Senate of Soil

"Mere anarchy"

It's a line that stays with me quite frequently

In melancholy daydreams

It's from one of those classic poems

Did you know that?

One of those you read in English class

Gives you a small taste of what it is to improve your mind

It's a famous poem for sure

We use it a lot, and we all know it

A lot of people quote the memorable parts of it though

Things like "the center cannot hold" or "things fall apart"

But for some reason, whenever someone talks about that poem

I think of "mere anarchy"

Such a strange turn of phrase

In the middle of grand foretelling of destruction

He stops and dots on the poor collapse of our governments

Like our rotted congressman decided enough was enough

They were done pretending they had sway over the human soul

So they went home, and sat with their husked families

Objects of material wealth, trying to match with this new love

In his tale of the omnipresent quake of destruction,

rapturing through our soil and bones

He breaks pace in mellow dramatics, and tells us quite frankly

That our governments aren't so important

Ideals like freedom or war torn people

Aren't so confined to what we give them so

There are no great prose subjects on this line

It's a small footnote in a classic of notable time and diction

And I don't expect my words should delve into the meaning of that phrase

I'm most likely projecting onto that small, insignificant phrase

But it's a favorite of mine either way

That's what's most important after all

What it matters to you

Writing has no meaning if it does not speak to you, poetry is no different

Even if we rhyme our words like buffoons

Reviews

[Brent]

People who read poetry try to find some kind of meaning that they relate to. It's only natural for humans to see themselves in a story or poem. You touch on the important fact that people can pluck a certain line from a piece of writing and claim that's the entire meaning. Your poem shows how each person interprets writing differently, depending on their experience.