Malice Un-forethought, Wizard Award ~ A poem Options

[Guest_Jox_*]

© James Oxenholme, 2005. I, James Oxenholme, do assert my right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with Sections 77 and 78 of The Copyrights, Designs And Patents Act, 1988. (Laws of Cymru & England, as recognised by international treaties). This work was simultaneously copyrighted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. This work is posted as an unpublished work in order to elicit critical assistance and other helpful comment, only.

Ref: TC 0359 AD (Thanks, Fran, Dani, Nina and Alan )


*Graphic provided by
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Malice Un-forethought
by TC

Prometheus, a modern man,
forged in heat and fire:
a hundred-thousand volts
powered his electric birth.

I shall call you St. Norme:
You shall have a saintly future;
a normality for all humankind.

Limbs working; voice talking,
he strode across the land.
A man of parts lived in him,
yet he only existed in them.

Yearned to be whole:
as the race from which
he’d been forged.

Though people shun
such different men:
at best to be ignored.

Asylum denied.
Dejected, he turned to his God:
Why have you rejected me?

The good doctor, gone bad,
could only weep:
You are a race apart;
different: a threat.

So St. Norme turned:
he fought against all.
Love, companionship denied:
others’ lives, liberty he took.

From conception, he had
no chance; no future.
He changed his ways, his name
to become what they made him.

Hope begat misery;
desire begat slavery;
destiny begat tyranny.

St. Norme begat the Monster.

(end)

=========================================
TC 0359 AC

Malice Un-forethought
by TC

Prometheus, a modern man
forged in heat and fire:
a hundred-thousand volts
powered his electric birth.

I shall call you St. Norme:
You shall have a saintly future;
a normality for all humankind.

Limbs working; voice talking,
he strode across the land.
A man of parts, lived in him,
yet he only existed in them.

Yearned to be whole;
of the race from
whence he’d been forged.

Though people shun
such different men:
at best to be ignored.

Asylum denied, dejected
he turned, to his God:
Why have you rejected me?

The good doctor, gone bad,
could only weep:
You are a race apart;
different: a threat.

So St. Norme turned:
against all he fought.
Love, companionship denied:
others’ life, liberty he took.

From inception, he had
no chance; no future.
He changed his ways, his name
to become what they made him.

Hope begat misery;
desire begat slavery;
destiny begat tyranny.

St. Norme begat the Monster.

(end)

====================================

NB: "The Modern Prometheus" is the sub-title of the gothic horror novel, "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley - which bears little relationship in its portrayal of the Monster to most films (save Kenneth Brannagh's).

NB2: the original Prometheus was the chap who stole fire (amongst other things) from the Greek gods and gave it to mankind. They were rather hacked-off by his behaviour.

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[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for your return.

>>Good. Though 'tis a shame the poem didn't speak for itself to you.
>>-- which is why I mention it.

Yes, and so you should - thank you. No sense in leaving people guessing.

>>So in some senses, this is brilliant,
>>Thank you - unsure why.
>>-- to one educated in the refs, this is a serious contribution to the discussion.

Thanks. (Only one classical ref, though and that more Vikky Gothic)

>>- it was a relatively low-money question on Who Wants To be A Millionaire and has been an “A“ Level set text for schools. However since you, Fran and Lori didn't know it, I must be wrong and should have explained. (In fairness to Fran, she said she’d read the book but didn’t care for it and had forgotten the sub-title).
>>-- hell, I want to do Millionaire, would have failed that

LOL! Well, I wouldn't have failed that - thanks to Mary Shelley but plenty I would fail at.

>>No, sorry. ?? Shelley, sure. Keats? Byron?
>>-- they all wrote classical-allusive stuff I miss completely, I still have the scars on my back from carting that damn grecian urn all the way up darien's peak at school.

I've never been taught about any of them. My nearest is Morecambe & Wise:(comedians)

How much's a Grecian Urn?
About ten bob a week.

>>Aren’t we all animals? (Isn’t that the basis of your joint poem with Fran?
>>-- NO. We have animal-like body, but that "big toe" we send to heaven (soul) is the major part - way senior to mind and body.

Well, we'll have to disagree there I'm afraid. I don't believe in heaven, an after-life, nor a soul. (alas!)

>>LOL... and mankind is not based on crude instincts?
-- yesandno. Man has 2 minds, the analytical and the reactive. He normally uses the analytical to create his scene and resolve problems relating to survival. Hence all the good things you see around you. But at moments of physical threat and pain this mind shuts down, and the reactive takes over, and stores every minutest memory of what happened during the danger period. This is then brought forth as "previous experience" when any one of the factors present in the previous danger reappears, and the reactive mind directs the individual to totally selfish actions in an effort to "save" him from the PREVIOUS danger. Thus you can explain all the irrationality and destruction caused. Man is at that point fighting old enemies and long-gone battles, but applying his "knowledge/experience" to her and now, producing often disastrous results.

An interesting perspective on psychology. Since I have no idea what a mind is, I won't comment - just store that one away. Thanks.

>>-- A minor example is someone shouting suddenly at a loved one, then not having any idea why the shouting, what triggered it.

err... I've never known that, sorry.

>>The reactive mind did, because some perhaps minor circumstance recalled some part of a previous danger, perhaps a word or phrase used way back then.

Sounds like WWI "Shell Shock" rather?

>>END of lecture

Thank you. Sorry, I know too little of psychology to comment, save thank you.

>>Mary Shelley’s book is very different indeed (which is why I used its sub-heading... The Modern Prometheus. Frankie's Monster certainly has a soul - that is a critical aspect of his character. He is let down by his creator and society so, like Hitler, he turns against humankind.

>>-- My total knowledge of these is via Hammer, so obviously not very accurate then.

No, way off I'm afraid - great Gothic romps, though. Fun but little pathos.

Do read "Frankenstein" - fantastic Book - but "Dracula" is even better. One of the best novels I've ever read. (Make sure it is Bram Stoker's version - plenty of "Dracula" books around. Superb Gothic horror books - but based on very human yearnings.

>>I'm just sorry this didn't work for you - nor probably for others, either.
>>-- you usually want to know that so you can re-cast.

Yes, I would include an explanatory note about the sub-title of the book, maybe a note about asylum-seekers - though that is contemporary. And maybe cite "Mein Kemf" (never can spell it right - and I have a copy) in relation to Hitler brooding in his wilderness years. Cheers.

Thanks, Alan!

J.