It’s just something I do. So don’t ask,
for I too don’t have a clue.
Ask a child why he smiles,
or a diamond why it glitters,
better yet, ask the birdman why he’s a birdman,
or the stockbroker too—
he’ll give you a reason
or two
then three and four until he can go no more
and finally he’ll say: let’s talk no more!—
dismayed, you’ll ask, but what’s it all for?
and the priest will say, and the rabbi will say,
the buddhist, the monk, and the bum in battery park will say,
until finally, they give you an Ommmm.
So why not ask a rabbit why it hops?
Or the heart why it beats, perhaps
you’d like to know why the vulture likes cadavers?
Or maybe, what you’d really like to know,
is why that guy had a fetish for your feet?
And on and on you will go, asking all who you will meet,
while not getting any closer to the meat.
And all the while the writer toys
—with thoughts you thought were yours—
until it hits you: the answer
lies beneath your feet.
And on and on you will go, asking all who you’ll meet,
while not getting any closer to the meat.
And all the while the writer toys
—with thoughts you thought were yours—
until it hits you: the answer
lies beneath your feet.
Not a bad poem at all
particualrly the last verse!!
“And all the while the writer toys
-with thoughts you thought were yours-”
Why do we do the things we do!
Ontology of reality
Ontology of the poem!
“perhaps the thing is
to eat flowers
and not be afriad”
Thanks for the wonderful responses. I actually have this poem spaced very differently – open form – but ilp won’t allow me to play with the line spacing Nevertheless, thank you both for the great comments.
You are proud of the meaninglessness of your life, as if that were something for one to be proud about. Curiously, I am not proud of living a meaningless life, in a meaningless/godless world. It would be simply…pathetic, exaclty as it is pathetic a single word pronounced/written by a man who does (take attention at this “does”) believe that life hasn’t any sense.
What makes you think I meant with “the awnser” life? That’s your interpetation – one that isn’t wrong – but not the only one, nor the one I had in mind when I wrote the poem. I see three various interpetations – one of them being very pessimistic; yet it’s all still open to interpetation. What you thought the answer was, says more about you, than about me.
By the way, “There is always a little madness in reason and always a little reason in madness [italics mine]” -Nietzsche
Nevertheless, thank you both for the great comments.