women who live alone in poverty and violence who can't even get the city to provide them with a bench to sit on we are the forgotten ones the lost souls who worked hard all their lives to be spat upon and told that what you did in the past is no longer valid you no longer pay taxes you are a leech to society younger kids (everyone's a kid to us now) no longer display manners (well, some do) they shove you aside iphone in hand too busy to notice they cal you fat and ugly and useless there is no longer an ideal where age is valued you forget one thing and they call it dementia and you you in prison oh not one with bars (though it might as well be) but restrictions to keep you alive as a vegetable institutionalized your possessions confiscated and your life erased memories are no longer what they used to be with every part of our lives measured and psychoanalyzed what have we become but excrement in a government test tube vladimir holan said it best: "to be, you would have to live, but you will not be because you aren't alive... and if i haven't killed myself it is only that my life is not my own and i still love someone because i love myself... to be is not easy... shitting is easy..." we are the wasted people the ones you hardly notice on your way to work busy like a termite building ever higher mounds to impress the multitude who worship money more than love we are the ones who gave you life protected you thought you but now we have nothing left to offer but our wrinkles skin and failing memory there is a sadness not in what becomes of us but a sadness what becomes of you the future generations forever wanting life shunning death thoughts of death images of death elders close to death the dying so to speak We are the useless ones the "has beens" history no longer appeals to those who would go forward we just drag you down can't keep up with the camel camel sure ain't gonna slow down for you can't lose that extra penny god forbid which one all i guess ain't never gonna slow down for the "open-hearted many the broken-hearted few" you see it on the news each day the elders who keep active the elders who are not a drain on society or health care money but the cheaters are tolerated the hang-nail exploiters of the ER they're fine but not the old and needy who paid all their lives for heath care services... not them not the old and wasted not the forgotten living only the forgotten dead are remembered We are the shadows lurking in the sunshine of your present-moment lives you don't see the future and you do not see the past you only see yourselves in a mirror a false image created by yourselves to reflect what you believe yourselves to be but the image is false arrogant and ego-bloated you want the future to be yours rightly so but not by steeping on those who built your foundation the old and wrinkled ones the ancient ones the lore-givers wise haired ones the ones who built on the foundations of others and others and others from the beginning of civilisation but remember babel and the scattering of tongues you will never achieve the end of your beginning by ignoring those who know what are you over and over chose to ignore your heritage your elders and your beginning we are the hope of your future quite forgotten in your past we are the hunched over crippled ones who came before made your paths by the work you don't remember what is that on your wall for those who even ask as certificate 30 years 35 40 even golden handshake you're retired now your job upgraded and no longer valid forget the past service free now you can do anything you want travel visit your children go dancing laugh sit in a rocking chair you earned it see you around sometime and remember if you visit us at work you will need an escort your security clearance no longer valid not that we don't trust but you know the rules and remember that non-disclosure agreement can't write a book about what happened here we'll come and get you if you do so you sell the house retire to a condo or an apartment enjoy your memories and become a nobody just another elder on the books of government statistics a burden on health care walking with a walker to the store and yet no bench to sit upon we took them away they say because the homeless sleep on them at night so you have nothing to rest on in the day don't want the midnight tourists to get the wrong impression of our wonderful all-inclusive senior-friendly city we are the disenfranchised the invisible visible the major minority the usefull useless back broken from a life time of labour out of connection no loger valued out of sinc with today's society if we're lucky we get a pat on the head good job now go away We are not the vengeful we have our regrets but we do not chose them they are given us by the nature of aging parting is our only regret parting from loved ones parting from what mattered somehow no more We are the substance in a hollow land the invisible the disrespected the lost the empty the fleeced the discarded rotery phones in a wifi world where everyone is wired and no one understands silence any longer we are the wasted people the old men and women who live alone in poverty and violence who can't even get the city to provide them with a bench to sit on kjg 545am 1 aug 2013 848pm 1 aug 2013 845pm 2 aug 2013 636pm 4 aug 2013 * I just realised the difference between god and me: God demands obedience from his subjects; I take care of my cats and demand nothing from them; I prefer me. kjg 9pm 2 aug 2013 * OM If there is any justice in the universe I will be reincarnated as God. kjg 941pm 2 aug 2013 for Seymour Mayne * Hava The mother of God is called Mary Hava only set the stage to shine. kjg 946pm 2 aug 2013 * I see I'm losing FB friends again. Gotta stay away from the God thing. Here's one no one can object to: Roses are purple Butterscotch brown If you live in the moment Don't drown. kjg 945pm 2 aug 2013 * From Martial: If it's total nonsense what I say, Why do you bother reading it anyway? kjg 957pm 2 aug 2013 (adapted by memory). * Just remember, a critic who hates your work, makes a living from the experience. kjg 1015pm 2 aug 2013 * Up 320am. Had the weirdest dream. I dreamed some native teenager was killed due to neglect and the people responsible (military) were invited to the village for the funeral. I was there as a reporter. The soldiers were there partying and very disrespectful so I was the only one who went to the ceremony. Some animal changed into a person and went back to the village with us. When the soldiers boarded the bus I walked away and passed this person who nodded at me and then they killed the soldiers. Next I was back in the house where I was staying and the woman showed me how she converted closets in the house for homeless people to sleep in. "They need to sleep somewhere," she said. Then back in Ottawa with other reporters and they were trying to locate the village on the map but couldn't, so i tried to show them and the village was gone! ---- Up and shaking now. Feel Jazzie's isolation... kjg 340am 4 aug 2013 * nothing works anymore kjg 638pm 4 aug 2013 * Here's a song I was singing in my dream - the guitar rift is out of this world (obviously!) Gotta wake up to drown (rift in) Honey don't love me Gotta go scream Honey don't love me Why be so mean Gotta wake up to drown Gotta wake up to drown (rift) No houses standing A terrible mess Give her a shekel For a new dress Gotta wake up to drown Gotta wake up to drown (rift) No houses standing A terrible mess Give her a shekel For a new dress Gotta wake up to drown Gotta wake up to drown (rift) Honey don't love me Gotta go scream Honey don't love me Why be so mean Gotta wake up to drown Gotta wake up to drown (rift and out) kjg 320am? 5 Aug 2013 *