"Under the Wing"

The daily poem explications in class have reminded me of my own poems.

"Under the Wing"

Floating without an anchor,
she dreams without fantasy.
Waking up is only agony.

Wishing for the sun to warm her soul,
only delays the anticipation.
All isn't broken.

Departing from the wonderland,
the sweetness of youth disintegrates.
She wants to hold the water in her hand.

One more step, one more restraint,
until she is all chains.
Desperately pulsating against the veins.

When will she learn to fly?
Fly far, far away just to get lost.
Never mind the darkness, never mind the cost.

She has forgotten to breathe,
the wings melt.

Her eyes flutter open, not knowing what she felt.

I specifically hint at the story of Icarus in this poem. I did so because Icarus tried to escape from inhumane imprisionment and lost his son in the process. I thought that this story is an underlying motif for most of humanity because we all have to sacrifice something in order to "escape" or to achieve our dreams. Furthermore, if we push against our natural barriers to the point of breakage, we will discover nothing but failure in our lives, exemplified by Icarus's son.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Mirrors, in retrospect, are essentially vain materialistic objects. Mirrors were created for people to stare at themselves in pain or in relishment. Those who suffer the pain in the mirror believe they are looking into their souls, however, they are only looking at the aspects of themselves picked upon and judged by society. To quote Plath, a mirror "[is] not cruel, only truthful", exposing the unsatisfactory traits of mirrors. Humans want to be lied to. We crave to be complimented, even if it is a complete fib. Although some may plead for the truth, they become sulky when told the truth and it displeases the person. The only way to overcome this vain tendency to stare at the mirror on the wall is to look inside of us and trust the beliefs that drive our exsistence. In essence, we cannot judge our own souls through a mirror because it only shows our exterior, not our inner personality and thoughts.

Modern Savages?

I like to think of myself as civilized, and well cultured. But what if I was isolated from society? How would I obtain nutrients? The answer is, I would do whatever was necessary in order to survive, which is generally true amongst most humans. If we think about it, if you had the chance to gather riches and fame, would you do it at all costs? Would you exploit and entire people, raping the land and murdering the men? If your hedonistic behavior bore no consequences, and only boosted your ability to succeed, I doubt anyone would hesitate to gather that power. We're all animals, we're all here to survive, and we do that by competing against each other. Essentially, the weaker beings have no chance against the educated kings of commerce. There is no calming the beast that lies within us because we are all born with the inherent barbaric tendency to survive against all odds.

"We Die Soon", "We Soon Dead"

We Real Cool

The Pool Players.

Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June.We

Die soon.

By: Gwendolyn Brooks

We Old Dudes

We old dudes. We

White shoes. We

Golf ball. We

Eat mall. We

Soak teeth. We

Palm Beach; We

Vote red. We

Soon dead.

By: John Murray

What I find interesting about both of these poems is their rhythmic quality. It seems as though the lyrics should have a beat behind them, giving the poems a chantlike feature. The beat could be the hearts of these people, quickly reaching the inevitable destination of death. However, for the old dudes, they don't have a choice. The old dudes lived a long life, and are quietly appeasing death. In contrast, those slick cool dudes want to die young. It's their choice, going with the flow. Their hearts beat faster and faster until their bodies can't take it anymore. Live fast, and die young. Isn't that just the consequence of being cool?

Desire for Wisdom and Knowledge

Why is it that knowledge can be taught and wisdom is only learned? It would be just great if there was a book out there somewhere that would tell me all the decisions I need to make in order for me to live a happy, fulfilled life. Too bad, reality happened. I am the one who will screw up my life with a bad decision or succeed in my life with a good decision. There is no formula for wisdom. Wisdom comes with experience, and there is no avoiding it. (Not that anyone would ever want to avoid it!) Knowledge, however, is a completly different concept. We all go to school for nearly half of our lives just to say that we understand at least something about our idealized professions. Now and then, I find that if I take a step back and let life take its oscillating course, most of the time waking up another morning angry and sleep deprived won't be so bad. I don't want to squeeze all of the juice out of my life, becuase I actually like drinking the pulp. If we all just keep on adding miles onto our highways, we will find that happiness comes more naturally when we live our lives to the fullest.

My Truth

How does one obtain the truth? How do we decipher the difference between a lie and a truth? The only truth we can trust is truth that lies within us.

The only way we can become comfortable with ourselves is to embark on a quest in order to find our inner truth. Skeptics may argue that our truths are simply to be happy with our short lives. I disagree however, because not everyone knows how to achieve this. The generic formula for happiness is always: money and love. Keeping things in moderation is the difficult part. I don't even know how much concentration I need in order to get the right amount of both to be happy with my life. That is the other truth, we all seek to equate the happiness formula.

The difference between those easily satisfied and those difficult to please are exemplified by Govinda and Siddartha. Govinda is convinced quickly that Gotama has the answers to all of his suffering, and doesn't need to know anything else. Siddartha, however, needs to know more. His unquenchable longing for knowledge differentiates him from Govinda. All of us fit into one of two categories. Either we are ready to give up our questions, or not.

The Spectrum of Happiness

On the right-most end of the happiness spectrum is happiness, and on the left-most end is suicidal depression. In the middle, the emotion of contentment lies. All of us go through these different feelings multiple times in our lives due to our experiences. I felt like I had more hope and trust when I was younger, before I knew reality.

Siddartha thought that the answers to his unending questions could be simply discovered through expelling himself into another world. This is not the case however, because Siddartha must face himself in order to identify his purpose in life.

Dreams and goals are diminished and trampled upon when we all grow up. The obstacles of reality block us from becoming anything we want to be, which is discouraging.