The familir and the strange

[PrinceMyshkin]

The familiar and the strange


Nothing is so strange in the end,
perhaps, as that which we call the “familiar:”
this path, these thoughts, these
several recursive thoughts in particular:
that tic in the mind, the illusion
of time passing or the illusion
of time standing still.

[everyadventure]

This has led me to a bit of pondering. We don't give a second thought to our long-established habits or beliefs. It's simply how we do things, always. If you stop to consider WHY, it does indeed become strange...

[AuntShecky]

A bit of zen Buddhism, then?

Your epigrammatic verse reminded me of something I learned the other day: that there is an opposite of déjà vu. The phenomenon is called jamais vu in which the person has a false sense of never before seeing or experiencing something which which he is totally familiar.

[everyadventure]

The phenomenon is called jamais vu in which the person has a false sense of never before seeing or experiencing something which which he is totally familiar.

Wow, I'm totally intrigued by that concept...

[blank|verse]

Thought-provoking as always, Prince, but the poem leaves me slightly unsatisfied. I think this is because it stays in the realm of the abstract; for me a specific illustration that can be 'felt on the pulses' wouldn't go amiss.

Of course, it's said of poetry as a whole that it can make the familiar unfamiliar through the strength of metaphor and making us see the word differently.

[Delta40]

Having epilepsy I have this experience often. The sense of knowing so well the familiar more than anyone and knowledge of strange concepts never discussed, which are impossible to articulate. I like the feeling here of a well worn path Prince. Your writing always demands more than one reading.

[Jerrybaldy]

it all becomes stranger with each passing day dear Prince and as with each passing day it all becomes more familiar then the familiar becomes all the more strange.
Jerry#2

[Bar22do]

It's your involvement with time dimension again, in an original perspective, as yours often are, though to me perhaps lacking a lyric tone a bit. But your signature is definite here. Thanks for sharing. Best from Bar

[deryk]

This poem has a really excellent effect that subverts our conscious upkeep much in the same way that autonomic breathing is halted when someone draws our attention to it. It's almost like you've codified poetry into a spinal reflex -or some kind of biofeedback, maybe. It's proof that some thoughts are inescapable. Very cool.

[MorpheusSandman]

Like B|V this piece also brought to mind the nature of poetry and its ability--indeed, often purpose--to allow us to see in the familiar and ordinary something alien and extraordinary. I think our minds' desire for stability is what naturally leads to this attempt at familiarizing everything we encounter, as well as the often hostile reaction to that which is unfamiliar. After all, the unfamiliar potentially poses a threat to our lives and stability.

I don't know if this is one of my favorites from you, Prince, but as always it provides food for thought and I do appreciate some of the subtle poetic touches. Your pieces are always a textbook on how to think about punctuation and line breaks. I especially appreciate how the forceful assurance of the first line is immediately destabilized by the "perhaps" that opens the second line, although I might have preferred "probably" there, since probability is, indeed, the mathematical language of the unknown (if not necessarily the unfamiliar). I also like how the grammatical repetition of the last two and a half lines seem to echo that recursiveness, as well as allowing us to linger on the concepts of illusion, time, and illusive time.