POETRY PUB 5

Poetry is a way of expressing your feelings about almost anything. It is meant to be read and displayed as an impactful piece that signifies some type of feeling. To me, poems revolving around love and life happen to be the most inspiring and challenging poems to understand. Once you’re able to dissect what a poem is telling you, it finally hits you and out of nowhere you’re finally able to relate in some way. Poems in many forms are much like songs, both pieces hold similarities between each other whether it be through meaning or formatting. For example “Identity’ by Julio Polanco and “POW” by Alicia Keys are similar to “Not Afraid” by Eminem. All the three poems refer to the idea of society wanting to bring them down and wanting them to live under society

In “Identity” we see that it is about wanting to stand out from a crowd even if that means being the odd one out. For example the last stanza “I'd rather smell of musty, green stench than of sweet, fragrant lilac. If I could stand alone, strong and free, I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.”

In this last stanza we see that Julio is saying that he does not matter if he looks bad and stands out if he decides to stand out alone. Nowadays in society we have gotten so used to seeing people wanting to be cool and move with big groups of people that we forget to remember who we are. If someone is not down with the ‘cool kids’ they’re often looked at as the weird kids, or the kid that is this and that when in reality the odd one out is always the smarter and much brighter person.

            If we take a look at POW by Alicia Keys we see her say a few important lines right off the bat. She says “POW. That’s what I am Not a prisoner of war A prisoner of words Mostly I say what you wanna hear Could you take it if I came clear Or would you rather just see me Stoned on a drug of complacency and compromise”. At first when reading this it may seem unclear as of how this relates to “Identity”. The reason this poem is like “Identity” is because we see the idea of listening to another individual. For example, in “Identity” if you spoke out you were looked at as the odd one out because you weren’t fitting in; or in other words you weren’t listening to society. In “POW” it’s the opposite way of explaining it but the meaning is definitely the same because when she says, “Could you take it if I came clear, Or would you rather just see me Stoned on a drug of complacency”. If she was to come clear of what she wanted to say then she would be the “tall, ugly weed” but if she didn’t she would be drugged out and not be able to speak for herself.  

We see both poems have a relationship in the idea of speaking up for what you believe in. In “Identity” speaking up is there and in “POW” we get to see what happens if you don’t. Eminem is by far one of the best rappers ever; his music always has a significant meaning to it. In “Not Afraid” he raps about speaking up and talking back. For example “I don't give a damn what you think, I'm doin' this for me, so f*** the world, feed it beans, It's gassed up, if it thinks it's stoppin' me, I'mma be what I set out to be, without a doubt undoubtedly, And all those who look down on me, I'm tearin' down your balcony”. In these lines we are able to see that Eminem is tired of living under the shadow of society and being apart of this group of people who do things just to fit in. He has done that for quite some time and he is finally realizing that it is time for him to break free with his words and stand up even if it means being a “tall, ugly weed”.

This has a direct correlation to “Identity” and “POW” because both poems talk about life and how society is  and/or wants them to live in a specific way. In “Identity” we also see the lines “Than to be a pleasant-smelling flower, growing in clusters in the fertile valley”. In “Not Afraid” we the see the line “So starting today, I’m breaking out of this cage” Growing in the clusters in a fertile valley and breaking out of this cage both signify leaving their surrounding where they have been suppressed. We see this similarity in “POW” as well. “But the bars of steel are of my making, They surround my mind and have me shaking”. All three works of art relate around the idea of breaking free.

Poetry is a rare form and only a few have been able to master it. It is the way of life for many people because they have no other way of letting their feelings out. Poems turn into songs which turn into relief that other people use as a painkiller. Listed above are three pieces of art that talk about the idea of being prisoners of some sort of oppression and wanting to break free. “Identity” talks about how it feels to be free and be the odd one out, “POW” talks about what it fees like to be a prisoner of words and not having a voice which is a metaphor of being locked away, and “Not Afraid” is a song where we gain the strength and courage to stand up against the ones that have kept us knocked down for so long.