Monday, December 8, 2014

Final Exploration 8: Benjy Fournier

The year was 1974
A young man with a big dream, to conquer,
The unthinkable, the undoable
But this great feat
Doesn't faze the young man:
Philippe Petite


Many tries were attempted
All in vain
Petite would get caught,
Shut down
It must have driven him insane!


Finally the day came
The 6th of August 1974


He balanced out on the rope
Like a gymnast on the beam
Cautiously walked across once or twice
The crowed bellow started to gather and watch
As Philippe conquered his dream
That once seemed impossible


So high in the sky
Birds would fly by
Angered almost, as if someone was invading their space
But somehow, even when almost 1,400 feet in the air
Petite felt safe



He felt alive
Like a baby taking its first breaths
Much more alive than if he hadn’t completed his stunt
Because if he wouldn’t have completed this task
He would have felt himself die


What he did seems crazy and stupid to some
But his message should be admired by all
Dreams are essential
As essential as roads to walk
And food to eat
Whatever the dream is, follow it
And then one day, you too
Can dance on top of the world.



This is by far my favorite piece of work that I did this year.  I feel very passionately about poetry so was very excited when I got this opportunity to construct a poem.  I really liked being able to incorporate facts from a film and creatively put them into a poem.  I was also very inspired by what Petite did.  No matter how crazy everyone told him he was, he still followed his dreams and I have much respect for that.

Part 2:
A poem that I feel very passionate towards is called "Do not go gentle into that good night."  This poem is very open ended and open for interpretation.  I found this poem when I was young and loved the way it sounded.  It wasn't until i was older that I fully appreciated it.  My dad had an ear infection that somehow turned into bacterial meningitis.  He was in the hospital and his condition continued to get worse and worse.  I was then, a few weeks in, informed that he would probably die.  This is where the final stanza of this poem hit me very hard.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I absolutely loved this stanza because it filled me with hope and kept this flame of hope lit inside of me.  The line Rage, rage against the dying of the light  gives me goosebumps even this day to read because of how powerful it is.  Looking at this poem, reminds me of the intensity of encouragement everyone around him gave to him.  He was in a form of a coma but everyone still went to see him and said what they needed to say to help him get through.  This is why I feel so passionately about this poem and I hope others enjoy is as much as I do. I included a link for anyone who wants to read the full poem.
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night


3 comments:

  1. I also enjoyed writing the poem this semester. I really enjoyed your part 2 of this exploration because you had a lot of thought and emotion when it came to it, which caused it to be great writing and personal.

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  2. I think this is a great way to end your final exploration, you used a lot of words that created emotion and kept me intrigued while reading your post. Great job.. if you will and good luck to you in all you do.

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  3. I found your poem to be very interesting! My favorite part of your poem is when you said, "So high in the sky, Birds would fly by." I thought it was a very fitting description for just how high he actually was in the sky! Overall, I really liked reading your post, and I think you ended on a very high note. Good luck on all your finals, and have a wonderful winter break!


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