Happily Floating Away

Actual Lines-

portray various aspects of the giddiness of love.

Between the Lines-

"Cascading waves in the summer" refers to said giddy emotions when consumed by a new love.

"glistening gossamer days" refers to how bright even the dreariest day seems when struck by love.

"love-worn desires"- refers to our perpetually-tested desires toward objects parading by in an endless procession.

"amazing love flown away"- refers to the love between two taking off.

"sapphire-studded eyes"- refers to the sparkle in eyes returning your love.

"spark-lighting kiss"- refers to the fireworks of a first kiss

"better than the gumdrops"- the kiss found to be quite a sweet thing.

"thawing heart"- illustrating that a certain warmth can be generated by social interaction..

"where wildfires rage"- the burning heart of love.

"happily floating"- on the giddiness of love.

Beyond the Lines-

One cannot see beyond the poem without evaluating the poet's relationship to the poem, for one immediately asks, "Why did the poet write this piece?". If the reason is found to be shallow, or worse, narcissitic, then the poem will be duly discarded.

As to this poem, is this poem/poet simply having fun with young writers and overused cliches, or is it an inspired work of guileless spontaneity answering the call of a contest that requested "Happy"? Why the music? Is the poet sending someone a message there? Was the poet simply taking up a challenge?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes, for a poem is, like reality, a sum of many things- for our actions in reality have reasons behind them that are, like space and time, ultimately endless in number (so when someone asks you why you did something, you need to ask them how many levels into reality they would like your analysis to go)...

What Inspired Me to Write the Poem:

As an Artist- I am constantly testing my limits, venturing into new realms, writing beyond my comfort zones, usually to the surprise, shock, dismay, or delight of those who 'know' me (though by now they take it in stride). My success varies. The philosophy I practice is "go wherever the muse takes you".

As a Poet- I am always striving to inject emotion into a piece, whatever it is. Here it is 'happily floating' on the light airiness of newly-found love.

As a Person- I am far from being a person of one emotion, and I do not hesitate to sieze the moment as a writer when one hits, no matter what it is.

As an Iconoclast, Rebel, Free Spirit- I do not write for money, therefore I am not beholden to anyone, any clique, any group, any genre, any period, any subject, any style, and most importantly, any contractual obligation or audience expectations. Further, those who did so once do not stir my wrath again with shallow, ill-formed derisions, for I will jump right back at their paper-thin psyches (after duly prying their sleepy eyes open).

As an Experimenter- In this piece I take common cliches and do what I will with them. It is my view that, no matter how abused a phrase is, it can still work as originally intended in fresh hands, and especially when mixed with original material.

As an Entertainer- My main purpose here is to delight. A detraction would be writing so refined that it creates envy, which would steal from the delight. (in a practical sense, I deem it more profitable to delight rather than to create jealousy and envy, the latter symptoms of evil or desprate minds). My audience is the 'young at heart' in all of us, however suppressed it may be in pompous fools, and in those currently under extreme stressed.

As a Competitor- I find it challenging to do the impossible. For example, one contest host specifically said "no kitties and kites, I'm a guy after all!" So what did I win gold writing about? Here the challenges were the issues of cliche- in topic, in emotion, in presentation, and in poetic devices; conveying the intended emotion successfully, the poem's construction- the layout, which style to write in, complementary graphics, writing to melody lines, and the second hardest of all, the punctuation, which itself comes right after writing a piece that will actually be read all the way through and enjoyed! (emphasis added).

As an Adult Male- Consider the amount of strength, courage, and wisdom there is behind this piece- how much of each is involved in the undertaking, in the posting, and in dealing with the consequences (not to mention fools). One only has to considering the difficult circles I interact with, both on this writing site and in real life.

As a Schemer- there are, of course, long-term ulterior motives behind this piece, which includes fame, like most ambitions, and money and power, and securing love, of course, but they are only the means to an end (except for the love, which is and end), for my main interest (my one burning, passionate desire in life?) is in the philosophies and mindsets of tomorrow.

As a Lover- the original version of this piece, "We Are Happily Floating" http://allpoetry.com/poem/1092131 was written before my romantic collaborations era, where I explored in depth and first-hand the treacherous subject of love, with grand and also disasterous results, which takes hearts soaring so high and plummeting so low as to stretch them beyond their breaking points; that is why the treatment of love in this piece is still lighthearted, is still traveling 'up' the love hill. This rewrite was written after that era, and a decision had to be made- whether or not to leave a trace of the tragic side of love lurking just beneath the surface, to give it depth... I decided not to, to keep the poem completely enveloped in its original, innocent, optimistic (and some would say naive!) lightheartedness.