Looking for a Few Good, Educated People

So I wrote

Never a fine work
Of art,
I was a broken potsherd
On which the craftsman painted
A wizard.

My one shred of grace
I lost.
Left with only a rock
To roll uphill,
I chose to push.
At least, in pushing,
I could remember her.

I hate rocks.

Yet they tell me the granite
Has sculpted my hands,
Shaped muscles,
Honed my soul.
A stern beauty, they call it.
What do they know?

She was a pitcher
From which I greedily drank.
Since her loss,
I pray that I have somehow
Refilled it.

at a poetry website. Even though the poem was in a contest clearly marked as 'science fiction/fantasy,' most of the people reading it had no idea who Sisyphus was and thought the last section was talking about environmentalism. O.O

Don't people have brains, anymore? Don't people read, anymore--I mean, even just the Author's Notes section in which I quoted the literary reference that directly explains this poem?

*whines*

Current Mood: annoyed

annoyed

Comments

ardys_the_ghoul

2008-06-29 02:59 am (UTC)

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With all the Classics-oriented classes I've taken during college, you'd think I'd be able to remember this myth. Sisyphus was the one who was cursed to spend eternity trying to roll a boulder uphill, only to have it roll back again, correct? Only I can't remember why he was being punished. I guess I should look that up.

Anyway, clearly some people (including me!) need to brush up on their Greek mythology.

aerden

2008-07-05 05:06 pm (UTC)

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I can't remember why he was condemned to do that, either. But I at least know he had to push a rock up a hill. *sighs* Man, I had that in junior high school literature.

gypsy_anna

2008-06-29 05:45 am (UTC)

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I don't know who Sisyphus is. Does this mean I don't have a brain? ;-) It might be fun to be brainless. Imagine all the things I could get away with doing and saying! (eg)

aerden

2008-07-05 05:09 pm (UTC)

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Anna--*giggles!* I think I had to read the Sisyphus myth because it related to some short story I was assigned to read for a literature class. I had a book of Greek myths when I was a kid, but I'm not sure if the Sisyphus story was in it. I'll have to check, the next time I visit my parents.

How've you been? I need to go read your journal. I haven't been on LJ in several days. Had to deal with a leaky waterbed. *bleah*

*Hugs!*

Chantal

sauron_the_dark

2008-06-30 03:04 pm (UTC)

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He (or she) whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.

You would think that Sisyphus would have figured it out after a while, but he always was a smartass.

aerden

2008-07-05 05:13 pm (UTC)

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*snicker* I always did wonder why Sisyphus never just said to the gods, "Hey, either you put brakes on this thing, or I quit!"

Ah, well...Good ol' Snape and his rock.

Chantal

amqu

2008-07-02 05:57 am (UTC)

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People don't know who the Vice-President of the US is. People think there's an East Virginia. People aren't sure how many states are in America.

Trust me, Sysiphus is waaaay beyond them.

aerden

2008-07-05 05:14 pm (UTC)

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Yep, I guess he is! *shakes head sadly*

I swear, I want to cry, every time I watch Jaywalking on The Tonight Show.

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Looking for a Few Good, Educated People - Aerden's LJ