In Order to Drown a Man

In order to drown a man

must first forget how 

to swim

that he ever had a sense

of buoyancy, the free float

of a womb.

Ken e Bujold

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we do learn to swim in the womb, don't we?
but once we come out, we have to learn all over again.

and then later we swim in self-pity...why does that seem so easy?
j.

[Miss Sharon]

You indeed know how to say much with few words...a mark of a good writer! ~Sharon

[Ken e Bujold]

thank you ever so much for the grand compliment Sharon

[John the Baptist]

I think you are referring to the tendency to give up, to turn one's back on the will to live and to create. I have seen this phenomenon up close, and it is the first step toward death.

[Chris Shaw]

Your two short stanzas covered alot of ground and time as well. Pre birth, the yet to be born swimming in fluid through to the possibilities of a life ending or a man drowning in his own sorrows. Quite alot to contemplate here Ken.

Chris

[Ken e Bujold]

I think so too chris. good to see you back visiting. Aunt's packing went ok?

[light and ashes]

This is amazing, and true on a deeper level.
100

[Lisasview]

Wow Ken,
Here I am thinking of what words to use to comment and leave you a review on your excellent poem.
There is so much for one to take from these simple ~ explosive words of yours... I see metaphor upon metaphor..but that is me..and I love it..
Not everyone will come up with the exact same answer...but that is what makes poetry so interesting.
Lisa, still in Spain

[Ken e Bujold]

good to see you lisa. sunny spain keeping you busy i imagine
ken

[Perdition]

Okay...the first question I had was to whom you are addressing? I mean obviously the reader but this reader feels this as something searching into soliloquy or perhaps a moment when the muse/life/love/art or existence alone grabbed hold and demanded you put these words into the streams of thought, so to speak. Love the return to the womb and its place among the absence of knowledge and drowning but mostly I gather that I'll be considering this one well into the weekend and if a poem can do THAT, then the nature of poetry and the muse has been satisfied. Thank you for the proper method of drowning...hahaha..Wonderful as it is curiosity laden!

[Ken e Bujold]

glad to give you something to ponder through the weekend. :) just my wee existential thought process on how one goes about negating ones existence. the first step if you will...forgetting what you are

[softlyfall]

Drowning is ironic here, since essentially being in the womb is similar to the "drowning in sorrow' result of forgetting how to swim. Or, perhaps, forgetting WHY to swim.
You always challenge, which I love, to think further than the actual words.
The structure of the poem is so apropos as well, the way it looks like funnels, or vortexes.
Sometimes it seems like all of life is spent trying to find a way back to the womb. To the original drowning.

[Ken e Bujold]

or the original swim. i had a slightly different thought when composing...to give up on life, first you must forget, deny, wash away, the entire gestation period. negate your very existence

[softlyfall]

I cannot even imagine that.

[Ken e Bujold]

me either, which is why these 6 short lines found their way onto a screen.

[Lillian Kirsch]

Incredibly put, my friend. This poem speaks such truth about human nature and cruelty in so few words. Beautiful.

[Ken e Bujold]

thank you once again for dropping by lillian and for the kind review