Thankgiving Poem

In honor of Thanksgiving, I wrote this poem.  It is a song, made up of many couplets. It is easy to remember to be thankful for the positive things, but this reminds us to also be thankful for the things that did not go as planned, because that is how we learn and grow. 

"Magic words" is a reference to "please" and "thank you".  "The pen is mightier than the sword" is an old saying meaning that words can solve problems that violence cannot, and with less harmful effects.  Because that saying is a metaphor, the next line shows gratitude for metaphors. 

The femme fatale, ingénue, and protagonist are types of characters used in story telling.  So, this is showing thanks for stories and literature.  Der Blaue Reiter is a group of artists from the early 1900s who united under philosophies surrounding art.  It included artists such as  Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and native German artists, such as Franz Marc, August Macke and Gabriele Münter.  Franz Marc happens to be one of my favorite artists, so he gets a nod. 

The words "nufranzian" and "fricaricious" are nonsense words I created.  As Chuck Palahniuk stated in his short story, "Expedition", "If the perfect words didn't exist, Felix M. crafted them.  He invented words as if creating tools for entirely new purposes... he needed something beyond the standardized language that tied every human to the past...".  So we can use language and create words to express ourselves freely. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  For what are you thankful?

Gratitude


I’m thankful for my mother and thankful for my dad
I’m thankful for the good days and I’m thankful for the bad
I’m thankful for these virtues and thankful for the sins
Thankful for the easy times and for this mess we’re in

I’m thankful for when the pens prove more powerful than swords
Thankful for metaphors, magic words, and minor chords

I’m thankful for the femme fatale and the ingénue
And thankful for the protagonists always pulling through
I’m thankful for the Der Blaue Reiter and thankful for Franz Marc
I’m thankful for philosophies, sciences, and the arts

I’m thankful for the decadent, I’m thankful for the mundane
And thankful for the elegant and my lack of taste

I’m thankful for our families, future and fore
I’m thankful for their victories and the failures that opened doors
I’m thankful for our island and thankful for our home
I’m thankful for trails we’ve trodden and the path we’re on

I’m thankful for nufranzian and fricaricious frup
And thankful for languages and the words we can make up

I’m thankful for instincts, reason, and wants and needs
I’m thankful for bountiful food and these mouths to feed
I’m thankful for this day and the ones that came before
I’m thankful for the potential possibility for more

I’m thankful for disagreements and chances to grow
And thankful for open minds, may they never close

I’m thankful for paperbacks, libraries, and folks I know
I’m thankful for these old sad songs haunting the radio
I’m thankful for friends, acquaintances, and foes
I’m thankful for strangers who are pals I don’t yet know

For everything we named and where we drew blanks
We embrace graciously and smile and offer our thanks



https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T3eIVO60R6a_cs9vYZ7rTZFkzCgCNu2r

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