A Ghost of Many Faces

A more aggressive personal poem about society holding me back.

A Ghost of Many Faces

Society likes to lie to me

Lure me to cages

Take my book of life and rip out all its pages

It is as untouchable as a ghost 

It's a ghost with many faces

It shows up in the safest of places 

Haunting our home

Possessing our closest of friends hearts mind and soul

It's a finger shaking no 

The voice in our ear whispering 

"let it go" 

The monster under our beds 

Keeping us from sleep

Keeping us from realizing our larger than life dreams 

It's the vibration after being trapped in a spiders web

It's the shouts

The screams

Echoing rejection in our heads 

Imagination completely neglected till' it's gone and fled

It's telling us what life's suppose to be about

but...

I'm getting older now

The dark is more inviting now than frightening

Don't ask me how but it seems my chains are

snapping 

bending

breaking

I fear no ghost 

no monster

no lack of safety

I take my chances

Take my stances 

Take my life back and they call it madness

Well...

Now society's scared of me

Scared that I'll grow up to be the best that I can be 

Scared that I have broken free

Set out to change society and all its hypocrisy and greed

They tell me its impossible but just you wait and see

_______________________________________________

 

Reviews

[Joshua Ramirez]

I'll leave it to others to criticize the form and schemes.
This is very similar to what I write and perform to my school, and I can just relate to it so much.

~The voice in our ear whispering
"let it go"~

Yes, society wants everyone to conform to the rules it consists of, but there are those who don't believe the fallacies that they produce everyday. We try to break it apart, but it's always a force way bigger than our climax. Be strong! I feel you!
Although I stand alone many time to deliver my ideas (similar to yours), I believe I can change, not society... but the thinking by the people.

~Set out to change society and all its hypocrisy and greed
They tell me its impossible but just you wait and see~

Yes, society is very messed up in so many places, but if we focus on only one things, it is possible. I think that as One Person, I can change another... and that the cycle begins. That the legacy will continue on... we need more people though to induce bigger change in the world, but as one person, we can only change so far.... one day, it won't be impossible.
This is an amazing write, I enjoy the realistic views and hopeful ideas!

[Sarah Roehrig]

This poem is great. Keep Writing and don't change a thing. The fact that it isn't consistent and has no structure is the point and makes it revolutionary and raw. Good work!

[Tiana]

I enjoyed your poem! You've broken free now thrive and be the best you can be! Wonderfully written :)

[Marianne Rose]

I do understand the emotional content, if not the exact meaning of "cages"- what draws me into this poem is my ability to relate to feeling caged by society, by what the expectations are, by the ghosts of voices that tell me what to do or who I should be, even by the ghosts inside of me, lacking confidence to step out when others warn me away. This feels like a coming of age poem- one that describes- in whatever phase of life we meet it- the challenges and obstacles we meet on the way to remembering and becoming who we really are- who we are meant to be. And yes, being who we were meant to be will scare society, which compels people to conform to some randomly constructed norm. I like the way the poem flows, the intensity and the occasional rhyme, which just shows up when it's meant to. Great work.

[JayG]

Your rhyming is inconsistent. But the reader, when they see a rhyme in one stanza expects the rhythm to remain.

The same applies to stanzas. So it's best to either rhyme, with all that implies, or avoid it.

That aside, I think you need to work on seeing that the reader has the same context as do you. I often felt that the words pointed to meanings and intent in your head that weren't given the reader. For example, I'm not certain of what "cages" society puts us in—in the context of this poem—because there are too many possibilities. And is the ghost your refer to your book of life (whatever that is) or society? It's not clear, and leaves me outside looking in through a cloudy window. You know what a ghost with many faces is, how it relates to a book of life, and what those safe places are. But does the reader?

My point is that you are creating a self-guiding trail, so if the words don't mean the same to the reader as to you, they'll get lost.

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed the journey to the wise ending.
"I take my chances
Take my stances
Take my life back and they call it madness"
I told my children. Travel, test life and have fun before working for 50 years. The above lines are wise and good. Need to take chances and know some madness. Thank you for sharing the excellent poetry.
Coyote

[iamshadowine]

this is an incredible write! wonderful work done here!
keep writing :D