When even the pages of your journal feel mortal
— Eli A (@ItsNotEllie) April 18, 2018
and breath is fleeting
When words belong to the vacuum of space
and living in fog is easier than searching for a clear day
When all you want is to leave behind your right mind
and get lost outside yourself
This moment is #forever
The monster known as Bigotry has the general form of a scapegoat with the horns of the devil from your left shoulder and the glowing eyes from the first staring contest you lost. It stands as tall as your shortcomings and as broad as everything you claim is too heavy for your shoulders. It is summoned with the pentagram star of the flag you say you are acting to honor and marches to the rhythm of your gunfire-drum. It has the shifting face of every school yard bully you have lost yourself to and the shrieks of every child who has trembled in your shadow. Its tail looks much like the back-end of a fish, flipping back and forth from whatever opinion makes you seem the highest and mightiest, scales catching the light in all the most attractive ways. Though its gate is led with a haughty head, its shoulders demand attention and when ignored they grow; more boisterous, louder, wider - until it feels like the elephant in the room you use his horns to prod in the most pain...
It's really cool how you describe a whole state of being in just a few words. I've had those days and you articulate it really well (and with a poignant hashtag at the end). My favorite line is "When words belong to the vaccum of space." It says a lot.
ReplyDeleteI really like how profound this poem is even in its brevity. I'm confused why you would classify the moment you described as "#forever" when it seems kind of depressing and a moment you wouldn't necessarily want to relive or remember so well.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about this little poem is that in form, it resembles a dedication on a calendar or in a card. It presents itself as sentimental. But when we look closer, the poem is actually pretty heavy and sobering in its meaning. The first two lines suggest a feeling of impending mortality, an awareness of death. The next two lines suggest a state of solitude and lack of communication. It's not portrayed as totally lonely, more of a comfort with the unknown. The next two lines suggest a transformative experience--something liberating from the ordinary. The hashtag ups the ante emotionally.
ReplyDeleteThe odd thing about this poem is how heavy the meaning is when the execution is so light. It makes for an intriguing and somewhat unsettling read.
I thought this was really clever. My favorite line was, "and living in fog is easier than searching for a clear day." This is very profound, and says a lot in the limited amount of words you used. I am just a little bit confused about why this poem sounds so airy when the content is talking about something that is in fact important. I think that the word choices, and the poem itself it very strong, and evokes emotion, but I was also confused about the #forever. Does that mean that you always feel that way? (I'm just thinking out loud here) Otherwise, there were so many positive things about this poem. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Prof. Miller- I kind of love how "casually deep" you are here. Like a "I'm about to drop some truth bombs, if that's alright with y'all" kind of feel. You face and encounter and ACKNOWLEDGE (which is so huge) the impermanence of life and everything we dedicate to it- and there's so much irony in that with this form. Being a Twitter poem, it'll disappear within a few scrolls, a few seconds of post filling the feed- and yet, it is immortalized in the Cloud forever, which kind of adds a whole new dimension to the #forever. I get the sense that the "mortal page' you speak of is a paper one, which kind of is mortal in that it degrades. Twitter poetry, however, is for the moment and forever, joining the title and the closing hashtag with a huge truth bomb. Explosively awesome. snaps.
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