Going home

[tectak]

Old friends are dead and gone away;
though streets and streams and oak trees stay.
Tarmac broken, granuled grey,
grows weeds.

tectak
2015

[Leanne]

Do you want dead and gone away or dead or gone away? If it's the former, it seems you're pushing too many words in for the rhyme, and bordering on cliche. Otherwise, this is poignant with a solid rhythm that dwindles quite perfectly.

[tectak]

Do you want dead and gone away or dead or gone away? If it's the former, it seems you're pushing too many words in for the rhyme, and bordering on cliche. Otherwise, this is poignant with a solid rhythm that dwindles quite perfectly.

I want dead and gone away...you wanna fight?

Seriously, though, folks...the idea of "dead" as an optional state of "not being around" is interesting to me. Sometimes "dead" still has an implicit and pathetic (original if not aboriginal ) meaning in that there are two stages to death..hence "...he is dead and gone".
Visting the old place haunts one with the disturbing thought that if you see no one you know they could be dead, or gone away... or just stayed inside that day. After a few hours of walking the old streets, throwing stones in the river and hugging a tree without one familiar face or fleeting recognition you are drawn inevitably to the conclusion that they are all dead...and gone away.
Huh? Huh?
Best and thanks. Terse verse stinks OK?
tectak

[Mark A Becker]

Hey Tom-
Good to see a poem from you every now and again. Seriously...

So, what we got here?

Old friends are dead and gone away; straight to the set-up and we're off
though streets and streams and oak trees stay. good allit & the rhyme fits right in
Tarmac broken, granuled grey,here's where the ugly 'merican in me comes out, as "tarmac" immediately conjures up "airport" (not "road" or "street"). That said, "granuled grey" holds up very well
grows weeds.and the allit continues...

The image I see at The End is of the old friends flying off into the sunset at an old "ghost airport". Of course, my 'mercian definition of "tarmac" seriously messed up the poem for me, because once I got that picture in my head I could not shake it.

Ain't it amazing that one stinkin word, even when used correctly, can throw a grenade into an otherwise perfectly good poem? That's the main reason I wanted to comment on this piece.

... Mark

[tectak]

Hey Tom-
Good to see a poem from you every now and again.  Seriously...

So, what we got here?

Old friends are dead and gone away; straight to the set-up and we're off
though streets and streams and oak trees stay. good allit & the rhyme fits right in
Tarmac broken, granuled grey,here's where the ugly 'merican in me comes out, as "tarmac" immediately conjures up "airport" (not "road" or "street").  That said, "granuled grey" holds up very well
grows weeds.and the allit continues...

The image I see at The End is of the old friends flying off into the sunset at an old "ghost airport".  Of course, my 'mercian definition of "tarmac" seriously messed up the poem for me, because once I got that picture in my head I could not shake it.

Ain't it amazing that one stinkin word, even when used correctly, can throw a grenade into an otherwise perfectly good poem?  That's the main reason I wanted to comment on this piece.

... Mark

Almost every road and street and motorway in UK is made of Tarmac(adam) or a close derivative. Some concrete, some cobbles, but little else. Even Airports are variable...concrete or Tarmac.
Tarmac gets "sick" and fragments in to bitumen encapsulated grit chippings and goes a dusty grey in time. It starts off black. There, are you glad you mentioned it?
Best,
tectak

[Mark A Becker]

Tom--

Of course, most roads in the USA are made with "tar" (tarmac) or concrete.  The tar starts off black and then crumbles into grey, exactly as you describe in your poem.  

Possibly interesting side note:  even though many airports in the USA use concrete for runways, you'll still hear those runways referred to as "the tarmac".  

Why?  Who the hell knows, it's America, baby, where "dictionary" is defined as a big book that looks impressive sitting on a shelf.  Sometimes, in a library (a place where homeless people sleep) a dictionary will even sit on its own special table.  

According to the American Webster Dictionary that sits on that special table you will find the definition below. Please note, nowhere in the definition is a factual description of "tarmac" given.

tarmac    /ˈtɑɚˌmæk/   noun
   
Learner's definition of TARMAC
the tarmac:   the area covered by pavement at an airport                  

◾airplanes parked on the tarmac


.

[tectak]

Tom--

Of course, most roads in the USA are made with "tar" (tarmac) or concrete.  The tar starts off black and then crumbles into grey, exactly as you describe in your poem.  

Possibly interesting side note:  even though many airports in the USA use concrete for runways, you'll still hear those runways referred to as "the tarmac".  

Why?  Who the hell knows, it's America, baby, where "dictionary" is defined as a big book that looks impressive sitting on a shelf.  Sometimes, in a library (a place where homeless people sleep) a dictionary will even sit on its own special table.  

According to the American Webster Dictionary that sits on that special table you will find the definition below. Please note, nowhere in the definition is a factual description of "tarmac" given.

tarmac    /ˈtɑɚˌmæk/   noun
   
Learner's definition of TARMAC
the tarmac:   the area covered by pavement at an airport                  

◾airplanes parked on the tarmac


.

You should worry...we call an airport air-side an apron

[billy]

a nice shorty tom. the poem is much larger than its words. the last two line make it an almost prefect little poem

Old friends are dead and gone away;
though streets and streams and oak trees stay.
Tarmac broken, granuled grey,
grows weeds.

tectak
2015

[tectak]

a nice shorty tom. the poem is much larger than its words. the last two line make it an almost prefect little poem

Old friends are dead and gone away;
though streets and streams and oak trees stay.
Tarmac broken, granuled grey,
grows weeds.

tectak
2015

Hi billy,
we should never go back...weeds, y'know.
Thanks for commenting...I am getting writer's twitch.
tectak