Maybe I shouldn't have read the Disqus replies before visiting the Poets & Storytellers United prompt for this week. (Why did I just hide the link? Because I can? It's a good link. Use the link! See the link!)
Verbally abusive tin-eared toad gets crushed at the P&SU link. Meanwhile, in my Disqus replies, a mostly nice guy who's older than I am, but not by enough to get the Free Grandpa Pass, replied to something I'd said with a comment straight out of 1945 that ought to have been buried there and then. Ooohhh, I feel a rant coming on.
Meanwhile, here's a poem, more precisely a song that could be sung with a 1940s-style "big" band, about the good things about a neutral, non-grinny face. I want to be clear here. I do enjoy sharing real smiles and laughs with people who really are feeling cheerful; when I'm not feeling positively sick, my baseline mood reading, negative for strong feelings, is cheerful too. (Cheerful enough to annoy grumpy people, to elicit that "What are you so happy about? New boyfriend?" sort of growl.) I have, however, learned to recognize staring eyes, bared teeth, and manic attempts to force cheerfulness as the face of real hate. A quiet, resting, detached "affect" is much easier to take when people are, in fact, feeling tired, or even ill, and being polite enough to spare us the details.
This is a rerun. The original context blather is at
But it's never been shared with the P&SU before. So the song is also here, now:
Folks were acting downright mean
To a grinny Joel Osteen;
When he's acting like he cares,
His teeth he no longer bares.
Here's the lesson we should heed:
When good will's what we want to feed,
We pull our teeth in, get a grip on that grin,
Let our eyes twinkle but don't drop that chin,
If you've ever told yourself to smile,
Tell your face to relax for a while,
Get a grip on that grin!
If someone's not your long-lost friend,
Why would you want to pretend?
You might seem less of a fool
If your greeting's smooth and cool.
A smile's no nicer than a pout
Till there's something to smile about.
So pull your teeth in, get a grip on that grin,
Let your eyes twinkle but hold up your chin,
You can't hide the unpleasant truth
Behind a little bubble of spit on a tooth!
Get a grip on that grin!
Oh, how can anyone forget
That a shark is no one's favorite pet?
Any animal's apt to bite
When its teeth are out in the light.
If you want to be a teacher
Don't look like some rabid creature,
When you find young children darling
Don't look like a possum snarling,
To impress a snobby waiter
Don't look like an alligator,
And if you want someone to feel amorous
Stay cool and glamorous, not clashing and clamorous!
Get a grip on that grin!
To succeed at song or dance
Or have a chance at sweet romance,
Joy and pleasure you should feel.
It can't be forced; it has to be real.
If you start to tell yourself to smile,
Better keep moving on for another mile!
Pull your teeth in, get a grip on that grin,
Let your eyes twinkle but hold in the chin,
Take other people's woes seriously,
And your own mood swings—mysteriously!
Get a grip on that grin!
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