Together
We fear the other
We know what we are capable of
We tremble
Yet we fear the other
Apart
We stand uncovered
We unhid
We ever visible
Yet we fear the other
Alone
We fear each other
We cling to loneliness
We wallow in our well founded terror
We fear the other
"Remember, we are all in this alone." - Lilly Tomlin
the other .. ? my understanding of this poem is limited, i'm sorry to say. i appreciate the development of the poem, the stanza structure, the alliterations but it doesnt add up to a sum total for me.
please enlighten the ignorant!
well, maybe we should make friends with Fear and go and meet the Other... have you ever read the French philosopher and thinker Lévinas? I believe that with some effort we are able to redirect the energy we spend from Fear to... Responsibility for the Other... I know, easier said than done! thank you for your sharing.
I don't see how the "apart" bit mixes with the other two. It might just be my way of looking at things, I guess. Maybe some people see the together-apart comparison and others see together-alone. And maybe some people see both of those AND apart-alone, or something.
Lots of fear in there, and unrest. Interesting poem, especially for those thinking tribalism might be a good idea maybe.
".... meet the other FOR REAL" I meant...
Is this about one tribe fearing the other, if you want to take a literal reading?
It is about xenophobia and its manifestations that begin as a fear of the unfamiliar outside our cultural safety zone. It is a fear that does not stop there though, but progresses, for many of us, to a fear of the familiar. It is a fear driven by self understanding that becomes a fear of self. The apart stanza is about self realization and that by standing apart we are forced to see that what we fear in the other is part and parcel of what we are. My fear is that I so missed the mark on this one that it is not effective as a poem. It seemed, to me only a little point to make, perhaps you expect too much of me. I thank you for that.
"Remember, we are all in this alone." - Lilly Tomlin
Who hasn't written a poem like that.
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