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I use them to improve my mood:
the chemistry in my attitude,
the octane of my gasoline,
the assets for my GDP.
Vitamins. And supplements.
Herbs and antioxidants.
Gingko, zinc, selenium,
niacin, garlic, cinnamon.
For energy. And restfulness,
immunity, bright skin, milky breasts:
Fish oil, dill, magnesium,
ginger, glucosamine, calcium.
And of course, there's always
the thing that gurus miss (
between bullets in
their dietary list):
they forget (they should take
ginseng, I think) to write it,
but usually add “find yourself a
hot girl” somewhere in the photo
beside it.
*Thanks, Heather (Dr. Oz's not-too-crazy detox) for helping to make this collage full.
ReplyDeleteOn a little date with yesterday – she said she was having trouble getting to sleep sometimes at night, thought maybe it was the vitamins she was taking to bump her energy.
“Trouble getting to sleep.” I said, “Me, too,” looking at her, thinking maybe my sleeplessness came because of a supplement I was missing
– 11 April 2013
I interpreted this poem as an exploration of the perception of cause and effect. Your first three stanzas present the idea with vitamins and supplements; that if you take this, you will get these results. These vitamins will help with this and those with that. I specifically see this in the third stanza with the use of the colon to state that, to achieve the list of qualities you desire, these (the vitamins listed afterwards) must be taken. This is the common perception of cause and effect. I also see a connection to this in the rhyme scheme of the first three stanzas. The aabb pattern shows the anticipated cause and effect and its fulfillment, since b directly follows a. But the shift in the rhyme scheme after the third stanza, to the abcb pattern, shows the unfulfilled cause and effect, that the anticipated aabb pattern is no longer the case and there is no clear, clean "point a to point b" movement. The rhyme pattern of the last two stanzas also matches the meaning of the stanzas. The "thing" that the health gurus, the people who ensure and advocate the cause and effect of vitamins or other health supplements, miss is that cause and effect is not completely accurate. That doing this, whatever "this" may be, to get the girl, may not work. In summary, although cause and effect of some things may be accurate, the idea of it is not always applicable. Not everything has a "this then that" pattern, so maybe we should stop looking for direct causation for every effect because there may be some lurking variables that need to be taken into account. Anyway, that is how I interpreted it. Thank you for the poetry. -Emily M
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really thinking that meaningfully about the rhyme scheme: just slowing the pace down as the poem cruised to a more meditative conclusion -- yeah, you can take a lot of vitamins and minerals to improve your life, but in the end, it's not going to bring you happiness (that comes from your human supplements; your friends, lovers, and kin).
DeleteI think this poem’s theme is similar to that of “Living Funeral.” We rely too heavily on something artificial to fix perceived imperfections. Instead of going to the beach we get a spray tan, we eat supplements rather than eat a salad, we take two pills we bought from the guy in the alley instead of seeing a movie with our friends because that’s what “having a good time” is all about. And the icing on the cake? A photo of a hot girl clinging to a buff guy on the front of the single-serving package, taunting us with what we know we can never attain, yet still offering us a shortcut to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteWell-observed.
DeleteGlad you clicked on "Seizenso" ... it's one of my faves for being on-the-nose about its message (which is, as you essentially described it, "stop beating around the bush").
I interpreted this poem to be a criticism of how we as a society depend too much only supplements and additives that are man-made to help fix what society tells us is not good. I find it fascinating how whenever we as humans have the slightest discomfort we determine that something is wrong with our bodies and we need to go buy some product for instant gratification. We can’t seem to accept that it is natural to not feel perfect one hundred percent of the time and that it is natural to be flawed. I also believe that we look too much to artificial alternatives for help and like the poem implies, assistance can be found in natural comforts such as relationships. It might not seem possible but simple human compassion can be all one needs to truly feel better both physically and mentally. Its things like that that you can't get out of a bottle.
ReplyDelete