{"id":84619,"date":"2016-12-26T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=84619"},"modified":"2016-12-22T17:09:44","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T17:09:44","slug":"optimismpessimism-a-kafkaesque-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/12\/optimismpessimism-a-kafkaesque-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimism\/Pessimism: A Kafkaesque Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

I used to be an optimist.
\nWhen I was 5, someone told me,
\n“Santa Claus does not exist!”<\/p>\n

In my teens I learned he’d been murdered
\nby a Commie-sympathizer
\nwith a Sears’ catalogue rifle.<\/p>\n

Much later, I learned he’d been blown up
\n(with Rudolph the red-nose reindeer)
\nbecause of the cut of his jib!<\/p>\n

Blown up by terrorists, they told me.
\nBecause of the cut of his jib!<\/p>\n

I could\u00a0almost understand!
\nI never liked his garish outfits–
\nstartling red, with bright, white trims!<\/p>\n

(I never liked his rotund style–
\nthat “Ho-ho-ho!” jocundity!)<\/p>\n

It was also the “fake news,” they told me.
\nHe was spreading too much cheer!<\/p>\n

Climbing down chimneys in the middle of the night!
\nLeaving all kinds of packages!
\nGod only knows what you find when unraveling!
\nHe never even went thru Homeland Security!<\/p>\n

“Get with the program!” they told me.
\n“The Power of Positive Thinking”
\nis all that old-hat stuff!<\/p>\n

“But the children?” I wondered, “the children….
\nWho will tell the children?….”
\n______________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. Gary Corseri is a m<\/em>ember of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.<\/a> He<\/em> has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including,<\/em> TMS (Transcend Media Service<\/a>)<\/a>, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and<\/em> Counterpunch.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on<\/em> PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere.\u00a0 He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons.\u00a0 Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I used to be an optimist.
\nWhen I was 5, someone told me,
\n“Santa Claus does not exist!” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}