Exhausted (Prose Poem)

Everybody’s walking on glass. Thick-hard glass. Glass so thick you could never even tell it was there. We walk, on and on and on, till we can barely tell were walking anymore. Why do we walk?

Cause they said so.

We listen to them. Listen hard and good. Listen cause they said too, but not because we want to hear. We hear words. Pointless, dirty words. Money, greed, fast, now, him, her, me. How can a dictionary print thousands of words in black and white, but the only one we see are the bright red “yes” and the yellow “more”. It feels like it’s all we know anymore.

As we mature, we start to run. We run on the thick-hard glass. Glass so thick you could never even tell it was there. Run fast, hard and long, or they’ll pass us and they’ll leave us behind. “Catch up or get lost” they’ll say. If you can’t hang with the best, then you’re just not worth it.

Our legs are growing tired now, we’re running out of time. Slowly but surely running out of time. They always told us we had all the time in the World. Who knew the world was so small? We try to sit but our legs are stiff. Stiff from years of running. Running because they said so.

For the first time, we can start to see ourselves in the glass. The thick-hard glass. Glass so thick you could never even tell it was there. We look tired. Legs shaking and ears aching, can’t we just stop running? There’s going to come a point where we become tired of walking and tired of running, tired of listening and tired of trying. Our legs will collapse and so will the glass. The thick-hard glass.


-Kailee Phillips

Ode To The West Wind

Click Here to Open Poem

Another classic, "Ode To The West Wind", is yet another complex piece of art created (1820) by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This poem is broken down into five different parts, each containing five stanzas. In Part One, Shelley introduces the wind, calling it "thou breath of Autumn's being". As I continued reading through Part One, I found myself reading a certain line again and again. Shelley calls the wind the "destroyer and preserver", making the wind obtain a very contradictory meaning. Shelley labels the wind a destroyer, because its harsh, swift movement. The wind can destroy the most complex of things, yet do it in one of the simplest gestures imaginable. In this case, the writer is referring to the sweeping away of dying leaves from their home on the trees. As the leaves are whisked away, they eventually find the cushion of the ground. Though the leaves may not be alive enough to continue on the tree, they are able to sustain life to the ground. The leaves may decompose, leaving new soil for life to flourish in or may deposit a seed, granting a chance for new life. With the destroying of the leaves from the trees, comes the preserving of new found life. As the reader moves into Part Two, Shelley compares the clouds to the falling leaves. This comparison allows the reader to understand just how untamed the clouds are, along with the leaves. (Note: Shelley likely included this comparison, to show yet another object the wind has control over.) Part Three goes on to explain in depth the effects that the wind has on water, specifically the Mediterranean. In Part Four, the subject of the poem shifts to the narrator, and is no longer focusing on the wind. As I read through Part Four, I could not help but feel that the narrator was unhappy with his life. He asks the wind to make him a leaf or a cloud. Both of the objects both mentioned were portrayed earlier in the poem to be wild and untamed. The last line of the section ends with the narrator asking for death by saying "I fall upon the thorns of life. I bleed!" As you progress towards the last and final section, the narrator is no longer asking to be with the wind but demanding to do so. Shelley makes this clear in line 57, where he says "make my thy lyre" (a stringed Greek musical instrument.) Shelly ends the poem with the line, "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" This line not only signifies the changing of seasons, but solidifies my thought that with death of one thing comes new life to another.

- Kailee Phillips

Shelley's Early Life

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792, the sixth of six children to a prominent and wealthy English family. Growing up, Shelley was tutored and taught at home by Rev. Even Edwards, who not only educated young Shelley but taught him the religion of Christianity as well. In 1804, Shelley left the comfort of his home and headed to Elton College. Shelley not only did horribly at Elton, but was tormented and ridiculed by his classmates daily. Due to the tormenting of his fellow class-mates, Percy Shelley soon left Elton college, and became a student at the prominent school, Oxford (1810). While attending Oxford, Shelley published his first piece of literature, a Gothic novel, Zastrozzi.(This novel was actually written when Shelley was just seventeen years old, attending Elton College, but was not published until his attendance at Oxford.) This novel touched upon the subjects of selfishness, revenge, and self-indulgence. This early Shelley novel got favorable reviews, but was not immensely well-known within the literary world. Following 1810, Shelley wrote the highly debated pamphlet named The Nessecity of Atheism. Despite his christian up bringing, this piece of work criticized the religoious world and stated that one's beliefs are involuntary; therefore, atheists should not be persecuted for not believe in God. The writings in the pamphlet were so controversial and frowned upon, that the Necesscity of Atheism immediately caught the attention of Oxford staff. Soon after publication, Shelley was called to appear in front of several Oxford staff, including the current dean, George Rowley. Shelley refused to recant his statements; therefore, resulting in his expulsion from Oxford University on March 25, 1811 ( fellow writer Thomas Jefferson Hogg was also expelled due to involvement.)Due to the prominence of Shelley's father, Sir Timothy Shelley, Percy was told he could enroll once more at Oxford if he agreed to withdraw his statements. Sticking to his beliefs and thoughts, he refused, permanently expelling him from the University and creating a falling-out with his Father. This rebellious act set way for Percy Shelley's outrageous and controversial poetry, which along with other well known poets (William Blake, Lord Byron, William Wordsworth etc..) inspired the genre of poetry we now call Romanticism.

- Kailee Phillips