A message hangs in the afternoon air

[PrinceMyshkin]

A message hangs
in the afternoon air:
Go here. Go there.


The travellers, on their way
to or from work, social
engagements, shopping,

do not read the message
but they know, or some of them do,
that it is there.

[firefangled]

I can see reading this that the message is ominous, but I want there to be a hint about it. I ask, go where?

Part of me wants to think the here and there are wherever each individual happens to be going, but that suggestion isn't strong enough for me to buy into it. You might be better off leaving "Go here. Go there" out. I would suggest in that case at given the reader something tangible that may or may not be the message.

There is good mystery living in this, but what it is must not escape us entirely or there is no payoff.

Thanks, Prince. It is good to be back. :smile5:

[Fegger]

Hmmm, I rather liked the 'Go here. Go there' as it played well with the passivity of the voice. The notion that the message 'hangs' or is suspended or innocuous is also supported by narrator's own distance from this observation...in my humble opinion.

[Hawkman]

Hi Prince,

I'm inclined to agree with ff's analysis. Curiously, the repeated, "Go there" conjoured two peculiaar references in my head. The first was the oft quoted phrase, "Go West, young man" and the other is Kipling's "The Explorer", with these famous lines:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --
Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and wating for you. Go!"

Live long and prosper, H

[hillwalker]

This made me think of the instinctive migrations of birds and other creatures guided by some unknown natural force to follow one path rather than another. Perhaps there is indeed some subliminal signpost driving us on our chosen paths.

If there is, trust Prince to have found it.....

H

[Haunted]

Tremendous insight delivered so economically. I do believe that most "travelers" have a sense of direction and know when and where. That's both humans and animals.

[AuntShecky]

Within the beautifully subtle short verse, there is a distinctive element of truth: how our errands and seemingly important concerns of the workaday world keep us from "hearing" a more important message.

Well done.

[Jerrybaldy]

Just to add to the mix Prince I read it as subliminal advertising :)
This has your signature all over it Prince.
Triffic.
JerryB

[Delta40]

I'm inclined to think we are being exposed as animals unaware of our instinct to go here and go there in a bid to survive. Instead, we frame our motion as if we are not tied to the seasons, the earth's gravity or the drive to reproduce....

Watched Great Migrations yesterday...

[PrinceMyshkin]

Thank you all. I'm delighted at the variety of interpretations this invoked. There was no conscious a priori intention guiding the writing of this, but in my own reading of it, the message can be understood in either of 2 ways:

1) It is useless as a clear indicator. One cannot at the same time go "here" and "there," but it might be resolved into our society's arch, subliminal message: Be busy. Go - for the sake of going or
2) Each "traveller" can choose the part of the message that better suits her or him.

The "travellers" was a key choice for me, with maybe an unconscious echo of Pilgrim's Progress. They do not read the message because it is so deeply ingrained in them, but some - the more deeply aware, the more removed from the daily hustle-bustle, are aware of it.

[blank|verse]

Hi Prince,

Thought-provoking as always. Don't go changing.

I have to say though that sometimes I get more out of people's responses to your poems than the poems themselves. Perhaps this is a testament to the poetry, but I think I would like more from the poet than the reader. It's a great opening image, but for me, the poem just fizzles out a bit.

Like this response. :smilewinkgrin:

[yuka]

like this.
little is the poem
great is the meaning

[kittypaws]

Prince....this reminded me of what I say with enthusiasm every mornin' as my dog Zeus and I head out for our walk..."Let's go see what there is to see!” to look for something to investigate, to break the mold so many fall into. "Go here....Go there!"

I enjoyed this poem!

kittypaws

[qimissung]

Those who are in touch with themselves know. And which are we?

Good one Prince, to pause and ponder...

[PrinceMyshkin]

Thanks Blank|Verse. Yuka, KittyPaws and

Those who are in touch with themselves know. And which are we?

Good one Prince, to pause and ponder...

I guess your question marks you as one who doesn't know! But that makes two of us.

[Silas Thorne]

I've read this many times now. While I admire the way you put the words down, I feel this one is a bit too open and sparse. The 'here' or 'there' says whatever you want it to mean. The only clue, perhaps, is the line 'that it is there'. But what is there? Give us a clue.

I was reminded of this from Dr. Seuss:

From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things are everywhere.

Dr. Seuss in his book 'One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish' at least tells us what the 'funny things' are.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I'm pleased with your appreciation of how I put the words down, which is something I get pleasure from.


I've read this many times now. While I admire the way you put the words down, I feel this one is a bit too open and sparse. The 'here' or 'there' says whatever you want it to mean. The only clue, perhaps, is the line 'that it is there'. But what is there? Give us a clue.

I was reminded of this from Dr. Seuss:

From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things are everywhere.

Dr. Seuss in his book 'One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish' at least tells us what the 'funny things' are.

As to the meaning of it: first, it came to me as some of my poems do, as a sort of Delphic messages. But as for the message alluded to in the poem, I want to say that not all messages are necessarily benign, or even coherent.

Here, for instance, this one announces a degree of incoherence or logical faultiness right from the start, as one cannot "Go here." One is either already here or one might be summoned here. If coherence is to be derived from this message, it would be Busy yourself. Go hither and yon, without any other purpose... Hence I refer to "travellers" rather than to people in general. They don't read the message because they don't need to: the socio-economic system has already embedded it deep within their DNA. Some, however, are aware that the message is there, and therefore have some prospect of resisting or deviating from it.

[_Shannon_]

ooohhh...firefangled is back!

Not that my first devotion isn't to you, my Prince.