The day was packing heat,
hanging it like a curtain
between me and the world–
dampening all sound,
clogging the airways,
slowing synapses down.
The open windows
provided no threshold
of relief–no wind
came knocking.
You can neither forecast
nor change
the way the currents
move you, or strand you
unmoved, trapped
in a density that refuses
to vacate.
Some days have wings–
but most rely on gravity
to anchor them–
to keep them
safe from the whims
of Gods.
The Kick-About #7 Challenge is Walter Richard Sickert’s painting, Ennui, above. Ennui is most closely associated with boredom, but it is heavy with an attitude that it seems to me is mostly posturing. It’s a self-indulgence of the privileged who needn’t even be bothered with the daily tasks of life like cooking or washing clothes, or even gardening, as they have servants to deal with such mundane things.
Boredom infers monotony which does reflect the world many of us inhabit right now–the endless days and hours that we can’t keep track of anymore. But it’s not really boredom. I have no problem filling my days, though I can’t always point to what exactly it is I’ve filled them with. But I find it hard to focus, to find motivation, and I’m often anxious and uneasy and feel unsettled and displaced. The relentless heat is no help.
That’s what I tried to capture in my August grid and poem. The pandemic world of now seems to box you in, surround you with a sameness of grey.
The eye in my grid is a serendipitous borrowing from Marcy Erb.
K. 
I love this response, Kerfe – spot on!
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Thanks Phil.
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I agree with the feeling of oppression, how the air is tangible, suffocating. I also agree with the idea of boredom which is an inability to find any occupation for the mind, whereas ennui, as it has been co-opted into English puts a rather sophisticated gloss on the old, run of the mill boring definition, makes it sound classier. It’s a distinction that doesn’t exist in French. Ennui is boredom, nothing more or less. (Love the Sickert).
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English likes its touch of the exotic.
Yes, it’s a great painting.
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You describe this so well. Like you, my days are filled, but I can’t focus. It’s like I can do one thing a day and that’s it.
I really like the last stanza.
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Thanks Merril. Great minds…
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😀
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Beautiful. We just relocated from HI to NM. Wonderful to escape that suffocating year-round heat. I remember it all too well. 🙏
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I’m so glad you were finally able to make your move!
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Thank you! Whew! 😅
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