Prayer demands sincerity. It’s reserved for all who communicate openly and allows for grace, gratitude, hesitation, helplessness, and seemingly endless pain. I’ve always felt that the true definition of prayer should rest with those who pray, but this is my insight. I’m sure many people will disagree, but I think that prayer allows for irreverence. Prayer always contains emotion. It doesn’t require the divine, but rests with the spiritual. Prayer, as I define it, exists as what is written in moments of brutal honesty with oneself and whoever may or may not be reading along. Written fragments or pages of poetry act as exercises in meditation and aid one both in documenting and accepting truths. Just as poetry becomes slam poetry, so prayer becomes …show more content…
The poem unapologetically documents the poet’s hopes to have all of his “emotions rattled” and makes demands: “Give me the bottom of the river, / all the unadorned, unfinished / unpraised moments, one good turn / on the luxuriant wheel.” Adamshick is sincere in his need for family, for dancing, and for “verbal sparring” throughout his time on this earth. It is his sincere confession and documentation of these needs and desires that makes his poem a prayer. Adamshick’s collection of poetry, entitled Saint Friend, focuses on the horrible truth that our time on this earth will end and is often short-lived. Despite Adamshick’s realization of this truth, he chooses to honor its presence through his …show more content…
Though writers may find an audience with God in solitude, bringing a piece into the realm of performance allows them to experience sincerity while sharing it. One of my favorite slam poetry performances is “An Open Letter to God from an Atheist” by Lindsey Michelle Williams. There are some prayers that may suffer a loss if brought into the realm of performance, but this one does not. If you’ve attended a slam poetry reading, you likely noticed how regularly the audience participates. Through sounds of agreement and snaps, the audience takes part in the prayer. The people who are present aid the poet in moving the energy in a room. A safe and holy space is created through this new sense of community. As Williams recites her poem and pleads, “turn to that page that notates every time that I got lost looking for you,” her anger and frustration are received by her audience. There is a clear and audible response, and the poem becomes more communal as the poet’s intention is
A poem which evokes a mood of pity in the reader is “Assisi” by Norman MacCaig. In this poem, MacCaig recounts an experience that shaped his own life while visiting the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy. While the church is known for it’s outstanding beauty and priceless artwork, the poet discovers a beggar with severe physical disabilities begging outside the church. MacCaig then exposes the irony of the church constructed to celebrate a man devoted to poor, is now a symbol of hypocrisy. Instead of being a lasting monument to the original and noble philosophies of St Francis. Norman MacCaig evinces pity within us by effectively applying techniques such as vivid imagery, emotive word choice and contrast.
First of all, the speaker starts her poem personifying death as a kind gentleman who comes to pick her up for her death journey. It is obvious if the reader looks at “He kindly stopped for me” (2). T...
as told from the point of view of a friend serving as pall bearer. The poem
In Part Two of the poem, Williams questions grief as an emotion. He tries to indicate what exactly the emotion of grief entails, and maybe even what it should be. He comes to the conclusion that grief is not clear-cut, but rather like a roller coaster ride, up and down, coming and going in unexpected waves. Readers can identify with this, as we all know that grief is not an appare...
Your age doesn't determine how or if you are coming of age, Your mindset and mentality to move forward determines that. The Novella “The Body” by Stephen King is about a group of boys who all come from abusive, dysfunctional families and this book is their journey to discover a dead body. They are young and their immaturity makes them excited to see a dead body, but along the way, they begin to realize various things and begin to grow. In this book, the four boys Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy come of age. In this essay, there will be brief descriptions about three of the four of the boys from this novella. Chris came from a bad family and was thought to come out the exact same way as his family and was doubted his whole life. Teddy came from
by a few close friends and his immortal poetry. This essay is founded around one
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
ThThe notion of getting older, one day has too frightened me. I wonder what could I have done in the past to change the future. I reminisce of all the things I have done with the people that I love. But, at the end the day, I look forward to getting older. I look forward to the memories that I will make, which one day will be stories told between two friends or family members about their crazy grandmother Gabriella. E.B. White 's essay represents the fears that adults, but mostly parents, face when seeing children grow up and experience life the same way they once did. These nostalgic moments turn to fear of losing their youth. I believe that White 's essay is a manifestation of a mid-life crisis that fails to show what life has to offer after
Throughout his villanelle, “Saturday at the Border,” Hayden Carruth continuously mentions the “death-knell” (Carruth 3) to reveal his aged narrator’s anticipation of his upcoming death. The poem written in conversation with Carruth’s villanelle, “Monday at the River,” assures the narrator that despite his age, he still possesses the expertise to write a well structured poem. Additionally, the poem offers Carruth’s narrator a different attitude with which to approach his writing, as well as his death, to alleviate his feelings of distress and encourage him to write with confidence.
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
As the first poem in the book it sums up the primary focus of the works in its exploration of loss, grieving, and recovery. The questions posed about the nature of God become recurring themes in the following sections, especially One and Four. The symbolism includes the image of earthly possessions sprawled out like gangly dolls, a reference possibly meant to bring about a sense of nostalgia which this poem does quite well. The final lines cement the message that this is about loss and life, the idea that once something is lost, it can no longer belong to anyone anymore brings a sense...
Even with his prayer, and his wine-induced courage, the speaker still despairs. He compares himself to “the poor jerk who wanders out on air and then looks down” and “below his feet, he sees eternity,” when he realizes that “suddenly his shoes no longer work on nothingness” (5.12-15). It is as though he is submitting to the reality that, if he steps beyond the safe borders of the proven approaches to writing, there is no magic potion that will guarantee his success. Nevertheless, he appears to be willing to take his chances, and, ironically, he does so with this prayer, which is stylistically unconventional. In a desperate attempt to remind his readers that he was once considered a good writer in the event that this poem does not meet their traditional standards, he makes one final request: “As I fall past, remember me” (5.16).
On the surface the poem seems to be a meditation on past events and actions, a contemplative reflection about what has gone on before. Research into the poem informs us that the poem is written with a sense of irony
The plights of aging and minorities are substantially difficult to those to have endure the hardships of both groups. With the amount of the elderly majority increasing rapidly, this work examines certain aspects such as education and economic status. Based on that concept, I intend to find weather there is a correlation to the quality longevity of life for those of the aging minority differ in comparison to their counterparts
We are all victims of aging. We can witness our inevitable fates in the elderly with their wrinkled, loose skin and gray hair. You can try and mask the effects of aging, but you can never escape from it. From the moment we are born the natural process of aging begins. Its effects can be seen on our face and body as we grow from a child to an adult. Soon after our bodies have matured into young adults, the degenerative properties of aging begin to negatively impact the body. Aging goes deep beneath the superficial changes like of a balding head, wrinkled skin, or a grey head of hair. These inconspicuous changes occur inside the body affecting cells and organs such as the brain, heart, or lungs. In addition to the deterioration of health of the brain and heart; bones can become weaker and shorter and our vision and hearing impaired or even lost. There are genetic factors and environmental conditions that may contribute to the cause and effects of aging. With age, there is also an increase susceptibility to diseases, cellular damage, genetic mutations, and cancers. Although there have been many advances in medicine and technologies which have allowed us to live longer lives, aging is still an unavoidable natural process.