Fool’s Paradise
The words from fools surround us all—
they’re siren calls that can entice
our base desires, and thus we fall
into a world imbued with vice.
Like paradise, it can appear,
until your coveted career
or family ends up destroyed,
due to falling into the void.
Ego Death
My ego wants to be revered,
to be adored by all my peers,
because I don’t want to be jeered—
it is much better to hear cheers.
These fears are insecurity
and lack of a maturity.
My aim should be to please my soul,
the sole response I can control.
Paul Millan currently resides in Glendora, California. His work has appeared on Lighten-Up Online, and will appear in Westward Quarterly.
These two trenchant poems are concise warning lessons about character. The first one accentuates the point that we not only need to be wary of the bright lights, but also shows the effects on those around us. The second poem about the ego with the statement what should please the “soul” and that the “sole” responsibility is on one’s shoulders is well taken.
Thanks Roy for your insightful commentary. And thank you for taking the time to read my poetry.
Two excellent little poems on the widespread problem of being “other-directed.”
When you are “other-directed” (the term is from David Riesman), your actions and beliefs are dictated by what you think those around you want. You are desperate for their good opinion, you want their praise, you follow their prejudices, and you never disagree with them. Think of the current meme that shows a rigid android face saying “I support the current thing.”
The “inner-directed” person has his own ideas, and makes his own decisions, and isn’t particularly interested in what others think. He’ll listen to other people’s opinions, but he’s prepared not to give a shit about them.
Thanks for taking the time to read my poems, Dr. Salemi.
I have been a prey to this type of thinking that led me to do actions I couldn’t reverse, which in a sense inspired my first poem.
So, now I am trying to be a better listener to the inner workings of my soul. Which dips into the second poem, and that art I want to do might not attract widespread acclaim.
“Fool’s Paradise” has subtle similarities echoing events in the Odyssey, but comes up to current reality with concerns about career and family. Nice way of using the classic in a wisecrack evaluating siren song. “Ego Death” offers a good description of what needs to happen when there is “sole concern for the soul.” Good thinking on that title!
Margaret, thanks for taking the time to read my poems.
If only I had tied myself to a mast before hearing certain siren calls that altered my life. So, the poem acts as a modern warning, indeed.
Thanks for your commentary. Again, thanks for reading.
Here we see some nice jabs at conventional conceptions of reality, but the author is short on viable solutions. Perhaps that is what living in California does to a potentially productive mind. Get out while you can.
C.B. Thanks for taking the time to read my poems.
I was hoping in the first poem the warning/solution was somewhat implicit by referencing sirens and one should tie themselves to a mast or otherwise they’d fall into the void.
For the second one, listening to one’s soul and not worrying about the ego’s demands and others was what I was hoping to imply with the last two lines.
Again, thanks for reading, and for your commentary.
Two poetic bundles of philosophy and good advice.
Thanks for the reads Paul.
Paul, thank you for taking the time to read, and commenting on my poems.