Date & Time

        I really enjoyed Phil Kaye’s collection of poetry Date & Time. As I read the poems in the second half of the book, I found myself constantly revisiting an idea that we discussed in class on Monday. When discussing the implications that arise because the book is divided into three non consecutive sections: beginning, middle, and end. In class, we discussed the idea that the majority of a person’s life is the middle: most people do not remember much of the beginning, and the end does not occur until immediately before a person’s death. Thus, even though a person spends the majority of time in the middle of their life, it is the period in which the greatest amount of events will be forgotten. 

I was strongly reminded of this concept as I read Kaye’s poem titled “Roller Coaster.” In the second half of this poem, Kaye recounts a trip that he took with his family to Disneyland. Kaye describes that instead of his memories being centered on the experience of a theme park, he remembers “even more, the muted shuffling / as we exit / remembering to not leave / anything important behind / the quiet / as we turn our back / wondering where to go next”(76). Through this section of the poem, Kaye recounts the mundane aspects of his trip, the moments that people would often forget. While this applies to the specific situation he is talking about, I believe that this serves as a broader symbol of human life, specifically our modern human life. Caught up with the problems they face, both individual and global, people allow these smaller moments to pass without recognition. Even if the moments mean nothing in the grander scheme of things, these moments are the ones that can highlight the beauty and peace in human existence. Rather than allowing time to pass meaninglessly, Kaye’s poem reveals the fact that humans must take the time to slow down and appreciate the smaller things that life has to offer, even when surrounded with bigger, more overwhelming things, like the theme park he exemplifies.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamilton

  Will Pikus             Lin Manuel Miranda’s play “Hamilton” took Broadway by storm when it was released. Personally, I remember my parents looking into getting tickets for the show. We all realized it wasn’t worth it since tickets were over eight-hundred dollars per person. The play itself also struck me as kind of strange. I questioned why everyone was getting so excited over the ethnically swapped show. One character within the show was especially strange. King George is right where he was supposed to be the entire time. The tyrannical King is laughing maniacally after each of his songs about how “You’ll Be Back”. While this is likely an accurate depiction of King George, one big question comes to mind. Why is he still white?             As a student brought up last class, why was Hamilton’s story choses by Miranda? It’s one of the oldest whitest stories in th...
Read more

A Tale for the Time Being – "to live"

In the final third of Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, old Jiko gives Nao and her father a seemingly simple – yet to them, a difficult – task: “to live” (362). While her final request to her descendants affects them deeply because of their suicidal ideations, it is also Jiko’s final comment on Zen Bhuddism. In the practice of Zen, one must be rather than think about being in order to truly be alive, so, Jiko’s request of Nao and Haruki #2 tells them to stop worrying, stop planning, stop thinking – just to live. Neither Nao or Haruki #2 actively lived in the moment before Jiko’s death, instead, they planned for the moment they would cease being. After her death, reporters, priests, and those who admired Jiko assumed that the meaning of her final writing, just the singular character for the phrase “to live,” was complex, deep, and mysterious. However, Nao and Haruki #2 are the only ones who understood the true intention of her final word. She simply tells them to be alive. By doing s...
Read more

Finale of A Tale for the Time Being

  Emma Straus    21 st Century Literature and Time    Final 3 rd of A Tale for the Time Being    September 2022        A Tale for the Time Being brings an ending that is hopeful with a touch of realism in only a way the novel itself could accomplish. It is filled with messages that are universal to the readers, as well as the characters, such as Ruth, in the novel. The ending encapsulates both mysteries and lessons to be learned.    At the end of the diary, Ruth finds herself confused and even a bit sad. The idea of “we’ll make magic together...” comes back, and Ruth is left to many questions. Of course, when the novel began, Nao’s and Ruth’s overlapping narratives were an essential part of the story. Throughout the story, Ozeki plants metaphors and plot points for readers to understand the way in which everything in itself is connected. The ending of the novel comes with the entanglement of the metafictions and met...
Read more