puzzled
This poem explores the themes of an Introductory Philosophy class and the puzzling questions that life throws our way. The comforting thing in asking so many questions is that if you ask enough, you can claim it's a rhetorical choice rather than a representation of uncertainty. In this piece, I use juxtaposition and rhetorical questions to construct my own understanding of the world. There are many things to consider when looking at the world as one for one, but by trying to make things cancel one another out, you erase the opportunity for wonder, beauty, and hope.
Poetry
Khloe Kennedy Fourth Year, English Major
puzzled
In Intro to Philosophy
my professor declared the purpose of the class
with a thick white underline streaked across the blackboard.
who uses chalk anymore?
humans: good or bad?
I cannot understand for the life of me
why some man from the midwest is qualified
to teach logic and ethics to unamused 20 year olds at 8am.
but here he stands, musing
marx and skinner, plato and nietsche
weighing good and bad on a scale
as if you could ever compare the lowest of humanity's actions
to gods greatest creations,
like puzzles.
you cannot put war and hate opposite
Christmas lights and communal activism and claim
the scales are "balanced"
- balance.
what a load of horseshit.
if there were only ever balance
then i wouldn't have met my therapist
or my abuser, but that's semantics
I've been thinking a lot these days
Wondering why I am what I am.
Curious why I am cloaked in anger
but quick to cry at the love I see in others.
I've never quite been capable of holding it together.
If the world has taught me anything -
good and bad aren't real,
They're just catch-alls for
scaring children, and voters.
Which is somehow both hopeless and comforting,
like watching a Hallmark movie,
right after a breakup.
And if good and bad aren't real
then how can I be?
How can I exist in a space without one-or-the-other meaning?
I guess I'll never know - I dropped Intro to Philosophy.