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Poetry and Self-Pity

Started by zarus tathra, February 04, 2014, 08:03:18 PM

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zarus tathra

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QuoteFor the vast majority, writing poetry is like chicken pox: once you've gone through it, you're immune for life. But, like the chicken pox virus, which can lie dormant in the body to erupt again in the form of shingles several decades later, usually at a time of bodily or mental stress, so the poetic muse can revive in exceptional circumstances—such as incarceration. The medical records of a significant minority of prisoners contain copies of poems they have written while in jail.

Do you know, what it's like to be lonely,
being just one, being the only?
Do you realy care,
that there's no one out there?
Do you realy mind,
or are you just blind?
Am I all by myself
Left to rot on the shelf?
Who am I in here,
Left on my own, I fear?
Is there plenty of ways
to end these long lonely days?
Does it really matter
if my mind begins to shatter?
All of these questions, but why,
am I put in here, and left to die?

Actually, there was quite a good reason. The author of these lines, aged 29, had been found guilty of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl, whom he had repeatedly raped over the three days he held her captive. Nor was it his first such offense. He nevertheless concluded his poem with a reflection on the nature of friendship:

What is the meaning of a true friend?
is it to whom you can really depend?
But it all becomes clear in the end,
that everyone around me are just pretend.
?"Belief is always most desired, most pressingly needed, when there is a lack of will." -Friedrich Nietzsche

Ideals are imperfect. Morals are self-serving.

Shiranu

Only applicable to Western culture, and even then only a small segment of it. Boring,
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

zarus tathra

Yes, it's applicable to Western culture. And the reason that minority is inspired to do this in our culture instead of other cultures is because of the degree to which our culture rewards self-pity.
?"Belief is always most desired, most pressingly needed, when there is a lack of will." -Friedrich Nietzsche

Ideals are imperfect. Morals are self-serving.