Meltdown (poem) by Lloyd Lofthouse on AuthorsDen

Meltdown
by Lloyd Lofthouse → (All Poetry by Lloyd Lofthouse)
Rated "G" by the Author.

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What happened?
I do not know when it started, The religious meltdown Where I lost my faith And my family blew away with the wind. Maybe it started after the death of our family gatherings. Where grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers and cousins Drove hundreds of miles to sit around the sagging Table with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy Along with pies: Pecan, pumpkin, apple, mincemeat And my dad’s favorite, a moist lemon cake With snowy powdered sugar dusting the top. On Thanksgiving, my dad and brother-in-law Competed to see who could eat the most As football games on TV filled my sister’s house with screaming fans. It could have been after we stopped celebrating Christmas. When I was ten and Mike was five, We huddled behind the closed hallway door along with his younger sisters Waiting for Santa to leave so we could rush the tree and rip into packages Squealing with delight at what was discovered. Then again, maybe it was when Easter expired And that chocolate bunny Stopped laying those eggs we once hunted in the grass. Those fun family moments started to fade At the same time Disneyland arrived, Television became king, Fast food replaced home cooking And Ringo beat his drums on the Ed Sullivan Show Introducing an epidemic of obesity along with video games and YouTube. The free love movement and the pill did not help. Everyone off doing their thing smoking dope, dropping acid, Becoming an individual, Listening to harsh music, Protesting Vietnam, Spitting on uniforms Before going off to occupy a therapist’s couch Looking for someone else to blame for their mistakes While buying shrink-wrapped fun And quivering in fear of HIV/AIDS Soon followed by the next popular media-induced paranoia. It seems as if my country, the land I was born in and fought for, Is driving down a one-way street shouting drive-by hate, Narcissistic me, me, me While real families grow weeds. For decades, I have been hunting for what was lost Traveling the world looking for that ghost family That may only exist in my imagination When the laughter did not come from foul-mouthed comedians And shock jocks. Sometimes, in the early mornings, after I exercise, Surrounded by the humming silence While everyone else is sleeping I open my mind to God Asking if He were created to forgive man’s sins. He answers.

Reviewed by Bennett Kremen

Reviewed on May 30, 2009

We will rediscover our need for closeness of community or face an increasingly dark and threatening future. Only by facing this, all of us, as you have in your poem do we have the slightest chance for a resurrection of hope. Run amok materialism and wildly self indulgent indiviualism have reached the end of the line. Yes, you're doing the job a poet, a prophet or seer must do.

Reviewed by jude forese

Reviewed on May 27, 2009

if god didn't exist mankind would find it necessary to create him, so he can forgive himself ... i would be interested in his reply ...

Reviewed by Karla Dorman, The StormSpinner

Powerfully thought provoking, Lloyd. Sad when one loses their faith - but the ending gives me hope. Yes, He answers.

(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.

Reviewed by J'nia Fowler

You speak for many here and you speak it well. I too miss the family reunions etc. It seems that our identity could be easily found in our relationship to others, particularly familial relationships. We lost that to consumerism, and status, and hype, and individualism, which is a misnomer. If one small cluster pierces their lip or navel or eyebrow, soon millions more follow suit. Will we ever get back to what is important in the development of family, community, and shared responsibility? It is unlikely. With sadness, J'nia

Reviewed by Carolyn Red Bear (The Bear Paw)

Hi Lloyd, A powerful write that defines the changes, and sadly so. Thank you for sharing...

In Spirit,
Bear

Reviewed by Ed Matlack

Reviewed on May 26, 2009

Yes, times have changed a great deal, but memories like this one are there for us all...e

Reviewed by Karen Palumbo

So many changes in such a short period of time, still leaves my head spinning. I can remember some of those family gatherings but everyone is long gone now, only the memories that rewind over and over....

Be always safe,
Karen

Reviewed by John Flanagan

Lloyd,
This is the history of an entire culture swing and shift, a loss of essential fabrics, a falling apart at the seams of what we were and should have stayed. It's a marvellous poem, and I thank you for sharing it.
John

Reviewed by Jean Pike

Wow!

Reviewed by Gene Williamson

Another powerful Lofthouse write. Sadly, I can identify
with a lot of this. Would that it were not so. -gene.