River Poem:
Where It Belongs
Go ahead and say it to me
That you know all I can be,
You’ve been studying every droplet
Of my ever-changing sea.
But weren’t you ever taught
That seas are simply where it ends?
The aspects that tell the story
Are the river’s that swirls and bends.
The ocean isn’t everything,
It’s part of its’ of course,
But you can never judge its currents
If you do not know its’ beginning.
Explanation:
First and foremost, this poem was inspired by the poem Rivers written by Eric Hansen an amazing poet that I recently found and I knew that I had to incorporate his works in my first official poetry attempts.
I was really stricken when I first read Eric Hansen’s poem from which my work was inspired because it revolved around many topics including belonging, and pretenses of all sorts.
The first few lines are directed towards those who derive their own false assumptions about others with little to no true facts specifically the line, “That you know all I can be.” This line made me think of adults or other teens that belittle others and come to an overall basis for the level skills that the individual has in a particular area; similar to words/phrases such as worthless, useless, you will amount to nothing, etc.,
The following lines talk about change and how with the passage of time we all as human beings progress for better or for worse. The line “studying every droplet of my ever-changing sea” suggests that outsiders be it specific individuals or the society as a whole are dissecting and watching every movement that you make; they are just waiting for you to fall.
After that, the next few lines outline the ignorance and foolishness of these people through the line “But weren’t you ever taught” this line adds another layer of depth to the poem because it is almost revealed of the idiocy of those judgemental folks in the beginning. Moreover, there is parallelism, in the beginning, those who were acting all high and mighty were lowering others, but now they are being lowered.
Nearing the end of the poem the message leads to the fact that there are connections amongst many things and one thing may lead to the next. Furthermore, for those that choose to judge it is important to look at the bigger picture before coming to these false conclusions.
Finally, the last line “you can never judge its currents if you do not know its’ beginning” adds to the previous theme of acknowledging where something comes from and the circumstances that they are coming from before getting angry at them for their behavior or attitude.
Overall, this was my first attempt at writing an official poem and this piece really captures my emotions and how I feel about the treatment of many individuals within society today and I hope that that changes, and becomes more welcoming and accepting.