The more I think about this poem, the more I realize that it contains some serious problems. Though I'll keep it in my archives I'll probably be deleting it from Facebook soon. I've also come to believe that its real purpose was to help me understand some things I've been thinking about.

Over the past couple of years I've written a handful of extremely esoteric poems - poems so difficult that I doubt anyone besides myself could truly understand them. I've come to think of these poems as my soliloquies (since no one else can understand them, the intended audience must be me) and to believe that their primary purpose is to help me understand my own thoughts and feelings. For me, I believe the old saying is true: "I write to find out what I think."

This particular poem is sort of a sequel to my last, even more esoteric poem. I was originally thinking that it was a rebuttal, but now I realize that it's meant to clarify and expand upon the original poem. Both poems are critical of the Stoic path that I've come to embrace, and come from that part of me that doesn't want to accept it.

You can read my original poem ("Eros and Lethe" or "Love and Oblivion") and a brief explanation of it, here.


The thing I don't like about these poems is they don't get the relationship between serenity and oblivion right, and the second one oversimplifies the relationship between apatheia and apathy. They both imply a natural progression, and while it may be natural it requires some explanation. We often accept apathy and oblivion as substitutes for apatheia and serenity because they're easier to acheive. (The problem of wanting is a difficult one.)

By the way, the quote from Oppian at the end is sort of a red herring, though it does say something about "the power of love". And "The Waters of Lethe" in the second poem represent escapist techniques (paths to oblivion) such as alcohol and drugs.

Edited 2 times by MSebring Sep 4 13 9:47 AM.