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The Seven Ages of Modern Man

All the world's a shithouse,
And all the lads and ladettes mere defecators,
Gratifying oozing exits and entrances;
And one man perforce enacts too many roles,
His acts being seven deaths. D'abord, the baby,
Shitting and pissing on his mummy's frock.
Then, the errant truant with his rucksack
And pock-marked wanker's face, creeping like death
Foul-trouser'dly to school. Next a teenager,
Panting like mad dog, with an oozing pustule
Dripping oe'r his girlfriend's pubics. Then a hoodie,
Full of strange oaths, and dressed up like a freak,
Lacking in honour, decency, and up for aggro,
Seeking the respect of loathsome peers
Even on the street corner. And then the adult
With bulging beer belly, and ample burgers stuff'd,
With eyes dulled by unfulfilled promises,
Mortgaged to the hilt, and indebted to Visa,
And so he wastes his life. The sixth age dawns
Before he knows it, bald futility,
With Viagra in pocket, five quid a pill,
His youthful hopes well fuck'd, the world too much
For his ignorance, and his vain butch rantings
Reverting soon to teenage curses, coughs
And tobacco'd wheezings. Last we see him,
Ending a pointless and useless existence,
Clutching to his piss-stained Zimmer frame,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans pension fund.

About This Poem

Last Few Words: Edna's version of that famous Shakespearian speech. Enjoy!

Style/Type: Structured: Western

Review Request Direction: What did you think of my title?
How was my language use?
What did you think of the rhythm or pattern or pacing?
How does this theme appeal to you?
How was the beginning/ending of the poem?
Is the internal logic consistent?

Review Request Intensity: I appreciate moderate constructive criticism

Editing Stage: Not actively editing

About the Author

Region, Country: London, Culture Capital of the World

Favorite Poets: Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Chaucer, Shakespeare to name but a few. And VERY IMPORTANTLY: Erich Fried, a leftwing Austrian of Jewish ancestry who fled the Nazis and became a British citizen in 1949., And, other writers (non-poets mainly): Raymond Chandler, Irvine Welsh, Anthony Burgess, Graham Greene, Charles Bukowski, John le Carré, Anthony Horowitz, Mick Herron, Margaret Attwood, Edna O'Brian, Maeve Binchy., Writers who I find vastly over-rated: TS Eliot, Virgina Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Phil Larkin, E.A. Poe, A. Ginsburg, Longfellow, Gerald Manley Hopkins (actually I LOATHE Hopkins more than damson-dappled words can say).

More from this author

Comments

weirdelf

weirdelf

5 years 9 months ago

An "oozing pustule" of a poem. Your negativity is a truth

But one most won't want to immerse themselves in. And I don't blame them. I did and I feel soiled.

Just once something of dignity and beauty? Can you really not see that i the world?

I applaud your honesty but you can't blame people if they just skim and don't immerse in it. That is quite enough.

Edna Sweetlove

Edna Sweetlove

5 years 9 months ago

Whee!

Pleased you like it!
QUIZ: which play, which character says it?
.

Edna Sweetlove

Edna Sweetlove

5 years 9 months ago

Aha!

'Tis the mournful Jaques (no C!) in As You Like It.
I know how I like it (and that's not a suitable subject for a polite poem but maybe Edna will get vulgar and publish a pantie-wetting one of such erotic intensity that neo-members might well have involuntary orgasms at their desks).