I'm trying to understand...everything

A finite creature's quest for the unknowable

In the dark of my room,
here I am lying,
lying and asking,
lying and thinking.
I'm trying to understand...

everything!

 

Through the days of my life,
where should I go,
where should I look,
when will I know?
I'm trying to understand...

anything!

 

In this speck of a world,
why do I live,
why should I care,
why will I die?
I don't understand...

anything!

 

It's the blackest of facts:
that I know I can't know,
for I'm only a man.
...And yet even so,
I keep trying to understand...

everything!

 

 

 

©2008, Richard Puetter

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

ahahahaha i love it!! my cup of tea sir! yes ... such a conundrum and life long dilemma .. on the one hand the seeking .. is all important .. and yet the knowing's answer seems to be "not knowing" ;) we have great mysteries to stand in awe of .. as a scientist you more than many know this to be true .. but i hate to think of how adrift we might be if we give up searching and seeking ... i call that praying actually .. and the beauty in our ignorance and prayer and seeking can be found here perhaps .. from the Bible ... “God, you are my God; I eagerly seek you. I thirst for you; my body faints for you in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water” (Psalm 63:1). or perhaps without answers instead of water :} thought provoking, clear concise language ..free verse with smooth flow says i .. only read it once and for me received full impact .. honest poetry says i!
E.
E.

[mattavelli]

Seems a bit masochistic, Rick. It's written well.
When I can't sleep, I tell myself to check the lock on the front door. I typically argue against wasting the energy and fall asleep.

[Arthur Henn]

Rick, this poem (writing of yours) hits home to the core of this man (This readers soul) I'm fifty-five and It feels that I have reached the intersection of another crossroads in my own life.

So many hurdles of past years... That have gotten me to where I am now. I finely feel like I may be free of the crystalline sphere - Free to look at what I have become, understanding who I am... But Yes! I keep trying to understand.

Art

[Tate Morgan]

Doesnt it just drive you crazy as it does me.The endless searching for the truth .It is a sign of intelligence and I myself commend you for the character

[Nancy Lee Shrader]

Aren't we all trying as we may to understand everything. In this lifetime, if we are lucky we will find understanding of maybe an eighth of everything. One day in God's kingdom, we will understand it all.

Great write. Made me stop and thing about the knowledge I'll have someday. Thank you Rick for sharing this wonderful poem.

[Steven Pottle]

I love this piece- reminds me of when I am so desperate to fall asleep, but every question concerning existence and life enters my mind...and I never have any answers. Hours later I am still laying there staring at the ceiling unable to slow down the thoughts.
Perfect piece Richard.

[Laura E. Aranda]

This is so thoughtful, for lack of better words, I enjoyed reading it. Good luck in the contest. Cheers, lea

[Emily Rose]

An excellent tribute to the frustrating finiteness that characterizes the human mind. The unembellished language and simple rhyme scheme really help shape the poem and I absolutely love your repeated use of the verb "lying" - were you going for a double meaning here? We, as humans, lie to ourselves, thinking that we know more than we do. It reminds me of one of my all-time favorite quotes from Alexander Pope: "A little learning is a dangerous thing/drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring/There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain/and drinking largely, sobers us again."

The changes in the last line at the end of every stanza really drive home your point, too. It creates a small, subtle build that comes to a head in the last stanza, where everything becomes much more frustrated.

My only critiques (and trust me, I had to read the poem over several times before I could come up with anything worth pointing out) are that I can't really tell if you mean for the rhyme scheme to carry though the whole poem. From what I can tell you rhyme (or slant rhyme, in the case of the first stanza) the second and fourth lines of each stanza, but you don't do that in the third one, although you do have some internal rhyme going on there. I'm starting to think that the rhymes were more unintentional than anything else, but I figured I'd point it out for the sake of consistancy. Also, (and keep in mind that this is more personal preference than anything) I would probably get rid of the ellipsis in every stanza in favor of a line break. A line break would make the reader have to wait longer to read the last word more than a simple ellipis would, and I'm guessing it's your intention to create a sense of pause before the final word of the stanza. You could even keep the ellipsis and just add the line break. That's just a suggestion, though - it might mess up what you're trying to do with the poem from a visual aspect. Couldn't hurt to play around with it, though!

Wonderful job as usual - this really made me think, and I can sympathize with the subject matter completely. The more you know, the more frustrating it is that you don't know more.

[[untitled]]

Well, Rick ... boy I know precisely how you feel. I feel the same way. But I come from a different perspective. And I smile ... and I smile.

[Casanova]

well Rick I see I am not the only one trying to understand everything-- great poem!!