Inspired by Pearl Jam's "Education"

Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
edited December 2004 in Poetry, Prose, Music & Art
A woman climbs between rocks small and big.
Each breath a gift wrapped in the full moon's light
given by the ocean. She sees the waves'
inquiries and agrees to move forward.

She heard the stories from mothers and friends.
She heard where the earth is a soft rug
for bruised feet, and where it is broken glass.
She heard the mist chooses to encourage.

She rests to touch the petal of one rose.
Her hunger satisfied by the leaves' scent.
She communicates with other mountains
using the warm wind as her messenger.

The moon, the earth, and ocean are women.
Feel what they know as they rotate their hips.
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • wow. the last two lines are stunning. I can't say I follow the poem entirely (after only one read) but I do know that the last two lines made me stop in my tracks...I'll keep reading it and get back to you...
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  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    reminds me of Matthew Arnold for some reason.....and The Forsaken Merman.....and Dover Beach.....especially the lines....Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled./b]

    The sea is calm tonight.
    The tide is full, the moon lies fair
    Upon the straits; on the French coast, the light
    Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
    Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
    Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
    Only, from the long line of spray
    Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,

    Listen! you hear the grating roar
    Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
    At their return, up the high strand,
    Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
    With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
    The eternal note of sadness in.

    Sophocles long ago
    Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
    Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
    Of human misery; we
    Find also in the sound a thought,
    Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

    The Sea of Faith
    Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
    Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
    But now I only hear
    Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
    Retreating, to the breath
    Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
    And naked shingles of the world.

    Ah, love, let us be true
    To one another! for the world, which seems
    To lie before us like a land of dreams,
    So various, so beautiful, so new,
    Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
    Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
    And we are here as on a darkling plain
    Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
    Where ignorant armies clash by night.
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • ISNISN Posts: 1,700
    Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold should be in quotes.....oops
    ....they're asking me to prove why I should be allowed to stay with my baby in Australia, because I'm mentally ill......and they think I should leave......
  • your words make me think
    It doesnt hurt.... when I bleed
    but memories...they eat me
    I've seen it all before,...
    bring it on cause I'm no victim.
    -Ghost
  • help me to unwrap this mystery, Bella...I'm still stumped. This poem is beautiful, and it'd imagery is extremely vivid. But what is this woman up to? Is she somehow disabled? Or maybe from a society less advanced than ours? I remain stumped but eagerly wanting to know.
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  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    help me to unwrap this mystery, Bella...I'm still stumped. This poem is beautiful, and it'd imagery is extremely vivid. But what is this woman up to? Is she somehow disabled? Or maybe from a society less advanced than ours? I remain stumped but eagerly wanting to know.
    Hello! The song "Education" has a very seductive rhythm, and the words that I understand, seem to be about the author questioning what is necessary to learn in this time. The one line "man can't even pick out his own tie" seems to mock what is necessary to truly learn as a human being in this life, and to also question that someone would go to another person for such a simple decision.

    My poem was more like the song's words in earlier drafts, but I basically wrote my poem around my last two lines. The education discussed here is more of a spatial intelligence that is innate. We could get so much information if we knew how to hear what the wind says, or could just "read" and "learn" from forms that are not human. The ocean and moon have rhythms, and the earth has seasons, and the blood pumps in our veins. It's all about rhythm and being so in sync with what's around to understand more that's necessary.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • i was thinking way too literally...cool...i see it now. It's so much more and also so much less than I thought it was...simple in it's complexity. Very nice. Also: 'Education' is a friggen amazing song!
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  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,265
    The main character is a person, but she wouldn't be someone you meet. She's like a loner witch, deciding what her craft is based on her knowledge. If I redo this poem then I would try to make that more clear. Thanks for the comments!
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
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