 |
{remembering Micah, a boy on the
schoolyard—and a ring of onlookers, and paramedics}
|
The last time I died,
on the playground, they'd said,
“Don't worry, little warrior, it's
all in
your head.” - -- --- ----
------
It sure was: all the pavement,
the loose stones and dust
were crumble-caked
into my scalp...
“If you'd just
lift you're head,
we'll support you.”
Your support never ends.
I'd wanted to be netless,
surrounded by friends
and pulled wide by
g-forces, spinning
at my center.
And I did:
half a back-
flip (before
the ground
entered).
I’m commenting on this poem because I don’t completely understand it yet. I understand the external meaning: a kid does half a backflip, lands on his head, adults come over and tell him he’s gonna be okay. However, I sense an interesting complexity within the kid’s internal responses to the adults. It seems to me that the kid almost wanted to get hurt, or at least felt okay with that possibility, when he decided to do the flip. Perhaps the poem is trying to say that in order to truly live and experience life, one must simply go for what they want, and be okay with whatever consequences may arise. If you end up landing on your head, or if you fail, then that’s okay. You’ll still be glad you tried. The times when we take risks and step out of our comfort zones are when we truly feel a sense of life, spinning in the air.
ReplyDelete(Nick Cerofeci, Zeoli)
Well-read.
DeleteFrom what I have interpreted, the boy in the schoolyard wants to injure himself. He loves the idea that there are people there to give him attention and care for him, so he injures himself to receive their attention. It is common for younger children to go to extremes to receive attention from their friends or parents, and the speaker’s experience here is a perfect example of that. I really like a lot of the imagery here, especially the rocks from the pavement “crumble-caked” into his head. Thinking about rocks and dirt embedded in my head gives me the chills and the word choice to present the image makes it all the more vivid. The image is so vivid that just reading that made me wince at the thought of sustaining such an injury. This emphasizes the boy’s desire to be supported by those around him because he is willing to go through so much pain to have it. Another interesting idea is that the boy attempting the backflip, failing, and being helped by those around him illustrates that people should push themselves and take risks in their lives. Although we will fail more often than not, there will always be people there to help us back on our feet to continue pushing ourselves. This is a very positive message about pursuing one’s goals that I can really connect with. Sometimes I feel that I must do things on my own and I forget that it is okay to ask for help, and this poem reminds me of that fact.
ReplyDelete-Jack Dalton