Riding the Pink Elephant
I know it sounds vulgar but its not. It's a poem I read recently that I really loved.Riding the Pink Elephant
Maria Aguilar
I ride the pink elephant down / Hallowed corridors of past blasphemies
Scrawled lazily on dim walls / People accuse me in negatives
Their gawking faces like flashbulbs / Exploding in the sacreligion of the time
I ride the pink elephant / Past the huddling in the dark
Of people who whisper / At the circus of my going
Jeering, laughing, crying / At the pink, at the elephant
At the ridiculous impertinence of the act / But though they may point
And try to paint him black / I ride the pink elephant still
Down and away / Convinced in his reality of pinkness
Against the insincerity / Of crowds wallowing in pseudosanctity
Of black and white
My prof in English 11 used this poem for a poetry analysis exam. It just got to me. The poem had such an impact on me that my analysis got a grade of 1.0. :P But seriously, I'm not a fan of poetry at all, but reading this one got me wishing I could write something even half as good.
Sometimes, or even most times, we get too caught up in the idea of conformity. We want to fit in with everyone else, and we lose ourselves in the process. Incidentally, I reread Veronika Decides To Die yesterday, and the book touches on the same issue. In practically all societies, anyone who chooses to act outside the norm is considered crazy, when in reality, they are the ones who are really being true to themselves. We should all be brave enough to ride on the pink elephant.
"God didn't create a single leaf the same as another. But you think its insane to be different..." -Veronika Decides To Die, Paolo Coelho (thanks to Leo for the quote)
posted by Chrissy @ 1:40 AM
1 Comments:
good review. It so happened that I also got this poem for my exam in eng11. also got the same ideas but you've explained them well.
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