Introduction to Poetry **
BY Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
This poem means that readers should be open-minded and tolerant without just reading the poem and annotating or simply analyzing it. It's trying ((I literally don't know how but this one got deleted)
BY Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
This poem means that readers should be open-minded and tolerant without just reading the poem and annotating or simply analyzing it. It's trying ((I literally don't know how but this one got deleted)
My Papa’s Waltz ***
BY Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt
In this poem, the father and the son are dancing and the dance represents the relationship. When the poet writes, "At every step you missed, My right ear scraped a buckle, that demonstrates their ups and downs in their relationship. It's like there is happiness and fear at the same time. The kid is comparing the waltz to their relationship. The kids is going through everything that the father is going through physically. Even though the kid isn't drinking, the father is letting his drinking to affect his kid.
On lines 7 and 8 it states, "My mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself." This shows that the relationship between the father and the mother might be tough or is going to rip apart. The kids is trying to bring them together because he says, "But I hung on like death." and " Still clinging to you shirt." At the end of the day the kid still loves his father and doesn't want anything to get between his parents that will take his father away. Even though the father made few mistakes, the kid knows that it's his responsibility to keep their family secure. This whole poem is like a metaphor of the father and the son's relationship and what he's doing the not let that bond go even between his parents.
140 Syllables *****
BY Kenneth Rexroth
All my life I have wondered,
Why doesn’t somebody write
A terrible poem that says
In so many words, this world
Is a fraud, the people who
Run it are murderous fools,
Everything ever printed
Is a lie, all their damn art
And literature is a fake,
Behind their gods and laws, and
Pee hole bandits, their science
Is just a fancy way to kill
Us and our girls and kids.
What I want to know is why
Somebody doesn’t write it
All down in about twenty
Lines of seven syllables
Once and for all, and scare the shit
Out of all the dirty squares.
This poem is my favorite so far. Every single syllable was just so true. At first I thought this poem was just a guy wanting someone else to write a poem about how fake this whole world is. But as I annotated it, I realized it's way more than that. The poet writes, " Why doesn't somebody write A terrible poem that says..." I think I understood what he means by "Terrible." We see what the world wants us to see. But if we go in depth, we have a chance of finding out the truth. So if someone writes a poem talking about how the world is fake and it's controlled by murderous fools, a reader wouldn't feel happy reading that poem. They would feel hopeless or "Terrible". The society raised our expectations that in every poem all we would want to read about summertime, butterflies and flowers. But we can't just live behind a wall forever, we would need a door. So the speaker wants someone to make that door for everyone to go through to see the real side. The tone of the speaker throughout the entire poem is frustrated and annoyed. He does that because he wants the readers to know what he really wants.
The tone gets our attention because it's probably something many people would agree with and if I were to talk to someone saying all of this, I would say it the same way as him. I thought of something when it says, "Their science Is just a fancy way to kill Us and our girls and kids." The society is showing us what we want to see, that's killing us emotionally and sometimes physically. For instance, They are showing us flawless photos of Kim Kardashian and how beautiful she is. Young girls and women are getting more and more insecure by days. What the society doesn't even bother to focus on is the fact that Kim got plastic surgery literally everywhere. We think of her as some kind of queen, whereas, she does nothing but fake her identity to win over men who are fools and basically the whole world. Plus she gets money doing that. I thought we were suppose to go to school/college, get a good job like being a doctor or engineer and for that we would get money. Well, we've been lied this whole time. In society, you only get money if you're pretty enough and then live in a mansion. Just like the poet said, "The world is a fraud." A line that stood out to me is, "Scare the shit out of these dirty squares," What I think the poet meant by saying this is that dirty means disgusting or not good. And square means something that is perfect or flawless. So "dirty squares" is a reference to the world being a fraud, murderous people, fake art and literature. The poet wants us to point out all of this and do something about it and by writing this poem, he does the exact same thing.
BY Kenneth Rexroth
All my life I have wondered,
Why doesn’t somebody write
A terrible poem that says
In so many words, this world
Is a fraud, the people who
Run it are murderous fools,
Everything ever printed
Is a lie, all their damn art
And literature is a fake,
Behind their gods and laws, and
Pee hole bandits, their science
Is just a fancy way to kill
Us and our girls and kids.
What I want to know is why
Somebody doesn’t write it
All down in about twenty
Lines of seven syllables
Once and for all, and scare the shit
Out of all the dirty squares.
This poem is my favorite so far. Every single syllable was just so true. At first I thought this poem was just a guy wanting someone else to write a poem about how fake this whole world is. But as I annotated it, I realized it's way more than that. The poet writes, " Why doesn't somebody write A terrible poem that says..." I think I understood what he means by "Terrible." We see what the world wants us to see. But if we go in depth, we have a chance of finding out the truth. So if someone writes a poem talking about how the world is fake and it's controlled by murderous fools, a reader wouldn't feel happy reading that poem. They would feel hopeless or "Terrible". The society raised our expectations that in every poem all we would want to read about summertime, butterflies and flowers. But we can't just live behind a wall forever, we would need a door. So the speaker wants someone to make that door for everyone to go through to see the real side. The tone of the speaker throughout the entire poem is frustrated and annoyed. He does that because he wants the readers to know what he really wants.
The tone gets our attention because it's probably something many people would agree with and if I were to talk to someone saying all of this, I would say it the same way as him. I thought of something when it says, "Their science Is just a fancy way to kill Us and our girls and kids." The society is showing us what we want to see, that's killing us emotionally and sometimes physically. For instance, They are showing us flawless photos of Kim Kardashian and how beautiful she is. Young girls and women are getting more and more insecure by days. What the society doesn't even bother to focus on is the fact that Kim got plastic surgery literally everywhere. We think of her as some kind of queen, whereas, she does nothing but fake her identity to win over men who are fools and basically the whole world. Plus she gets money doing that. I thought we were suppose to go to school/college, get a good job like being a doctor or engineer and for that we would get money. Well, we've been lied this whole time. In society, you only get money if you're pretty enough and then live in a mansion. Just like the poet said, "The world is a fraud." A line that stood out to me is, "Scare the shit out of these dirty squares," What I think the poet meant by saying this is that dirty means disgusting or not good. And square means something that is perfect or flawless. So "dirty squares" is a reference to the world being a fraud, murderous people, fake art and literature. The poet wants us to point out all of this and do something about it and by writing this poem, he does the exact same thing.
Mother To Son ***
By Langston Hughes
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor--
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now--
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Sometimes life isn't a steady process and it requires determination and perseverance in order face obstacles that are on the way. The mother, as known as the speaker, is telling her son that life was all a challenge for her. She says her life wasn't a crystal stair. Crystal stairs are clear, smooth and beautiful. Her life was the opposite of that. Her life wasn't clear or easy,it was full of "splinters", "tacks" and "torn up boards". Those words are a symbol of her challenges. Also those words are things that would hurt a person, that leads me to believe that she was hurt before physically and emotionally. "Torn up boards" aren't something beautiful to look at, which means her life was basically a mess. In line 6, the poet states, "And places with no carpet on the floor." This demonstrates that the mother might have lived in poverty because she had no support like a carpet that will make her life easier.
Also the mother says her life wasn't crystal stairs and crystals, like diamonds, are expensive. Maybe she meant it literally when she said her boards were torn and and she didn't have any carpet on the floor. In lines 9,10, and 11 the speaker says, I'se been a -climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners." It looks like she doesn't know how to speak proper English and maybe that's one of the effects of poverty. She probably didn't have enough education. Her words also depict the determination and courage she had, because she sometimes went in the "dark" where there wasn't any "light." At the end of the poem, it is understood that she's giving her son a message and being a role model. She is being a compassionate mother who wants her son to battle the challenges in life instead of turning away from them.
By Langston Hughes
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor--
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now--
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Sometimes life isn't a steady process and it requires determination and perseverance in order face obstacles that are on the way. The mother, as known as the speaker, is telling her son that life was all a challenge for her. She says her life wasn't a crystal stair. Crystal stairs are clear, smooth and beautiful. Her life was the opposite of that. Her life wasn't clear or easy,it was full of "splinters", "tacks" and "torn up boards". Those words are a symbol of her challenges. Also those words are things that would hurt a person, that leads me to believe that she was hurt before physically and emotionally. "Torn up boards" aren't something beautiful to look at, which means her life was basically a mess. In line 6, the poet states, "And places with no carpet on the floor." This demonstrates that the mother might have lived in poverty because she had no support like a carpet that will make her life easier.
Also the mother says her life wasn't crystal stairs and crystals, like diamonds, are expensive. Maybe she meant it literally when she said her boards were torn and and she didn't have any carpet on the floor. In lines 9,10, and 11 the speaker says, I'se been a -climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners." It looks like she doesn't know how to speak proper English and maybe that's one of the effects of poverty. She probably didn't have enough education. Her words also depict the determination and courage she had, because she sometimes went in the "dark" where there wasn't any "light." At the end of the poem, it is understood that she's giving her son a message and being a role model. She is being a compassionate mother who wants her son to battle the challenges in life instead of turning away from them.
Do Not Stand By My Grave And Weep
By Mary Elizabeth Frye
**
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
Sometimes people are often devastated or shattered after someone's death, but the truth is that the person who is dead will still live within them even though they are not there. The speaker is someone who has passed away and he/she is leaving a message to their loved ones. In line 1, the poet writes, "Do not stand at my grave and weep." I think the speaker doesn't want any of their loved ones to pity him/her or to be in pain by the grief. The speaker says, " I do not sleep" and when someone sleeps, they are comfortable and they still breathe. This shows that the speaker may or may not be at a better place after their death. The lines that says "I am a thousand winds that blow" , " I am the diamond glints on snow", I am the sun ripened grain, " I am the gentle autumn rain" expresses a lot about the speaker. The speaker uses these words in order to comfort his/her mourners. The speaker is still present even if the body is gone. His/her personality is still there within the surroundings.
The speaker uses nature to symbolize happiness, freedom and relief. He/she reminds the mourners that they can think of the speaker when they see all those things. The speaker says, " When you awaken in....I am the swift....Of quiet birds...I am the soft stars that..." The poet uses imagery to portray the feeling of hope and relief. The last line states, " I'm not here; I did not die." The speaker doesn't want anyone to mourn over his/her death. The speaker believes that her message will bring comfort and reassurance to his/her loved ones.
By Mary Elizabeth Frye
**
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
Sometimes people are often devastated or shattered after someone's death, but the truth is that the person who is dead will still live within them even though they are not there. The speaker is someone who has passed away and he/she is leaving a message to their loved ones. In line 1, the poet writes, "Do not stand at my grave and weep." I think the speaker doesn't want any of their loved ones to pity him/her or to be in pain by the grief. The speaker says, " I do not sleep" and when someone sleeps, they are comfortable and they still breathe. This shows that the speaker may or may not be at a better place after their death. The lines that says "I am a thousand winds that blow" , " I am the diamond glints on snow", I am the sun ripened grain, " I am the gentle autumn rain" expresses a lot about the speaker. The speaker uses these words in order to comfort his/her mourners. The speaker is still present even if the body is gone. His/her personality is still there within the surroundings.
The speaker uses nature to symbolize happiness, freedom and relief. He/she reminds the mourners that they can think of the speaker when they see all those things. The speaker says, " When you awaken in....I am the swift....Of quiet birds...I am the soft stars that..." The poet uses imagery to portray the feeling of hope and relief. The last line states, " I'm not here; I did not die." The speaker doesn't want anyone to mourn over his/her death. The speaker believes that her message will bring comfort and reassurance to his/her loved ones.
The Quiet World *****
By Jeffery McDaniel
In an effort to get people to look
into each other’s eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.
When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.
Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.
(This one got deleted as well)
By Jeffery McDaniel
In an effort to get people to look
into each other’s eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.
When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.
Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.
(This one got deleted as well)
Always *
By Pablo Neruda
I am not jealous
of what came before me.
Come with a man
on your shoulders,
come with a hundred men in your hair,
come with a thousand men between your breasts and your feet,
come like a river
full of drowned men
which flows down to the wild sea,
to the eternal surf, to Time!
Bring them all
to where I am waiting for you;
we shall always be alone,
we shall always be you and I
alone on earth,
to start our life!
The man, as known as, the speaker is waiting to start a life with his woman. The title of the poem is “Always”, immediately I thought of The Fault In Our Stars.” In the movie, whenever the characters said “Always”, it was like a promise that they’ll always be devoted to one another. The speaker starts off by saying, “I’m not jealous of what came before me” (lines 1&2). When I saw the word “Jealous” I knew this poem had to be a love poem because the speaker, the man, does not envy all the men that came into his woman’s life. The led me to believe that the man is someone who’s strong emotionally. In lines 3-6 the poet writes, “Come with a man on your shoulder….hundred men in your hair...thousand men between your breasts.” These lines indicate that there were a lot of men that came to the women’s life. The speaker says words like shoulder, hair and breasts. Those words are part of a woman’s body and they symbolize beauty.
This made me think that maybe all the men that came before only “loved” the women for her beauty. Then I saw “ and your feet”, My interpretation for this is that those men worshiped her and got down on their knees just to get fooled by her beauty. The women did have beauty but that’s all those men cared for. Until she realized each and one of them didn’t deserve her love. That’s when the speaker says, “full of drowned men.” The women had destroyed them, ended each of their relationship with her and broke their hearts into million pieces. In lines 12&13 the speaker says, “Bring them all to where I am waiting for you”. At first I questioned, why would he want to challenge those men if he isn’t jealous of them? He actually doesn’t want to fight them. Maybe the speaker wants his woman to bring those men to where he’s waiting because he wants to show that he is capable of loving her for something more than just her beauty. He doesn’t care about all those men that came before him. He just wants to make sure that his woman knows that he loves every single part about her and no matter what he won’t let anything come between him and her.
By Pablo Neruda
I am not jealous
of what came before me.
Come with a man
on your shoulders,
come with a hundred men in your hair,
come with a thousand men between your breasts and your feet,
come like a river
full of drowned men
which flows down to the wild sea,
to the eternal surf, to Time!
Bring them all
to where I am waiting for you;
we shall always be alone,
we shall always be you and I
alone on earth,
to start our life!
The man, as known as, the speaker is waiting to start a life with his woman. The title of the poem is “Always”, immediately I thought of The Fault In Our Stars.” In the movie, whenever the characters said “Always”, it was like a promise that they’ll always be devoted to one another. The speaker starts off by saying, “I’m not jealous of what came before me” (lines 1&2). When I saw the word “Jealous” I knew this poem had to be a love poem because the speaker, the man, does not envy all the men that came into his woman’s life. The led me to believe that the man is someone who’s strong emotionally. In lines 3-6 the poet writes, “Come with a man on your shoulder….hundred men in your hair...thousand men between your breasts.” These lines indicate that there were a lot of men that came to the women’s life. The speaker says words like shoulder, hair and breasts. Those words are part of a woman’s body and they symbolize beauty.
This made me think that maybe all the men that came before only “loved” the women for her beauty. Then I saw “ and your feet”, My interpretation for this is that those men worshiped her and got down on their knees just to get fooled by her beauty. The women did have beauty but that’s all those men cared for. Until she realized each and one of them didn’t deserve her love. That’s when the speaker says, “full of drowned men.” The women had destroyed them, ended each of their relationship with her and broke their hearts into million pieces. In lines 12&13 the speaker says, “Bring them all to where I am waiting for you”. At first I questioned, why would he want to challenge those men if he isn’t jealous of them? He actually doesn’t want to fight them. Maybe the speaker wants his woman to bring those men to where he’s waiting because he wants to show that he is capable of loving her for something more than just her beauty. He doesn’t care about all those men that came before him. He just wants to make sure that his woman knows that he loves every single part about her and no matter what he won’t let anything come between him and her.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
By Dylan Thomas ***
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Sometimes you have to press on to live when you’re struggling to survive and even if it means suffering, you have to hold on as long as you can. When I read the title, I thought of it as a command or like a motivation sort of. The poet writes, "Old age should burn and rave". The words "Old age" refers to people who are old and I think the sentence means that if someone is at a old age that doesn't mean they have to die. Even if someone old is about to die, they should "rave" and die with potency. When the speaker says, "Rage, rage against the dying of light", it made me think about someone being angry and screaming that they don't want the lights out. In line 4, it states, "Though the wise men at their end know dark i right." The word "dark" represents death and is saying that there are some wise men that knew they are going to die one day, but "they do not go gentle into that good night," they still don't accept it. Each stanza begins with each type of men.
The speaker says, "Good men, the last wave by, crying...frail deeds...danced in a green bay." This shows that the ones that were good and did good deeds were the ones to cry because they wish their lives would've lasted longer, so they can continue doing good deeds. The poet writes, "Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight...learn, too late...grieved it on its way" (lines 10&11). When the speaker said, " learn, too late" and "grieved it on its way," I feel like the wild men refers to the ones that didn't think before doing an action or done some horrible things in their life. They learned their lesson too late and they suffered from that to their way to death. They took their sins with them. The second to last stanza states, " Grave men, near death....blinding sight...be gay." I think this sentences refer to the men that are close to dying and on a "sad height." The speaker talks about his/her father being on that "sad height", this implies that the father is on the verge of death. The speaker repeats the sentences, "Do not go gentle into that goodnight. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." throughout the whole poem. It's because he/she wants their father to not give up to death. They want their father to fight death every step of the way.
By Dylan Thomas ***
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Sometimes you have to press on to live when you’re struggling to survive and even if it means suffering, you have to hold on as long as you can. When I read the title, I thought of it as a command or like a motivation sort of. The poet writes, "Old age should burn and rave". The words "Old age" refers to people who are old and I think the sentence means that if someone is at a old age that doesn't mean they have to die. Even if someone old is about to die, they should "rave" and die with potency. When the speaker says, "Rage, rage against the dying of light", it made me think about someone being angry and screaming that they don't want the lights out. In line 4, it states, "Though the wise men at their end know dark i right." The word "dark" represents death and is saying that there are some wise men that knew they are going to die one day, but "they do not go gentle into that good night," they still don't accept it. Each stanza begins with each type of men.
The speaker says, "Good men, the last wave by, crying...frail deeds...danced in a green bay." This shows that the ones that were good and did good deeds were the ones to cry because they wish their lives would've lasted longer, so they can continue doing good deeds. The poet writes, "Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight...learn, too late...grieved it on its way" (lines 10&11). When the speaker said, " learn, too late" and "grieved it on its way," I feel like the wild men refers to the ones that didn't think before doing an action or done some horrible things in their life. They learned their lesson too late and they suffered from that to their way to death. They took their sins with them. The second to last stanza states, " Grave men, near death....blinding sight...be gay." I think this sentences refer to the men that are close to dying and on a "sad height." The speaker talks about his/her father being on that "sad height", this implies that the father is on the verge of death. The speaker repeats the sentences, "Do not go gentle into that goodnight. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." throughout the whole poem. It's because he/she wants their father to not give up to death. They want their father to fight death every step of the way.
The Metal Puppet ***
By Jenni Kirby
Look past the metal
Look past the wires
Look past the circuits
Look past the chips
Look past the programming
I can feel, I can love
Don’t look at my body
Look at my soul
Even though I am metal, I truly can feel
I am alive
Please love me
I can hope, I can cry
I feel like a metal puppet in a human’s arms
Why did they create me, if they don’t want me?
I have feelings, not a puppet master
I am truly alive
Sometimes people feel as if they are being viewed as a machine or a tool that the society can control rather than appreciating who they are as a human being. As I read the poem, I felt like the speaker is at a point in life where he/she starts believing what the society has for them instead of what they have for the society. The speaker says, "Look past the metal...the wires..the circuits..the chips..the programming" (lines 1,2,3,4&). Those are all metaphors that describes the speaker's body. Those represent skin, bones, intestines, veins, blood and every thing that makes a human body function. The speaker is telling the society to look past those things in his/her body to find find the heart. In lines 6&7 the poet writes, "I can feel, I can love, Look at my soul." This creates a picture in my head where the speaker keeps on pleading to everyone around him/her trying to get their attention, but they just won't look.
The speaker says, "Even though I am metal, I truly can feel" (line 8), I think the speaker is seen as a tough person with no feeling or emotions at all. In line 11, it states, "I feel like a metal puppet in a human's arms." I think the "human's arms" refers to the society and the speaker feels like the metal puppet. It's like the society replaced the speaker's feeling with wires, circuits, chips and etc. The speaker's tone through the entire poem is desperate. He/she is desperate because they want the society to look past their cover and notice that they have a soul. The speaker wants the society to stop pulling his/her strings and to treat the speaker like a real human being.
By Jenni Kirby
Look past the metal
Look past the wires
Look past the circuits
Look past the chips
Look past the programming
I can feel, I can love
Don’t look at my body
Look at my soul
Even though I am metal, I truly can feel
I am alive
Please love me
I can hope, I can cry
I feel like a metal puppet in a human’s arms
Why did they create me, if they don’t want me?
I have feelings, not a puppet master
I am truly alive
Sometimes people feel as if they are being viewed as a machine or a tool that the society can control rather than appreciating who they are as a human being. As I read the poem, I felt like the speaker is at a point in life where he/she starts believing what the society has for them instead of what they have for the society. The speaker says, "Look past the metal...the wires..the circuits..the chips..the programming" (lines 1,2,3,4&). Those are all metaphors that describes the speaker's body. Those represent skin, bones, intestines, veins, blood and every thing that makes a human body function. The speaker is telling the society to look past those things in his/her body to find find the heart. In lines 6&7 the poet writes, "I can feel, I can love, Look at my soul." This creates a picture in my head where the speaker keeps on pleading to everyone around him/her trying to get their attention, but they just won't look.
The speaker says, "Even though I am metal, I truly can feel" (line 8), I think the speaker is seen as a tough person with no feeling or emotions at all. In line 11, it states, "I feel like a metal puppet in a human's arms." I think the "human's arms" refers to the society and the speaker feels like the metal puppet. It's like the society replaced the speaker's feeling with wires, circuits, chips and etc. The speaker's tone through the entire poem is desperate. He/she is desperate because they want the society to look past their cover and notice that they have a soul. The speaker wants the society to stop pulling his/her strings and to treat the speaker like a real human being.
Blackberry-Picking*** (This one got deleted too)
On Children *****
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
At times, your parents will sacrifice their own potentials for your happiness and for you to move forward, because they want to protect you from all the obstacles they experienced in their life. Kahlil Gibran shows this beautifully through the use of tone and diction. The speaker says, "Your children are not your children"(1), meaning your children are not your possessions and you don't get to do whatever you want to do to them. The poet writes, "They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself" (2). The children want their own life and they have their own destiny. The third sentence states, They come through you but not from you," I think this means that the parents basically give life to their children. Without the parents, the children wouldn't be alive but, the children are the ones who later on gives themselves their own life because the children are the ones building their own life and taking the steps to reach their destination. Then the speaker says, "And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you" (4), this shows that the parents are the children's origin and they might be with them but, the children belong in their own life and in their own story. Your children might be with you in the present, but they belong in the future...in their own world. They are the protagonist of their own lives, so why would they belong to someone?
The poet writes, " you may...your love...not your thoughts....their own thoughts" (5). I think this means that the parents might give their children all the support and love, but the children have their own mindset and goals. Then the speaker goes on and says, "You may house their bodies but not their souls" (7). This led me to think about reality in a way. Our parents want us to be safe and they tell us to do things for the good. We might have to listen to them because they are our parents, but our heart will want something else. It would want to be somewhere else that makes us happy. The next lines states, "For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams" (8-9). "House of tomorrow" basically means the future and none of us can ever visit that house. It's because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow and we can't even dream about it until we experience "tomorrow." When the speaker says, "You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you" (10), I thought of it as growing old. Sometimes, our parents would want to be like us. They would want to go back to their childhood times. No one wants to grow old and die. We always think of our own lives and age that we forget our parents are also growing with us. Our parents wouldn't want us to be in their position because they don't want us to go through what they went through.
(I had one more paragraph and that got deleted as well)
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
At times, your parents will sacrifice their own potentials for your happiness and for you to move forward, because they want to protect you from all the obstacles they experienced in their life. Kahlil Gibran shows this beautifully through the use of tone and diction. The speaker says, "Your children are not your children"(1), meaning your children are not your possessions and you don't get to do whatever you want to do to them. The poet writes, "They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself" (2). The children want their own life and they have their own destiny. The third sentence states, They come through you but not from you," I think this means that the parents basically give life to their children. Without the parents, the children wouldn't be alive but, the children are the ones who later on gives themselves their own life because the children are the ones building their own life and taking the steps to reach their destination. Then the speaker says, "And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you" (4), this shows that the parents are the children's origin and they might be with them but, the children belong in their own life and in their own story. Your children might be with you in the present, but they belong in the future...in their own world. They are the protagonist of their own lives, so why would they belong to someone?
The poet writes, " you may...your love...not your thoughts....their own thoughts" (5). I think this means that the parents might give their children all the support and love, but the children have their own mindset and goals. Then the speaker goes on and says, "You may house their bodies but not their souls" (7). This led me to think about reality in a way. Our parents want us to be safe and they tell us to do things for the good. We might have to listen to them because they are our parents, but our heart will want something else. It would want to be somewhere else that makes us happy. The next lines states, "For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams" (8-9). "House of tomorrow" basically means the future and none of us can ever visit that house. It's because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow and we can't even dream about it until we experience "tomorrow." When the speaker says, "You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you" (10), I thought of it as growing old. Sometimes, our parents would want to be like us. They would want to go back to their childhood times. No one wants to grow old and die. We always think of our own lives and age that we forget our parents are also growing with us. Our parents wouldn't want us to be in their position because they don't want us to go through what they went through.
(I had one more paragraph and that got deleted as well)