Passionate longing, that is the libido, has two aspects: It is the power that beautifies everything and in certain cases, destroys everything. C.G.Jung The entanglement of sex and death is one of the fundamental manifestations of the divine rhythm of chaos and order. Though sex and death seemingly exist in opposite banks of life, both…
Much madness is Divinest Sense
This small poem puts forth an interesting question regarding abnormal behavior. The poem is a lament about how ab'normal', defined as anything 'away from normal' becomes problematic, when normality is often majoritarian. What is normal for the spider, might be chaos for the fly. Besides, "Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but…
The Heart asks pleasure first
Echoing the Freudian will to pleasure and idea of pain avoidance, this poignant piece reflects on heart's perilous pursuit of pleasure. It chronologically or preferentially, (due to the ambiguity of the term "first") asks for pleasure, pain avoidance, methods to fight the pain, unconsciousness and finally death. It seems like a deep sorrow is embedded…
Soul wilt thou toss again?
This is a poem that opens with a problem to solve, a decision to make. It is a gamble. The gamble could be a decision between good and bad. Or perhaps, even beyond that. But is it worth the risk? Less likely. The chance for a win is quite narrow. The angels are breathless in…
Sonnet 1
The first of the "procreation sonnets" is about beauty's bounty perishing over time. Its sole antidote is procreation. Shakespeare warns the reader (and the young man) not to be consumed by narcissistic self consumption. But to indulge in procreation so as to pass along beauty, for inheritance is but a memory, and in memory lies…
Alone
Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.Carl Gustav Jung, 1933. In one of his most revealing poems, Poe reflects on the profound existential truth of being alone. There is despair…
Success is counted sweetest
From the Genesis story to Freudian ego defense mechanisms, themes of resentment and the curiosity that glorifies the unknown has been the oomph of the stories we tell. This oomph oozes out of a culture where material success is the measure of a man. Emily dissolves the same oomph into her verses. This is a…
The Snake
Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that of the being which she tends.Charles Darwin, The Origin of species. D.H. Lawrence's The Snake is a portrait of human hypocrisy and 'the morality of cowards'. It embodies the spectrum of sentiments, ranging from that of the cavemen, hunters and gatherers to those of…
Our share of night to bear
This is a poem of radical acceptance. The poet opens before the reader the intricate interplay of fatalistic determinism and freewill, a tug of war that stretches till date in Philosophy and Behavioral Sciences, by revealing how we all will have our share of good times and bad, and how we have blank pages to…
Still I rise
It is a stark irony that all beautiful things in this world coexist with malicious evil in a paradoxical harmony. This remarkable, timeless classic is often reprinted when we have blood in our hands, that refuses to go away, even with sanitizer. This poem is written with ink distilled from blood, from pain and suffering…
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