eric sundin

Between Fantasy and Reality
there is now little or no friction
rather perfect congeniality
Dancing cheek to cheek with swift diction

For who’s got time, awash in verbosity,
to pay much attention to dichotomy?

+)
dichotomy = what is jointly exhaustive

edited 11/04/23 0710

The child’s mind is clearness
in unspoken dearness
in unbroken nearness
each moment as hereness

In the present time fulfilled
absent of pretension
mind by the most minute stilled
free from condescension

All in wonder of the mundane
in wide starry eyes ponder
not drawn to lofty or arcane
not off somewhere there yonder

Duck is a duck, no swan
no airs needing put on

edited 02/05/24 1030

On winged feet our ‘indoor racer’
with wild hair flowing, flying
trajects like a fireworks tracer
determinedly she’s plying

Upwardly, leveling stairs
utensils clattering
all with efficiency’s airs
Bystanders scattering

Smoothly she slides round corners
‘smartphonely’ connected
past cowering bench warmers
on short cuts perfected

+)
bench warmers = among those her slacker husband

edited 07/25/26 1215

We persist by push & aggress
may advance using cold guile.
We stir up excess, make a mess
crest our material pile.

At last, alas! We thought: Success!
We’re ‘uniquely’ distinguished
but pray tell who did we impress?
Soon we’ll all be extinguished.

Nonetheless not letting up, roiled in strife
Too busy hiding out in daily Life.

edited 09/10/20 1000

Her searching glances sweep the room like a lighthouse beam sweeps the dark sea. Precariously contained in a dress much like the walls of a brimming vessel, she is abundant life incarnate. Her long, cast back, blonde hair flows like a ripe wheat field in a fair breeze. Her lightheartedness belies her single minded determination to plumb the depths of every admirer’s promise, courage and enterprise.

She’s wrapped in haute couture
a mere distractive detour
as with purloined demure
she’s all exigent allure

So if you can’t withstand seduction
your fallback may be harm reduction

+)
-harm reduction = a public health strategy that was developed initially for adults for whom addiction abstinence does not seem feasible

edited 09/27/23 0835

They watch us picking our nose
in our homes, from outer space
when busy or just wiggling toes
without them leaving a trace

Surveillance is rarely benign
when able tighten our noose
our freedoms, influence decline
Cooked right now: Privacy’s goose

Never again shall our goose flap its wings
never mind how eternally hope springs

edited 02/16/23 0940

Our peace of mind constantly battered
self-exiled in banality
Our senses confounded & scattered
as we forsake Reality

Suction cup noses on screen
absorbed & infatuated
as we adoringly preen
haven’t we got debilitated!

Even so many a fool
finding it all oh so cool!

edited 01/16/26 1510

They talk about, talk, talk & talk
boorishly self absorbed trivia
whether they drive, shop, rest or walk
wherever & in Bolivia

Unfazed they let it all hang out
where may quietness be found at all?
Excitedly prattle & spout
letting us overhear every call

Puzzled by the outside objection
Love that ring or ting: Got connection!

+)
‘smartphony’ = someone who traded his or her pacifier (a gateway drug) for a smart phone, and being under the illusion that it bestows unique importance & efficiency with few, if any, trade-offs

edited 10/17/2026 1545

Your demands way gratuitous
so won’t change our behavior!
So ain’t it just fortuitous
Hi-Tech shall be our Savior!

Our likes are inviolable
so let change happen ‘out there’!
Our habits not abdicable
thus change cannot happen ‘here’!

We don’t care if action may redeem humanity
distracted we’ve lost traction mired in inanity

+)
-gratuitous = uncalled for; lacking good reason; unwarranted
-obtuse = lacking in insight or discernment

edited 03/20/24 0740

Sleep’s traces much remain
as she rubs her eyes
Awake, alive again
stretch, time to arise!

Out from rumbled sheets crinkly
vision blurred, tussled hair
Ears red, cheeks & nose wrinkly
her voice muffled, face bare

From ‘looks in bed’ to beauty table
embracing cosmetology
From what’s natural on to fable
hardly ‘in depth’ psychology:

Largely by convention hustled
leads us worshiping in line
by glitzy marketing muscled
to mere Skin Deep Beauty’s Shrine

edited 07/11/23 0815