"Don't let that horse"

The final poem I looked at for my paper was a comedic poem, a side I had not yet seen from Lawrence Ferlinghetti.


This poem, "Don't let that horse," is much more informal than his other works, although they are also very informal.  The line spacing, the diction, and the structure is just more irregular than I am used to when reading his poetry.

The poem can be hard to interpret, mainly because I bet any of the people that read this poem look way too far into it.  The poem describes an incident between a mother and son, in which the mother tells her son that he should not paint the painting he is working on.  The son ignores her request and continues to paint.  The painting is a huge success, and this newfound success would not have occurred had he listened to his mother's advice.

Very simple story, very simple moral... right?

WRONG.

No, actually, yes, it is right.  At least, in my opinion it is.  I believe that Ferlinghetti wanted to create a simple story, in poem form, about painting, a hobby that he loved.  The poem is humorous because of its simplicity and overall topic.  This simplicity gives a moral... that one should take risks and be the person they want to be (again, going back to "Constantly Risking Absurdity?").  There really is not much more to it than that.  Sure, I am sure somebody could look much more further into it than I did and find some obscure or abstract meaning, but I am sticking with my gut on this one.

I bet Ferlinghetti threw this piece together not to give us some deep, intellectual moral to reflect on, but to tell a short story about a boy and his mother, a story that just happens to have a simple moral.  Kinda similar to a children's book, am I right?

I think this poem was enjoyable because it was the final poem I picked, therefore after struggling to figure out what the other three's meanings were, I could just sit back and take this poem in as is without too much involvement.  Nothing wrong with that!

"Bird with Two Right Wings"

What a perfect picture to go along with this next poem...



In his next work, "Bird with Two Right Wings," Lawrence Ferlinghetti discusses his views on the United States of America's political situation.

I find the name to be very, very humorous.  One, because "bird" is a reference to the bald eagle, and two "right wings."  "Right wings" is very controversial because not only is he calling America a "screwed-up bird," he is referring to the US as a right-winged nation, that is, the US government believes in a separation of social status, whether they want to admit it or not.  I find it very funny that he decides to go that far.  I must say, that's a very heavy statement to make in such a critical country.

Now that I think about it... didn't the last poem I discuss have to do with making works that undergo positive and negative speculation, and that one's career relies on have a positive outcome?  Hmm... strange.

Anywho, I tend to stay away from discussing my own political views, and I also tend to stay away from titles, as I do not believe it is a good idea to identify yourself with just one type of idea.  I believe it would be much better if the world would call themselves independents, and accept ideas from everyone.  People need to be open-minded when it comes to new ideas.  I will stop there... it's annoying to talk politics because of corruption, fraud, fake personalities, false hope, and incorrect information that is literally thrown at our faces every day.  Gah! There I go again.

Back to the poem... I like hearing what Ferlinghetti has to say, and the metaphor that citizens are just helpless civilians in an airplane controlled solely by the pilot (the government) is very emotionally powerful and persuasive.  It is a very scary thought to imagine that our lives are completely controlled by "the system," and that there is nothing we can do about it.

I mean, it's tough to name things that the government doesn't control... Scary thought.

At the end of the day, however, we are very lucky to grow up in a country like the US.  People complain about our government and its corruption, but at least we do not live in a dictatorship of communist country.  We should also acknowledge that we are lucky.

"Constantly Risking Absurdity"

The next poem I wrote about is called "Constantly Risking Absurdity," by the same poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

This poem was very interesting because of the extended metaphor between an acrobat and a poet.  I found this to be very creative and very well executed.  If I was told what this poem was about before I had read it, I most likely would have laughed at whoever told me so.

The poem simply compares the tough, stressful, and risky life of an acrobat to that of a poet, and successfully proves, at least, it did to me, that being a poet is really not all fun and games.  Poetry is a risky business to go into, or at least it seems like it after spending time with this poem.



And you know...

This can be said about life in general.  Nothing we do is done without risk.  Each step we take, each decision we consciously or unconsciously make, each action we perform has a cause and effect.  Many things we do in life are heavily speculated, similar to how the lives of an acrobat and poet are as well.

Many people do not understand the severity of their actions, but I, for one, am always constantly reminding and contemplating my actions.  If I do, however, fail to achieve the outcome I wanted, I learn from my mistakes.

"A Vast Confusion"

The first poem I dissected was "A Vast Confusion" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

From a personal standpoint, I found that I had to reread the poem quite a few times to understand what the heck he was talking about.  Heck, I still am not sure if I know what it's about or not.  I eventually decided that Ferlinghetti had been talking about his views on the world.  I believe he thinks that the world is a very chaotic place with all of its wars, factories, cars, gadgets, etc., yet he somehow still sees hope.  He tells how although society has forgotten about the true nature of the Earth, we, as a collection of people working towards one goal, can reverse the damage we have done.

I too believe that this is very possible.  Yes, there are a lot of things that humanity has screwed up:  Ecosystems, extinctions, pollution, just to name a few.  However, there is an unimaginable number of good things humans have accomplished.  I believe that humanity has come so far over these thousands and thousands of years that we have existed, and it would be a pity to somehow let the "chaos" destroy us all, at the very peak of our discoveries.  There is a way to undo the damage we have caused, and no, it is not easy. BUT, to allow the fact that the solution is not easy, be expensive, etc., to stop us from saving us from ourselves would be a shame.  It would be a shame to have humanity achieve such greatness in the small amount of time we have been in existence, and lose it all because of a few nuclear bombs.  Chaos surrounds us, and we fail to acknowledge it every single day.  Places like North Korea, for example, need to wake up and see the vast negative potential they have.  

We US citizens are especially not innocent either, but neither is the rest of the world.  Almost every nation contributes to the world's chaos in some way or another.  Some more than others, but we need to realize that we need to use our knowledge and power in a positive way.  Many nations have already taken steps to do so, and I am glad we have realized this.

From what I have seen my own generation accomplish so far gives me a good feeling about the future.  Thus far, I have noticed just how intelligent, caring, and hardworking many people around my age are, and I am hoping this contributes to unscrambling the chaos.