Experiment 2: Poetry
Proposal
For this second experiment, I am planning to write a narrative poem. This piece, as is the original piece, is intended for adolescent audiences. The original piece was a compare-and-contrast essay in which I concluded it was okay to be dependent and independent at the same time. These two behaviors were not exclusive from each other. I came to this conclusion by comparing human behaviors to that of cat. Cats seemed to exhibit both traits when they could depend on their humans for food, shelter or company and independent of their owners due to their aloof and indifferent nature. For the purpose of this experiment, I would like to call this phenomenon “binary of interdependence.” Since the original piece tackled such abstract idea and presented it in a formally structured essay, now I want to take this idea and present it using poetry abstractions. By writing poetry, I can utilize figures of speech such as simile and metaphor to better illustrate the binary of interdependence. Especially when having a cat as a character, poetry could help make this character feels closer, more imaginable and acceptable than if it were to be written as an essay. I plan to include a cat’s voice and a human’s voice in the poetry as if they are conversing with each other. So, making this conversation in the form of poetry will help my audience understands cat’s behavior of interdependence and then be able to adopt this behavior as their own. What I hope to achieve from this transformation is to take my original argument and explain it using prose and narration. In doing so, I am looking forward to experiment how flexible the idea can be molded and shaped into different purposes.
Sample
Atticus and I Have a Talk
Fifteen long days long gone,
No mews nor calls,
Hope he’ll be here next dawn,
The beginning of all recalls.
Weird as he is, hungry as he is
I put fishes kibbles and dishes
None that he takes or maybe he’s moody
Instead he finds a cockroach that he squishes.
Fifteen long hours long rain
He looks at me with uninterested look
Asking and questioning ‘are you still sane’
then runs away to his nook.
Next dawn comes as Spring
He’s finally back on the sixteenth
Onto my foot he clings
Thus ends his other retreat.
Weird as he is, funny as he is
He always seems to know
when to stay
or when to go.