Serve with integrity. Care about those you serve. Share the love in your heart & soul.

Monday, February 18, 2008

#376 Open Any Window, What Does It Mean?

One of the blogs I look forward to reading daily is It Occurred To Me. This day's posting raised the question above. The author is looking for some analysis of his poem of the name above. I do not pretend to be able to analyze poetry, or anything else for that matter. He also asked for someone to give him some idea of what it might mean. Never letting knowledge, intelligence, ability get in my way, I am going to give it a go here. I told him I might. So here goes:

My first reaction - here is an optimistic look at the world surrounding the author. It is also the recognition of personal responsibility/choices for one's life. He asks us to conjure things we would like to accomplish, places to visit. The only limits are those we place on ourselves.

In the last stanza he asks us to recognize our options and take the responsibility to get them accomplished.

Hale/Mike, I hope this is satisfactory. lol

#376

6 comments:

Hale McKay said...

Jack,

That is a very good analysis. Like I said in the notes after the poem, I couldn't remember just what I was thinking. To make matters even more confusing, each verse was written on different days.

Looking back, I do know I was feeling miserable. (Who can feel joy while being treated for a painful ailment and surrounded by other sick people?) I think I was secrectly, though I wasn't aware of it at the time, placing myself into my perceived feelings of the other patients.

From what walks of life were they? Where were they coming from and where were they bound?

Everyday day there, I was presented with a different cast of characters. Yet each verse written on different days seemed somehow related to the other verses.

Finally, the verses sequences were changed for the final product, including the fifth written verse becoming the first.

I'm not a poet, though I've written some, but I usually have some design in mind when I attempt to write poetry.

What was I thinking? Did I accomplish some unperceived goal? Was I feeling sorry for myself and deflecting it toward others?

Jack, your thoughts on the matter are as good or better than any I have come up with. Thank you.

Great post.

Jack K. said...

Hale, they were just some thoughts. Glad to know they resonated with you.

More importantly, you are on the mend.

You are most welcome.

Little Lamb said...

I can never figure out poetry.

The Phosgene Kid said...

If the poet is doing his or her job the poem will mean something different to each reader. It is not what the poem says as much as it is how it impacts the readers lives.

Polly said...

Poetry, like music is personal.
If you read it you are on your way to understanding something else in the world.
Poetry opens up a way of seeing mundane things in a new and interesting way.

Keep writing Hale...we need more poetry in the world.

Karen said...

Here's my sense of poetry...

"roses are red, violets are blue, this blog is fun, and so are you!"

*giggle*