Post 19

My life is like the left hand part of a piano performance. It doesn't call attention, doesn't take the center stage, but still, it exists, and still it gives context and backing to the higher moments.

The notes sound, of aging wood and hammered string
Low and sonorous, giving depth and giving breath
Background is no empty thing

Post 18

Images can mean different things to different people, because different people experience even similar things in different ways.

For example, in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" John Keats seems to envy the people in the depictions on the Urn, "When old age shall this generation waste, thou shalt remain".

Meanwhile, nearly 2000 years later, Punk band The Menzingers sings "Last friday night I wasn't me, I was a still life trapped in eternity, I was the focal point of a focus, out of ink"

The speaker seems to LAMENT that he was previously so resistant to change, instead of desirous of it.

Post 17

I have trouble with making choices. I think I can solidly show a personal life struggle with thisw image. Once you commit to a path, you are sort of stuck on it forever. You can go and pick other ones, but you have to start at square one and I hate square one. The Paradox of Choice plays a big role. There are SO MANY options in life, how can i Pick just a few?

Post 16

in "Hazel Tells Laverne" by Katharyn Howd Machan uses the myth of "kissing a frog to turn it into a prince." In the poem, Hazel rejects this myth, choosing to hit the frog with a mop and flush it down the drain. The more figurative myth it represents, that you can get something "me, a princess" for nothing "just kiss me" is not even given consideration, but discarded.

Post 15

There is a myth my life that has shaped the course of my life. That myth is "If you don't do well in school you'll end up in the millitary". My parents both felt that the military was an option for people who weren't smart enough to pursue a higher education. This is a pretty poisonous belief, and for a very long time the fact that I struggled in school made me sure I was going to end up holding a rifle. It scared me. It felt like a punishment for not being good at life. So when I dropped out of college my first time around, and someone suggested I join the millitary, I actively picked to work low paying jobs instead.

In hindsight, if I had joined the military at 19 I would already be done with my service, and I wouldn't have to be overly worried about paying for school.

This myth is common among the educated elites from the north and I only managed to shake it recently, when a friend of mine joined the Army and very quickly was put on a path to become a doctor. He's the smartest person I have ever known.

Post 14

What will my verse be? Robin William's character in Dead Poet's society asks his class what their contribution to the "powerful play" will be. What will their life amount too?

I hope that my verse is one of quiet kindness. Of healing. Of helping.

Post 13

I think one of my favorite song lyrics comes from a song by Against Me called "Because of the Shame" The song details being at a funeral for an old romantic partner. "With your casket open in front of me, your eyes closed and your lips silent"

The speaker also feels a sense of guilt over the death as well as a confusion about if he meant anything to them. "I'm not sure what i meant to you then, so I'm not sure what I owe you now. But if something I said hurt you, I swear it was not my intention"

He also mentions being afraid of being open and hurt, "Because of the shame, that I associate with Vulnerability, I am numbing myself completely"