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Oct. 24th, 2007 01:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thelostmaximoffI haven't posted anything personal in a while but some things have occurred and I felt the need to do this. This piece is based on the poem "Howl" which was written by Allen Ginsberg. I don't normally get down with the beat poets but I do like the idea behind "Howl" even if I only understand about half of the actual poem. Enjoy.
Howling
He has seen the best minds of his generation. He has seen them at their greatest heights and their lowest depths. He has heard their laughter and has seen their tears. He has watched as life picks them up and throws them down like a demented rollercoaster that dares them to just hang on while it whips them maniacally through bends and bumps. He has seen those minds turn so ugly and sour, turn to dark thoughts that flit through them in the quiet hours of the night when all is still and calm and there is nothing to do but hear your own thoughts magnified and made manifest into voice. He has seen them through all their various stages from depression to anger to psychosis.
He has seen the best minds of his generation fall victim to themselves. He has seen those minds become warped and twisted, polluted and corrupted with paranoia and an unending sense of self-loathing that no amount of therapy can fix. He has seen these minds turn sour and dark and then revel in it because dark is the new trend these days. Isn’t it a truly mad world we live in when being mentally unbalanced is considered a fashionable state of mind? He has seen these minds tie themselves up into pretzels, so twisted and contorted that they no longer resemble anything normal and strangely enough don’t want to anymore. He has seen these minds fold in on themselves, collapsing and imploding like dying stars as one by one they wink out of existence. The brighter the mind, the hotter and quicker it burns. He knows all about burning, knows all about the fire and passion that threaten to consume a man’s soul. He has seen minds who cannot withstand this fire, minds that lose themselves to this all-consuming lust and let it take them down into the abyss.
He has seen the best minds of his generation poison themselves. They guzzle it, shoot it, snort it, smoke it, and pop it. He has seen minds so lit on fire by poison that he can almost hear the crackling of synapses as they hiss and pop while shorting out. He has seen minds so mired in the numbing and stupefying effects of these poisons that they lose all desire, all feeling, everything. He has watched minds go numb from all manner of toxic substances and watched the keepers of those minds sway and stumble in fits of spastic ecstasy before finally surrendering themselves to the void and the deathly solitude it holds. He knows about addiction, knows about poisoning yourself without regard for the mind you carry inside you, the mind that could very well offer salvation to the world if only it could just save itself first.
He has seen the best minds of his generation grow paranoid and angry. In tantrums of rage and fits of madness, they have brought destruction to themselves and to those unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire. He has seen minds clouded in the thick, hazy fog of pure, unadulterated rage. He knows a little something about rage too, knows how easy it is to lose yourself in the internal fire it creates. It’s easy to be angry. It’s easy to be depressed. It’s easy to lose yourself in the fire and block out any and all reason, barricading yourself in a shell as if you were some strange new species of turtle. There is clarity in madness and sanity in losing your grip. He has seen such perverted and twisted truths and seen what becomes of the minds that hold fast to these creeds, those that live by these swords and all too easily die by them as well.
He has seen the best minds of his generation become dull and lacking. He has seen them wither and die, whatever promise they once held snuffed out like a candle. He knows something about being unmotivated because it’s hard to care about a world that seems to blatantly not care about you. He’s seen minds content to wallow in laziness, minds that simply turn off from lack of use until they become old and withered away.
He’s seen disillusionment and rage. He’s seen addiction and depression. He’s seen people who put their faith in God, drugs, relationships, themselves, and sometimes absolutely nothing at all. He’s seen the best minds of his generation walk a tightrope and fall off one by one until he’s not sure how many of them are left to make it to the other side. He can feel the pressure on his shoulders, the pressure to succeed where others have failed because he wants to prove all of them wrong. He’s seen the best minds of his generation scrap and claw and fight to regain their dignity because the world won’t let them have it without a fight. The world wants them to believe in nothing, wants to smother them in the comforting blanket of nihilism so it can go back to reassuring itself that what has happened to his generation isn’t its fault.
He has seen the best minds of his generation fall to their knees and howl into the night, cursing at the darkness and the world for what has become of them. He has stood there with tears in his eyes as he watches another human being simply self-destruct. He has seen the best minds of his generation fall into the pit and he has done only one simple thing. He has made his promises and his oaths. He has seen the best minds of his generation fail but he’s not going down with them, not without a fight.
Howling
He has seen the best minds of his generation. He has seen them at their greatest heights and their lowest depths. He has heard their laughter and has seen their tears. He has watched as life picks them up and throws them down like a demented rollercoaster that dares them to just hang on while it whips them maniacally through bends and bumps. He has seen those minds turn so ugly and sour, turn to dark thoughts that flit through them in the quiet hours of the night when all is still and calm and there is nothing to do but hear your own thoughts magnified and made manifest into voice. He has seen them through all their various stages from depression to anger to psychosis.
He has seen the best minds of his generation fall victim to themselves. He has seen those minds become warped and twisted, polluted and corrupted with paranoia and an unending sense of self-loathing that no amount of therapy can fix. He has seen these minds turn sour and dark and then revel in it because dark is the new trend these days. Isn’t it a truly mad world we live in when being mentally unbalanced is considered a fashionable state of mind? He has seen these minds tie themselves up into pretzels, so twisted and contorted that they no longer resemble anything normal and strangely enough don’t want to anymore. He has seen these minds fold in on themselves, collapsing and imploding like dying stars as one by one they wink out of existence. The brighter the mind, the hotter and quicker it burns. He knows all about burning, knows all about the fire and passion that threaten to consume a man’s soul. He has seen minds who cannot withstand this fire, minds that lose themselves to this all-consuming lust and let it take them down into the abyss.
He has seen the best minds of his generation poison themselves. They guzzle it, shoot it, snort it, smoke it, and pop it. He has seen minds so lit on fire by poison that he can almost hear the crackling of synapses as they hiss and pop while shorting out. He has seen minds so mired in the numbing and stupefying effects of these poisons that they lose all desire, all feeling, everything. He has watched minds go numb from all manner of toxic substances and watched the keepers of those minds sway and stumble in fits of spastic ecstasy before finally surrendering themselves to the void and the deathly solitude it holds. He knows about addiction, knows about poisoning yourself without regard for the mind you carry inside you, the mind that could very well offer salvation to the world if only it could just save itself first.
He has seen the best minds of his generation grow paranoid and angry. In tantrums of rage and fits of madness, they have brought destruction to themselves and to those unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire. He has seen minds clouded in the thick, hazy fog of pure, unadulterated rage. He knows a little something about rage too, knows how easy it is to lose yourself in the internal fire it creates. It’s easy to be angry. It’s easy to be depressed. It’s easy to lose yourself in the fire and block out any and all reason, barricading yourself in a shell as if you were some strange new species of turtle. There is clarity in madness and sanity in losing your grip. He has seen such perverted and twisted truths and seen what becomes of the minds that hold fast to these creeds, those that live by these swords and all too easily die by them as well.
He has seen the best minds of his generation become dull and lacking. He has seen them wither and die, whatever promise they once held snuffed out like a candle. He knows something about being unmotivated because it’s hard to care about a world that seems to blatantly not care about you. He’s seen minds content to wallow in laziness, minds that simply turn off from lack of use until they become old and withered away.
He’s seen disillusionment and rage. He’s seen addiction and depression. He’s seen people who put their faith in God, drugs, relationships, themselves, and sometimes absolutely nothing at all. He’s seen the best minds of his generation walk a tightrope and fall off one by one until he’s not sure how many of them are left to make it to the other side. He can feel the pressure on his shoulders, the pressure to succeed where others have failed because he wants to prove all of them wrong. He’s seen the best minds of his generation scrap and claw and fight to regain their dignity because the world won’t let them have it without a fight. The world wants them to believe in nothing, wants to smother them in the comforting blanket of nihilism so it can go back to reassuring itself that what has happened to his generation isn’t its fault.
He has seen the best minds of his generation fall to their knees and howl into the night, cursing at the darkness and the world for what has become of them. He has stood there with tears in his eyes as he watches another human being simply self-destruct. He has seen the best minds of his generation fall into the pit and he has done only one simple thing. He has made his promises and his oaths. He has seen the best minds of his generation fail but he’s not going down with them, not without a fight.
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Date: 2007-10-24 03:27 pm (UTC)Anyway, you use very good pictures to bring to life the ideals you are talking about. The idea of the tightrope was especially visceral for me, as I've seen a couple of minds from my own generation walking along one of those. Thanks for sharing, and hope you don't mind a comment from a stranger :).