my mind’s eye: opening slowly

 hello again dearest readers, it has been quite some time since i’ve written to you all and i apologise. i haven’t found time or inspiration to write here. 

but, today, i am back with another analysis of a poem i wrote recently, and telling you all what the meaning behind this poem is. i hope you enjoy it ​♪ 

11.12.22 ♡ bouquet of modernity

my mind
opening slowly: a rosebud
though thick with layers
of despair and blood

my mind’s eye
opening slowly
swans enter my dreams
touching me with gentle beauty
and ferocity

connected
my mind my heart my soul
by orchid roots, tangling
their beautiful harvest
wilted, dry, dangling

tulip stems
tied with silk ribbon: a noose
dying slowly: a bouquet of modernity
resigned to wither
it will be romanticised, fantasised
for all of eternity

to me, this poem is a commentary on contemporary society. the message i hope to leave is the way in which we as a society tend to romanticise mental illness or otherwise dangerous practices in the name of beauty. it is critiquing society’s insatiable desire to be beautiful and youthful at all costs. i used the imagery of flowers throughout: roses, orchids, tulips. this is the “bouquet”. but, it becomes the “bouquet of modernity” in particular when you see the darkness that is surrounding these objectively beautiful, delicate, naturally-occurring entities. for example, the tulip stems tied with a ribbon, a “noose”, referencing the outwards perception of beauty but within we are resigned to a fateful life of being judged by appearances and appeasing society’s gaze. 

i especially enjoy the lines “their beautiful harvest / wilted, dry, dangling”. referencing orchid roots, i think this perfectly encapsulates the pressure for us to cut parts of ourselves off that don’t fit with our peers or surroundings. it represents those of us who never see our own internal beauty until it’s too late, and we’re left “dangling”, because society judges us only externally. 

i included reference to swans because i find them completely admirable. they’re beautiful and ethereal yet disturbed and ferocious, angry, even. a swan to me within this poem represents someone beaten into conforming to society’s strict beauty regime and who has been worn down by the harshness of judgment, left with anger and bite. but they could also represent a kind of “wolf in sheep’s clothing”: something beautiful yet evil, much like many things sold to us now are.

the ending two lines tie the bouquet of modernity up together perfectly. they comment on the never-ending romanticism of pain and suffering when the person in question is conventionally beautiful. this is something i see constantly on social media: someone who’s ill or hurting but their struggles are simply looked past and they are objectified, chalked up to only their external features and objectively “beautiful” appearance. modern society is often so obsessed with beauty that it is all we see; we don’t appreciate us for us. 

i hope you enjoyed this, lovely guests, because i enjoyed writing it for you all. let me know what you think.

love, your blog admin ~Sparkle