No longer risking anything, hardly that of death, upon performance at the feet of his
audience; the poet like a slave dancing entertainment on behalf of Massah’s tea. The
pressing American issue is not directly that of war, petrol, or the violence of adolescent
indifference but the camaraderie-like impulses that stabilize middle-class America. Trite
as it may sound to label the intent of American culture as in pressing need of reformation
above poverty, death, and freedom, it was at once the same culture of words that in our
country brought witness to our most dire, immortalized our loves, and declared our
freedom with one man’s pen.

It was not a choice of mine to ever even consider adorning myself with the label of
writer, poet, bard, or anything else which would cause anyone—upon the introduction of
my professional hobby—picture me alone in a basement apartment with no sheets on the
bed and a joint in my mouth, but it is so. I have denied so many times what has for so
long been so natural. For years I have wished for something more tangible; a sudden
interest in business, or even the harp—something marketable. Poetry, until recently has
never been an option for me. I enjoy school. I want to work for a living. I like sheets on
my bed. How could I ever be a poet?

While Cuyahoga Community College was beneficial to me in showing me the many
things I don’t want (and even exactly what I do want), it cannot give me what I want.
The standard required from students is less than what I have demanded from myself since
the age of fifteen. I am finished with this stage of inward contemplation; it is time to--
simply put--move on. What good is the contemplation of one’s life if one has not lived.
To live, one must learn. Upon my death I want to know that I released at least a breath of
life back into the asthmatic creature that has become poetry. In order to do so I must beat
myself another path. For I will not whine and rhyme my way into a book deal. Words
are my hallowed entity. I can only serve them properly with an education that is far more
than respectable.

It has come to be that the written word, as art, is dead, taken over by its self-expression
driven alter ego. The minds of Allen Ginsburg’s generation have spawned intellects
more of creatures not even given the chance to be destroyed by anything. The modern
poet, a renaissance fair jouster pretending to be of the times; the last time he was
hysterical and/or naked was upon leaving the birth canal. Poetry is dead America, my
blood; I refuse the flat-line to be permanent.

Silence of a Woman’s Home


It is man’s right to roll over and give up if he so chooses. I invoke that right, but I am a woman, and not allowed. I was rejected to-day. I know why. I agree. I did a very risky thing a few months ago. I cannot say I regret subjecting myself to vulnerability, but I would be very happy to forget everything and die dreamless. So many men die at home, and I am more than certain that more than half of the men who did not, wish (like a boy with a birthday cake) that they had. Why should I be any different? Because a woman has no home. Her home is her family, and her family changes; a woman, must go inside herself to die. The bed she makes, for her husband. The bed she once made, sold to the devil upon age. The bed she will make, abstract and as decayed as she.
Robert Frost wrote “Death of a Hired Man” about a man who had left the little he had to menace, and potentially make something greater of himself. He failed. Upon failure, he came back, waited for death, and died. It was not the traditional home, however, he came home to. His mother was not waiting in the doorframe with a pie, his father not in an easy chair with a televised baseball game. He arrived to the definitive modern home: the one place he, in his fruitless life, had stayed longest. Having been the unfortunate man who, on his quest for money—perhaps dignity even—failed, he has no place to go but where he last was. But this is a place that no longer wants him, so says the man of the house. It quickly becomes clear that, though Warren (the head of the estate) proclaimed that Silas (our man of desperation) should no longer be allowed refuge, he does not mean it. It is the duty of Mary, his wife, to contort herself into an excuse that falls easily off the tongue. For a woman, beyond its simple definitions, is in fact a homemaker.
It is impossible to claim that every woman is subject to slavery by ways of mortgage, heat, and dinner; but it can be asserted that her responsibilities lie larger than credit. She is a shadow. Waiting to make a world that never before existed, one that never again will. There is rare a woman who has died inside her home. To claim her empty, however, is a mistake. For as women we find little room for ourselves in a world that is clearly so big. She does as the male does as well as what she was taught: stillness. No matter the woman, there is somewhere she is silent. She is silent because there is a desire she will not allow herself. It is in this silence that is her home. It is hardly known, but the quiet woman is always crying.

The following is a poem written by an aquaintence. I have, without permission or concern, parodied his work. Enjoy!

Starless Night
by David Wilson

Floating limbless
Limitless, listless
No skin to bind me in
No eyes to blind my mind’s
Sight; the truth, absolute
The absence of veils
The void of concepts-
Notions, time sense, common
Sensation.
Floating limbless
In the vacuum of common experience
Behind the wall of sleep
Alone.
My own formlessness
A reflection of this starless night.
The looking glass clearly
That transcends weight, being, shape.
Still.
Silent.
Complete.
A universe blank
A marble slab untouched,
No will polluting purity
No carving hand shaping
Just limbo
No starlight to distract
The vacuum of space and
Dim consciousness
A universe in no need of
A big bang.
Peace.
Void.
Chaos and the stillness of it.



Night: Starless
by Sara Nell

I am sleeping on a star-
less night. The vacant dis-
traction of a summer’s flight.
Night, Nip;
I am only nubs.
A creature of such plight,
Deserted on a windless night.
Oh, give me arm! so I may be
creature fair as she
who has more limbs than me.
Whoa.
Ho.
So show to me what would be the light
to a limbless man who has no sight.
Ne’er a person know,
what’s different so
from the stump that grows. Tran-
send me now, so I may float,
upon this line
I wrote.
“Quote me not!” Oh, bitter
night, starless in your windless
bite. You know of me little
more,
than the artisan out-
side my door. I tell him so con-
sistantly: “I wish to stay,
I do not want a hand to play!
Allow to me a solid stone, limb-
less as I be. For care
not I—behind this common hump.
My very stumpliness
the mirror of this bliss-
less night.”
Speak soft.
Speak not.
Stumpy and the starless night.

It is with authority, that I, author and architect of this land, proclaim these laws to be truth and tradition. Therefore, none are subject to revision, alteration, or subjugation upon the basic permanence of existence. It shall be known that any person who, in direct dissent of these principles, will be allowed no other option than to abscond any and all duties, trades, and/or citizens in occupation of this land, and thereby its promulgation.

I. Declaration of State and Delegation of Power
A. Be it by advocate or adversary, it will be hereby known, this land is professed as legitimate and legally stipulated.
1. It is asserted that any and all property that fall within the walls of the State will be protected and secured by the power of commandment and rule of the monarchy.
2. Amendment of State boundaries is a power held exclusively by the Monarch.
a. Expansion of boundaries may be made by way of war.
i. Declaration of war is the private command of the Monarch.
ii. It is the duty of the Monarch, contingent on periods of combat, to assign and regulate any and all armies, as well as the duties of secondary dignitaries.
b. Expansion of boundaries may be made by way of trade.
B. Be it by advocate or adversary, it will be hereby known, the monarchy of this land is professed as legitimate and legally stipulated.
C. The role of Monarch is administered only through acquisition.
1. Administration of the monarchy may be acquired through the slaughter of the previous Monarch.
a. The casualty of the reigning Monarch instills the sum of all land and assertion of that monarchy, as well as its duties, to the assassin.
b. It is the duty of the assassin to acknowledge his/her role as Monarch as distinct and inevitable.
i. Upon the suicide of the assassin, the heir of the previous Monarch gains the rights and duties of the monarchy.
2. Administration of the monarchy may be acquired through inheritance.
a. An heir shall become Monarch if the demise of his/her predecessor is due to the nature of life, or by the suicide of that Monarch.
b. It is the duty of the heir to acknowledge his/her role as Monarch as distinct and inevitable.
i. The heir of the monarchy will be recognized first as the eldest son born of the Monarch.
ii. The heir of the monarchy will be recognized second as the eldest daughter born of the Monarch.
iii. The heir of the monarchy will be recognized third as the partner wedded to the Monarch.
iv. The heir of the monarchy will be recognized fourth as the eldest brother born next to the Monarch.
v. The heir of the monarchy will be recognized fifth as the eldest sister born next to the Monarch.
vi. The monarchy will not establish beneficiary of the monarchy, through means of established blood-line, beyond the fifth to be recognized. If heir cannot be established my means of blood, it is the duty of the previous monarchy to establish an heir to become Monarch.
II. Establishment of an Educational System and of an Army.
A. Every child, regardless of designation, sex, lineage, or conviction is to have equal access to the educational system adhered to by this State.
1. Upon the fifth year of the life of the registrant, the pupil is to enter the educational system, dedicating the next five years to the general scholarship of language, mathematics, physical sciences, natural sciences, history, geography, and philosophy of human nature.
2. Upon the tenth year of the life of the registrant, the pupil is to dedicate himself/herself the general scholarship of illustration, performance, physical discipline and exertion, construction, and reconstruction.
3. Upon the thirteenth year of the life of the registrant, the pupil is to be evaluated for strengths and weakness in all scholarship areas. The aptitude of each pupil will be assessed and the area of specific scholarship will be determined and dedication to the subject of language, mathematics, physical sciences, natural sciences, history, geography, philosophy of human nature, illustration, performance, physical discipline and exertion, construction, or reconstruction will be assigned and held.
4. Upon the eighteenth year of the life of the registrant, it becomes the duty of the pupil to design an apprenticeship for which they can utilize as entry to his/her dedicated field of scholarship and specialized employment.
B. It is the duty of the Monarch to build and maintain an army with the capabilities to honor the obligation of defense and protection.
1. Those designated with the aptitude for the role of soldier are required to protect and uphold the proclamation of this document and the authority of the Monarch.
2. Failure to consummate his/her station, as a soldier of the State, is punishable by death.
III. Resolution not assessed or announced in this decree is the decisive power of the Monarch.

Dramatic Existentialism
Sara Nell



So this is hell. I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the “burning marl.” Old wives’ tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is—other people! (Sartre 45)

The purity of heart you talk of—every man acquires it, in his own way. Mine has been to follow the essential to the end…Still all that needn’t prevent me form putting you to death. [Laughs.] It would round off my career so well, the perfect climax…How strange! When I don’t kill, I feel alone…I have an impression of an enormous void when you and others are here, and my eyes see nothing but empty air. No, I’m at ease only in the company of my dead…Only the dead are real. (Camus 68)

Everybody here? Good. Let the trial begin at once. The quicker the judgment and burning, the better for all of us. (Anouilh 251)

For me drama exists in one thing—the knowledge that each one of us believes himself to be a single individual. But it’s not true. Each of us is many individuals, many—each of us has many possibilities of being. We are one thing for one person, and another for that, and each one of them is quite different. Yet we suffer under the illusion that we are the same person for everyone. But it’s not true. Not true. (Pirandello 73)

Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! (Pause. Vehemently.) Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!
(Beckett 51)

Man is to exist in his own power; his life, the sole product of his statement. It is entirely fair to assume that man’s desire for existence is readily overpowered by his instinct for death. It is this conflict that sustains conscious thought and burdens man with unforgiving emotions. It is wrong, however, to assume these properties of man—fear, the capability of love, anger, joy, etc.—are created of external faculties; for existence is the only facilitator of its properties. The coordinate meaning of existence and the actual necessity of man’s properties thus being the basis of existential philosophy. Without the drama of human existence there is no foundation for this or any philosophy to build upon; therefore, there should be no better performance of existential thought than written drama. Existentialism written to play, the expression of consciousness within the limits of traditional theatre, has been achieved by several writers, of which five are to be examined and overviewed by means of his drama: Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Jean Anouilh, Luigi Pirandello, and Samuel Beckett.

Set in hell, No Exit is performed by the damned. Upon arrival in hell, the characters come to a room—decently decorated, but with no windows and only one door, which remains locked almost throughout—in which they must share with two others. Without the liberty of windows, the characters have no other option but to stare inward, and, with the ever-presence of one’s hell-mates, there is no possible escape from desperation—personal or spiritual. As “life has no meaning the moment you loose the illusion of being eternal,” (Sartre) the moment one regains that illusion the person is trapped with a life, that is all of a sudden, filled with responsibility. Since No Exit is stated by the author to be fiction, it can be deduced that Sartre is asserting that one is mortal; there is no hell, no other people. Man is singular “…condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” Upon death, responsibility dies. Fire in hell is pointless. The only true torture is the judgment of oneself upon the influence of others. If no man concerned himself over the thoughts of the man beside him, he would have no motivation to think himself wrong. If he thinks his perhaps poor actions proper, the only reason for rationalization is self-imposed terror of other people. When the character Garcin is finally allowed to leave hell, he cannot. Hell becomes a self-inflicted responsibility. In living we can expect anguish, for we are at once God and his Devil. Forced to create the world as one’s own, tragedy and misfortune can only come from accessory. The inability to release what one desires—as we are creatures of uncontrollable hedonism—will result in the loss of the personal individual as he/she has so recklessly deserted the individual in favor of temporary matter.

Though perhaps not an existentialist play, Camus’s Caligula is about a ruler who acts with existential philosophy. After the death of his beloved sister, Caligula goes about the destruction of common principles with the goal of destroying the values of others because fate had destroyed what was valuable to him. In doing this, he inadvertently destroys himself. It is the relationship of the person to love, friendship, rage, etc. that binds the individual to humanity. Termination of one’s ideals is the execution of one’s life, identified by Camus as “a superior suicide. [Caligula] is the story of the most human and most tragic of errors. Unfaithful to mankind through fidelity to himself, Caligula accepts death because he has understood that no one can save himself all alone and that one cannot be free at the expense of others (Camus).” In spite of singular responsibility, the fate of others must be determined as a corresponding providence. To negate what can only be called the universal truths it to diminish the ability to distinguish the individual as living. It is the duty of man to create himself in the image of his own perfection, denial of that perfection, failure to strive for it, or rebellion can only lead to denial, failure, and/or rebellion of self. “To abandon oneself to principles is really to die—and to die for an impossible love which is contrary to love (Camus).” We cannot be if we refuse to. As there is no clear definition of existence, it is the duty of man to do as is proper for the individual. To live with the sole purpose of other people will merely create a situation in which those who live from you, die because of you. If the product is pleasing, why bother with the assembly line.

Also choosing to display his philosophy by way of historical drama, The Lark is the story of Joan of Arc, told throughout her trial, to men eager to either save her or send her to her death. The Lark expresses the independence of the individual by means of Joan’s (and others) dependence on God. It is because of her faith that Joan convinced every man she needs that it is a little girl who holds within her the destiny of France. When she is tried, the men, who by faith in God, gave Joan her miracles seized the opportunity to announce themselves as the true miracle, accordingly stripping God of power and announcing man as supreme being:
If we had know about this girl from the very beginning, we could have reached an agreement with her father. We tell people that our intelligence service is remarkable and we say it so often that everybody believes us. It should be their business not only to tell us what is happening, but what might happen. When a country virgin talked about saving France, I should have known about it. I tell myself now I would not have laughed (Anouilh, 259)
Denial of God is the ultimate declaration of the individual above outside influence. There is no matter for other people; we are all caricatures or statues yet to be erected. Every person exists only for himself/herself; to others we are none but a story, mankind’s dream potentially fulfilled. By the time of death there is no need for quarrel, or dissatisfaction; life, alone, was. And so ends The Lark:
Oh, Warwick, I wasn’t paying attention to [the Dauphin]. I knew what [the Dauphin] was like. I wanted him crowned because I wanted my country back. And God gave it to us on Coronation Day. Let’s end with, please, if nobody would mind.
Life need not heed how or why, for is is far clearer, much more definite. And death…all the more reason to negate how and why from one’s vocabulary.

If one could never die, but live forever in an image, perhaps a chapter of an endless story, it would be then that he/she would be the exemplary form of wretchedness. To title oneself as not but an image is one thing, but the characters of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author know no other life. Pirandello’s characters know only identity without form. They exist only in idea and therefore must find physical form, illustrating the opposition to man. It is only the individual who can give meaning to his/her life, a liability left to none other. “Every true man…who is above the level of the beasts and plants does not live for the sake of living, without knowing how to live; but he lives so as to give a meaning and value to his own life.” One cannot rely on God, or any human, to sustain him/her in a quest for an underlying purpose; it is a duty of self. It is the individual who defines personality, morality, and purpose. Reliance on others to do this will only create a false existence to which a person then ceases to exist. This is why it became a clear impossibility to give Pirandello’s characters their play, their lives, their deaths. The existence of man is the largest question in existentialism. There is no matter to how the universe exists, it just does; the existentialist is concerned with why the universe bothers to exist. The answer, although it may be bumptious, is for the individual. The universe is the play land for man. When man dies there is no concern for the universe. Pirandello’s characters have a permanent subsistence, therefore, there is no end to their misery. They are waiting for a life that will kill them.

“Nothing funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. Yes, yes, it’s the most comical thing in the world (Beckett).” The tragicomedy Waiting for Godot is, simplified, the common man: abruptly angry with a world he unwilling to control. Every man has within himself the ability to create his own being. Failure is a product of dissatisfaction; one fails because he refuses to be his ideal being—most likely because of outward forces. Failure, hence, is simply a reminder that properties are not harmonious, and one’s situation must change. It is not the universe that is detrimental, but man. “There’s man all over for you, blaming his boots the faults of his feet (Beckett, 8).” It is man that is meaning, consequently man who is horror, defeat, and bitterness. Theory of man by way of existentialism: man is. If that answer is not satisfactory, then one will always be searching for an answer more suitable, always be waiting.

There are as many interpretations/opinions of existentialism and existential thought as there are people who read the “existentialists”. To say man purely is, is in itself filled with error, brilliance, contradiction, faith, etc. Every person is an independent being with separate interpretations of events and characteristics. Each destiny and purpose defined by individual occurrence, the occurrence of every individual abandoned together by natural biology, creating a universe defined as mankind. “What do I know of man’s destiny? I could tell you more about radishes (Beckett).”