As you can probably guess from my website name, I consider myself more of a contemporary, modern poet. Recently on my YouTube channel, @ThePracticalPoet, I have been delving into some classical poetry, which I haven’t really explored since high school. It was always a bit ambiguous for me, and I wasn’t ever clear if I was interpreting the poem correctly. Although poetry, like all art is open to interpretation, I always feel like the artist or author does have a message they want to convey, and they are hoping the viewer or the reader is able to discern this message.
On my YouTube channel I have been doing some fun, experimental videos where I have been exploring a classical poem, and bouncing it up against a modern day poem of the same theme. What I have discovered in these videos, aside from really enjoying some of the classical poems that I have been reading, is that it’s not so much when the poem was written, but how it was written. I prefer a poem that tells a story, like ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and I also prefer poems that rhyme. This is just what I like and you may feel differently. My poems, which typically are a bit lengthy, tend to follow this format of rhyming and also the telling of a story. In fact my tagline on my YouTube channel is “Storytelling Through Poetry”. So it is no surprise that I am drawn to the same type of poetry written by others.
Recently, as part of this experiment, I rediscovered the classic Robert Frost poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. I enjoyed the way the snowy scene was set, and the impatient horse in the poem wondering why the human was stopping in the middle of the woods without a house nearby. As the main character took in the beauty of the scene that surrounded him, he realized that he could not pause for too long, as he had “miles to go before I sleep”. This poem represents the pull many of us have in life, as we try to take some time to enjoy nature and the beauty all around us, while knowing in the back of our minds that we have commitments to meet and responsibilities waiting, and that we cannot linger for too long.
While I was reading this poem, and thinking of a poem from the modern era with a common theme, I was drawn to the following poem, Equilibrium. In both poems, there is a desire for calmness and stillness, and an appreciation of nature. Whereas in the Robert Frost poem, the main character realizes he has obligations to fulfill, in my poem Equilibrium, the central theme is about trying to find balance in a world full of upheaval. Both poems take time to appreciate the peace and tranquility around them, while realizing that it is just a momentary pause and that the chaos of life and obligations will soon return to draw them away from the serenity they so crave.
The universe will always seek to find equilibrium and balance, even though it may not always seem to be that way. Here in the United States, certain parts of the country will be pounded with blizzards or tornadoes while other states are having perfect weather. That doesn’t sound very balanced to me. But it does seem to even out at some point. The idea for this next poem came to me one day when I heard the joyous news that a baby boy had been born. Within the hour I learned that an older man had died suddenly. I remember thinking, “A life given, and a like taken away,” always seeking to find that balance. This poem gives several scenarios of this balancing act of life but also gets into finding balance and equilibrium within our own lives. Our lives are often so busy and chaotic that we can’t help but seek the opposite of that as we yearn for calmness and serenity. Yet it seems the hits just continue to come. Some days it really does feel like we have miles to go before we sleep. What choice do we have but to fight the good fight, keep rising each day and taking on each battle as it comes, as we keep hoping and praying that the universe will award us with the good and wonderful things that make the fight worth the effort, all while we strive to create balance in our worlds?
Equilibrium
On a winter’s day with falling snow
A funeral is attended.
Mourners gaze in disbelief
And reality is suspended.
As each mourner bids goodbye
And places roses on the tomb,
Across the town a mother screams
As her baby slides from her womb
.And the universe seeks balance
As a life is taken from this earth.
But we’re given the gift of a brand-new being
As we celebrate new birth.
And so the opposites are known;
A soul has departed,
While a newborn baby cries first tears
As his new life has just started.
In a doctor’s office far away
An old man receives bad news.
He only has a few months left.
He tries to fight the blues.
Not far from there, in a quiet room,
A young man draws the shades tight.
He cannot handle life anymore,
As he gives up the fight.
And so the opposites are drawn;
One man fights so hard to live
While someone else has no more fight
As their own life they choose to give.
Across the town, a little girl celebrates
Another year that’s passed.
Her grandmother watches from her chair,
Certain it will be her last.
As that little girl makes wishes
On candles that she’s blown,
Her grandmother sits in a crowded room
But feels so alone.
And so the opposites emerge;
A child eager to turn seven
While her grandmother watches from afar
With thoughts turned up toward heaven.
And so go the parallels of life,
Or I suppose they are contrary.
The yin and yang of old and young;
The tenacious and the weary.
But the universe will seek balance
And our lives it will rearrange.
And yet that’s life, as we accept
The things we cannot change.
Just like the sun and moon
Each have their time to shine . . .
Just like the rain and rainbow
Await their turn in line . . .
Just like the pending snow
That waits patiently to fall . . .
Our lives keep on revolving
And we adapt through it all.
We seek balance in our own lives
So that sanity will prevail.
We use it to move us forward
Like the wind beneath a sail.
We ride the waves as they crash in
And bring chaos to our world.
We seek the calm and peaceful seas
When life becomes unfurled.
We grasp the stillness when we can
For we know it will not last
And soon upheaval will arrive,
Like a spell that has been cast.
We breathe in and out to quiet our nerves
Among the daily fray.
We pray for peace to swoop on in
And push the gloom away.
But this is life, the ups and downs,
The chaos and the calm.
We wait for serenity to enter
And sooth us like a balm.
But this is life, and as we know
We’re just human after all.
We know that when we lose our step
We will survive the fall.
And get back up and fight the fight
With fists and knuckles bared.
Even if admitting, just to ourselves,
That we’re feeling a bit scared.
Life goes on and keeps revolving
Without asking for consent,
As we check the time and mark the years,
And wonder where it all went.
All this time while we’re fighting
And doing the best we’re able,
The universe seeks balance
And tries to remain stable.
As we keep on moving forward
Doing the best we can,
We have to keep the faith
That the universe has a plan.
Life goes on; the sun will rise,
Then the moon will settle in.
Winter arrives; spring rains come,
And new life does begin.
A few months later, a tree releases
Its leaves so they can fall,
Preparing for the winter
While the universe smiles through it all.
As the trees release their leaves
And they float gently to the ground,
The universe sighs and settles in,
For equilibrium has been found.
And in that same small forest,
A butterfly flaps its wings,
Completely unaware
Of the consequences it brings.
While all across our world,
The opposites attract,
As the universe seeks balance
To keep our world intact.
-K.A. Bloch-
