Ripples
The
sea jostles me back and forth.
My
body is no longer my own,
It
belongs to the cause.
The
signs they raise in protest,
Float
on top the energy.
The
man to my right looks like my father,
I
do not know the others,
They
begin to blend.
Shame
for merging, pride for one body.
One
message, one goal, one group of people,
Where
do you end and I begin?
Lovely poem Emma. The last line reminds me a bit of Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi). The poem comes back to the theme of unity several times: the sense of loss of self in "My body is no longer my own / It belongs to the cause"; the picquant contrast in "Shame for merging, pride for one body"; and the transcendant "Where do you end and I begin?"
ReplyDeleteEmma,
ReplyDeleteAmazing poem! I think you tied in the paradigms of "Unity, Harmony, & Complexity" perfectly. In reading this, I gathered that the poem begins with complexity, and moves through harmony to unity throughout the remaining lines. I also think the title ties everything together beautifully, especially after out discussion in class. The three are often in separable, and move back and forth between one another, interconnected. Your poem sums up this idea nicely.
My favourite line in your poem was "shame for merging, pride for one body". I think it reflects a common inner conflict. We have desire for unity, desire to be like others, desire for a common goal. This is manifested in our politics, fads, nationality etc. However, we also feel this innate desire to be an individual, to be unique, and follow our own path. We are ashamed and fear not being an individual (at least this seems typical for Western cultural values), yet we also feel pride to be unity under one flag, or an ideology etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing Emma! It is interesting to consider that what we talked about for three hours in our class on Wednesday can be summarized perfectly in just ten lines of prose. I did view your poem a little differently than Alex. To me, your poem started with the paradigm of harmony. "The sea jostles me back and forth" indicates a repeating pattern, a concept that I strongly associate with harmony. It then moved into a description of a struggle with unity that all humans experience. We all desire to be in the unity of a group, a movement, ora cause, but when does our involvement in these things strip us of our unity as an individual? In this way, your poem showed how harmony creates complex manifestations of unity in a universal setting.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your feedback! It really means a lot to me that you all took the time to read my poem and give me follow up responses!
ReplyDeleteKayla: I am glad you picked up my portrayal of the complexity of being an individual while in a group movement! I wanted to reveal how conflicting this can be both internally and externally.
Alex: I am glad you were able to see the interconnected concept of unity, harmony, and complexity. It is so hard to separate them, which I think makes them so difficult to understand fully on their own.
Kyle: I am so glad you liked my poem and I found your response very interesting! I did not at first see the sea jostling as a harmonious event, but that an intriguing idea!