This may be news to a kid in school who hates
'History' as much as I. It was not only dates
as I chose French, Latin, Sciences instead,
in what to Maturity would be mere repository.
We are living our history now, moving ahead
as tomorrow, next week, next year are ended,
with their demands, all that stuff we knew
too soon unimportant, becoming transitory.
Over the years all the things we used to do,
the news we watched and stuff we listened to
gets forgotten as we forgot to compensate,
thus losing the gift of our personal history.
Nov. 19 08
Author notes
We had been discussing the developmental history in millennia of Language.
Do you find inspiration in odd places?
Comments
1 - 7 of 7
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Astonishing to find such a contemplative poem when I clicked on "return the favor"! First I found the form unusual, but intriguing; it made me go back and read the poem a second and a third time. Then, the comparison of the history one learns (or is taught - lol) to one's personal history, and the failures of compensation, both general and personal, has jiggled my mind. I so appreciate reading such thoughtful work. It didn't hurt to find out that the author has more "history" than I do!!! Lita
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Thank you Lita,
I am so glad you chanced to find this particular poem, rhymed but unconventional. With so many innocuous verses what made you stop here? Content I understand, because it was in reply to a student, but you recognized there was something odd about the form?
Considering its own history and mine, finding someone to discuss form is so rare it is almost spooky.
I think having written a long Terza Rima, there must have been some of its influence here, subliminally applied. I know I did not plan it so. There too the tercets are interlocked through their rhymes. This poem is consistent throughout its length, and rhymes tie verse to verse and back to its beginning.
Being intrepid and full of fun, I used to invent what I called Sortasonnets, using tetrameters, mirror-rhymes abcdeffedcba gg, innersonnets mid-end, all manner of tweaks and changes, name it... and what did I get?
"Bad sonnet form" from aggrieved readers.
Had I added a couplet at the end of these three quatrains for a terzasonnet form, (cuatrosonnet?) would it have been rejected too? aabc bbdc ddac eeK!
I get mildly annoyed at purists who insist only the most formal of form poetry has any value (insinuating I do not know what a formal Elizabethan sonnet IS! Or Petrarchan for that matter, volta and all!)
Somebody over centuries had invented each of the poetic forms we bow low to today, including several kinds of sonnet. It does not matter to me anymore. And thank you for this opportunity to put it to rest!
Terry
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I had always been very interested in time, until I figured out what it is. It is our measurement of the motions of the earth relative to the sun. But then, also, you can't unscramble an egg. All motion is purposeful -- this is true with the ONE direction it moves in. The eath does not rotate "backwards" nor orbit the sun the other way around. The utmost characteristic of reality is ORDER as revealed in the forms of the motions of everything. When forms don't move they preserve things. This is especially true with language as saved in writing. Written language doesn't change; whereas pronunciation drifts over time because it isn't harnessed by paper or whatever it was written on. This is not going to hold for today because the new media of language are auditory as much as written. One day all humans will be speaking the same language without accent even.
(But cats will preserve their own languages. Tiki Cat)
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true
I usually remember what happened but not when, and sometimes the what is modified by later thinking and events. Memory is very tricky, and I find the truest record is a photograph - though that can also be subjective. It ends up that history is a morass, from which we dredge what we like...
compelling poem, interesting form. I enjoyed it!
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Samuel Pepys, 1633-1703 kept a diary for nine years
Cleverly, considering its detailed content, he wrote it in code which was not deciphered and published until 1829. That too, is history.
Personally we have diaries and journals too.... under lock and key.
I well remember my elder daughter using the untaught, invented cyphers of preschool through into her teen years to keep a journal no one would ever be able to read. With no alphabet, quite possibly she can't read it anymore either. Whew!
Thank you, Margaret, for noticing the original form!
Terry
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i loved this, it was such a complex subjetc, and such a well written poem
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Thank you Billy. I enjoyed reading yours too. You have a rare talent.
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