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I Am Plural

by Rula Shin


'I'
Dreamer,
laid down the law
that only I could sleep-walk
in a wasted world of my choice,
and oft would play my role
of whimsical fancy and
fly fly away in dreams!

then,
Selfish ‘I’ began to slither,
a heartless creature deft
in the art of squander to
aid in DreamerÂ’s childish whims
to crawl from rocks
and spy for slots to lodge
beneath the center of
every dreaming scheme!

but Lazy 'I' decides to
show and props her feet with
cig in hand to boot
the matching beer and
plays with pensive thoughts
to link in hand with Dreamer ‘I’
this day 'aliveÂ’ to do her deeds and
floating through her dreams
does fly fly away!

funny how the Thinker 'I'
attempts to plant her root
so deep and logic seek, when
suddenly EmotionÂ’s 'I' decides to
push her senseless notionÂ’s through
and claims, “No other 'I' is here to stand
against this raging beast!”

intentionally, a resounding voice
amidst the chaos
forces ‘them’ to
scurry away
in fearÂ…

at last Intending I she steals
the reigns! compelled to show
her face amidst the crowd
the ONE true self just
holds them firm and
grinds the dreamers
down with steady hand!

the question of my
presence is the length I
hold myself as WHOLE
before this hand begins to
tremble 'gainst the hefty pressure those
divided selves apply to pry apart and
break my moment's perfect mold, this ME, the
rightful I who here and now
exist as ONE

07/06/2004

Author's Note: This poem's theme is inspired by Ashok Sharda's poem In Dream I Was and Not One

For readers interested, Ashok's poem is accompanied by his article I Am Not ONE which is basically a commentary on the said poem, elucidating the basic idea.

Posted on 07/06/2004
Copyright © 2024 Rula Shin

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Ginette T Belle on 07/07/04 at 02:08 AM

awesome! i love the way you expressed the different aspects of "I" almost like a little story...very well done

Posted by Ashok Sharda on 07/07/04 at 01:25 PM

Commenting on this poem is like commenting on my latest – ‘In dream I was and not one’. The only difference lies in the style, presentation and the subjectivity of our experiences and strategies to counter the strategies of our various selves in the process of BECOMING. The central idea remains the same. We all jump from one self to other drawing energies from the without and associated thoughts, associated with this external. They are independent of each other and that of the whole. One, who realizes this plurality of the self also creates a self, THE INTENDING SELF, in the process. A self one wants to BECOME, the master of this BEING. But then this self shall have to get into a conflict with all other unwanted selves and WIN their energy source. This sounds paradoxical that one has to get into conflict in order to get rid of the conflict and attain ONENESS, within. But know that this ONENESS is capable of bringing you WILL. The other day an acquaintance asked me as to how can he become a true religious being. I said-‘you can never’. ‘Why’ was his natural query. ‘Because you are not ONE’, I said. ‘Okay tell me how can I become ONE’-he asked. ‘I will tell you’-I said-‘ but then you would not be required to become a religious being since you would be the religion. Ha! ha! The battle goes on between this one self( INTENDING) against the whole army ( in your words- the dreamer, the selfish, the lazy one, the mediocre thinker and the one prone to emotionalism). There is no other way than to ‘holds them firm and grinds the dreamers down with steady hand!’ and WIN their associations so that when these associations are present, THEY SHALL PROVIDE CHARGE TO THE INTENDING SELF. It’s a struggle between TO BE and NOTHINGNESS. I am happy that you have opted in favor of BECOMING. ONE, obviously.

Posted by Keith D Allison on 07/07/04 at 09:29 PM

nice read enjoy it, thanks

Posted by Michelle Angelini on 07/08/04 at 06:53 AM

The different "I's" kept me interested in the poem from beginning to end. Kind of like reading various theories of poetry, but way more interesting. Very enjoyable read.

Posted by Indigo Tempesta on 07/08/04 at 06:01 PM

and equally fascinating to ashok's work. has the feel of an epic. thank you, rula.

Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 07/10/04 at 03:12 PM

Cool adaptation of Ashokian style poetry. I like how you express that each of us in our I's are also partially hidden plurals.

Posted by Jared Fladeland on 07/22/06 at 03:53 PM

wonderous. purely wonderous

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