"To the Poets of Old"
I sit and read of poets of 300 years past,
and I can't help but rule that they need to get laid.
Why else would they Write poems of loving hard and fast
to convince their mistresses that such love be repaid.
It's not even that their words themselves seem false,
or their love untrue, or their poetry not avante garde,
But still I think their efforts need be repulsed,
because even back then, one could try too hard.
Carey, Donne, Marvell, your ladies all balked,
but while with poems your pretties you wooed,
I'd bet twenty bucks that while you talk-talked
she was getting it on with some other dude.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
"Same Old Story" (Poem #1)
"Same Old Story"
Wagging tails and floppy tongues,
barking from the depths of lungs.
They're overjoyed to see you home,
they miss you when outside you roam.
Too much energy, they jump and whine.
Always with noses in your behind.
Their barking drives you up the wall.
Decide you don't want dogs at all.
Call the rescue, act like it's their fault
they can't take dogs you kick to the asphalt.
They tell you how to find a new loving family,
but the level of work and you don't agree.
Ditch your furry loving friends at the pound.
You say you're certain that they are bound
to found a home real quick, they're so good.
You never call to see if they would.
One find a home quick, it's pretty great.
They love him, train him, it's first rate.
The second waits and waits, alone and scared,
gets so frightened that his teeth are bared.
The shelter workers try and try,
they network, love, and finally cry
the day his time must run out.
"It's not fair", they weep and shout.
But now there's nothing to be done.
He won't see another rising sun.
You'll never know, though, about his fate.
The tragic death of a crimeless inmate.
Wagging tails and floppy tongues,
barking from the depths of lungs.
They're overjoyed to see you home,
they miss you when outside you roam.
Too much energy, they jump and whine.
Always with noses in your behind.
Their barking drives you up the wall.
Decide you don't want dogs at all.
Call the rescue, act like it's their fault
they can't take dogs you kick to the asphalt.
They tell you how to find a new loving family,
but the level of work and you don't agree.
Ditch your furry loving friends at the pound.
You say you're certain that they are bound
to found a home real quick, they're so good.
You never call to see if they would.
One find a home quick, it's pretty great.
They love him, train him, it's first rate.
The second waits and waits, alone and scared,
gets so frightened that his teeth are bared.
The shelter workers try and try,
they network, love, and finally cry
the day his time must run out.
"It's not fair", they weep and shout.
But now there's nothing to be done.
He won't see another rising sun.
You'll never know, though, about his fate.
The tragic death of a crimeless inmate.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
"Flying Japan" (In Class Poem)
"Flying Japan"
Flying high in the air,
the home soil is no good,
your feet can't bear to stand
on its chaparral covered ground.
Flying high in the air,
rolling your eyes
when my tongue can't find its way
around your new Japanese name.
Flying high in the air,
you think you'd never crash
the sky has only cumulonimbus clouds
which you fly through without a care.
Flying high in the air,
you pretend and play dress up
to show off your pretty new tattoo,
a symbol whose meaning I can't reach.
Flying high in the air,
eventually the slender delicate path
will be struck, and fall with a clap.
And you'll fall on the chaparral ground.
Flying high in the air,
the home soil is no good,
your feet can't bear to stand
on its chaparral covered ground.
Flying high in the air,
rolling your eyes
when my tongue can't find its way
around your new Japanese name.
Flying high in the air,
you think you'd never crash
the sky has only cumulonimbus clouds
which you fly through without a care.
Flying high in the air,
you pretend and play dress up
to show off your pretty new tattoo,
a symbol whose meaning I can't reach.
Flying high in the air,
eventually the slender delicate path
will be struck, and fall with a clap.
And you'll fall on the chaparral ground.
Sex and Christianity: Together at Last
God hates sex. At least, that is what most people take Christian teachings to mean. Keep your legs crossed until your finger is safely bound by a wedding ring. Don't commit adultery, that's on the top ten lists of things NOT to do. Yet should we really be keeping the two things apart? In his poem, "To His Coy Mistress", Andrew Marvell tries to coax sex out of his lady love by using religion, proving that perhaps the sex and Christianity shouldn't be kept at arm's length.
At the beginning of the poem, the narrator quickly attacks the idea that sex is a sin, albeit indirectly. Rather then challenge his mistress's idea that sex is something she should avoid on religious grounds, he instead makes a statement against her chastity. "Had we but world enough, and time, / This coyness, Lady, were no crime", he tells her. He draws a line between right and wronbg, and puts her "coyness", or her reluctance to have sex and her desire to be virtuous, on the same side of that line as breaking the law. He then moves quickly to the religious references with his talk of the rubies found along the Ganges. He identifies his mistress with that location and then speaks of finding rubies there. There is an implication that the mistress herself is the ruby, the precious jewel, which can be found by the river, which bears a special significance. According to Henry A. Christian, at that time period rubies were believes to keep away evil and "even signifies Christ and paradise" (33). By identifying his lady with the ruby, his desire to possess her moves beyond the mere physical desire for her body. By being with her, he will find paradise, heaven.
Also significant are his references to the end of time. The narrator says that, if they had endless time, then his mistress could feel free to "refuse / Til the conversion of the Jews". The conversion of the Jews was something which would not anticipated to happen for a very long time - it will occur just being the Apocalypse. When emphasizing the fact that they will in fact not live forever and thus be able to wait until the Jews convert, the narrator again brings to the forefront the idea of the end of time. He that "yonder all before us lie / deserts of vast eternity". This reference to the afterlife is meant to emphasize the fact that they are alive NOW and must take advantage of it. John J. Carroll expands upon this idea, stating the the deserts are meant to "lie beyond time" and that "as the threat of eternity, the annihilation of time, increases desire for her beauty, so the danger presents urgently and immediately an argument for the granting of her riches". The narrator is using the Christian mythology regarding the end of the world and the fact that eventually, we all die and are brought into the "deserts of vast eternity" (in other words, the afterlife". He uses this Christian dogma in order to reinforce the idea that the "coy mistress" needs to stop being coy and get down to business with him.
A small reference is found near the end of the poem. The narrator says that he and the mistress should be joined as one in their lovemaking in order to "tear our pleasures with rough strife / through the iron gates of life". Considering the fact that he has been speaking of death and eternity and the afterlife throughout the poem, calling to mind "iron gates" brings to mind the gates of heaven. The narrator intends to crash through those gates into heaven and eternal life by joining together with his mistress. Rather than their sexual actions causing them to be damned to hell, they will instead find access to heaven by joining "all our strength and all / our sweetness up into one ball".
The last two lines of the poem are yet again a Christian reference, this time directly Biblical. According to the Bible, God made the sun stand still in the sky in order to enable Joshua to defeat his enemies. The narrator says that although they are not as powerful as God and "cannot make our sun / stand still", he implies that they do have some sort of spiritual or otherworldly power as they will have an effect on the sun and time: "we will make him run". Although he does not go so far as to imply they are on the same level as God, he elevates the power that they can possess if they join together sexually onto a divine level. God changes the sun, so shall they. He created Heaven, and they will crash through the gate and gain access.
Although Marvell is frequently circumspect in his references, the Christian overtones of this poem are difficult to ignore. Completely impossible to ignore is the fact that he is trying to convince his mistress to have sex with him. By using these Christian references, Marvell puts the narrators desire for sex on a higher platform. Rather then something to damn a person, it is something to empower them to find Christ, Heaven, and divinity. Maybe sex and Christianity shouldn't be so estranged, we wonder. Besides, if God really hated sex, then why did he make it necessary to keep his children around generation after generation?
Carroll, John J. "The Sun and the Lovers in 'To His Coy Mistress'". Modern Language Studies, Vol. 74, No. 1, pp. 4-7. JSTOR. Web. 10 February 2010.
Christian, Henry A. "Marvell's Mistress' Rubies". Modern Language Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 33-37. JSTOR. Web. 10 February 2010.
Smith, Phillip. "To His Coy Mistress". 100 Best-Loved Poems. Dover Publications: New York. 1995. Print.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The istsy bitsy spider...
"A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman
I've always liked this poem - to me, there is something strangely fitting about comparing a person to a spider. This comparison is often made, but always in a negative light. Spiders are tiny creatures, trying to survive in a big world (as Whitman says, they "launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of iteself" as it attempts to explore giant expanse of the world around them.). Comparing the spider's attempt to get a sense of its surroundings and find surfaces to attach its web to a soul who is searching for connection and meaning in this big bad world is brilliant and touching. Like a spider, a soul is strangely delicate and small when we realize the size of the universe, so it's a fitting comparison.
The only other time that I have heard such a comparison is the O.A.R. version of the kid's song "Itsy Bitsy Spider". In the middle of the song are these lines: "And I know / I've got to get back home / back where I belong / I feel it coming / got to get where I belong". You can listen to an excerpt of the song here: http://mog.com/music/O.A.R./songs (just scroll down to "Itsy Bitsy Spider") This is similar to Whitman's poem in spirit - it's about comparing people to spiders, in search meaning and a home.
Something else which I appreciate about this poem is the use of language. In order to help create the sense of an echo is a big empty space, Waltman pairs words like "vacant vast" and repeats words like "filament, filament, filament". We aren't just told the spider is in a big empty space; when we speak the words to this poem out loud, we can FEEL the echo of our words.
I've always liked this poem - to me, there is something strangely fitting about comparing a person to a spider. This comparison is often made, but always in a negative light. Spiders are tiny creatures, trying to survive in a big world (as Whitman says, they "launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of iteself" as it attempts to explore giant expanse of the world around them.). Comparing the spider's attempt to get a sense of its surroundings and find surfaces to attach its web to a soul who is searching for connection and meaning in this big bad world is brilliant and touching. Like a spider, a soul is strangely delicate and small when we realize the size of the universe, so it's a fitting comparison.
The only other time that I have heard such a comparison is the O.A.R. version of the kid's song "Itsy Bitsy Spider". In the middle of the song are these lines: "And I know / I've got to get back home / back where I belong / I feel it coming / got to get where I belong". You can listen to an excerpt of the song here: http://mog.com/music/O.A.R./songs (just scroll down to "Itsy Bitsy Spider") This is similar to Whitman's poem in spirit - it's about comparing people to spiders, in search meaning and a home.
Something else which I appreciate about this poem is the use of language. In order to help create the sense of an echo is a big empty space, Waltman pairs words like "vacant vast" and repeats words like "filament, filament, filament". We aren't just told the spider is in a big empty space; when we speak the words to this poem out loud, we can FEEL the echo of our words.
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