Come and Go

 Author's Note: This piece is a poetry response to Fahrenheit 451. I took a specific scene from within the novel, the scene in which Montag is interacting, almost observing, Mildred and her company. Mildred and her friends are so obsessed with the parlor, and it seems as though their entire world, all of their thoughts and actions, revolve around  it; their family is secondary, and replaceable. Montag's attitude toward the entire situation is extremely frustrated and stunned. My main focus of this poetry response was to capture all of the emotions present within this scene. Once I had captured the many emotions involved, I then went back and made them more concrete. I added images for the reader, and spacing to help strengthen the rhythm and quality. Lastly, I made sure to use some key vocabulary and especially dialogue from within the scene in the novel, along with a few images that are being shown in the parlor, and how they are exaggerated in Montag's mind. 

Oh,

They come and go,

Come and
go

Nervous giggles do not quite fill
The hot emptiness
Not quite covering ignorance,

Words tiptoeing around cries
of selfishness, barely shielding
Denial --
Fooling themselves
Fooling
Fools
Fools of fake love.

In again,

Out again,

Quick war

Quick war …

Numb to everything, and all
That is real

Breathing,
Exhale hot breath -- insensitiveness
Out
Inhale cool air -- selfishness
In

True love is deceased

No tears, nothing there
To shed

Clowns,
White clowns,
Chopping off each other’s limbs

In midst of terror,
Sounds of laughter are heard
Sounds of laughter -- the only thing to be reckoned

Limbs flying now,
Whipping air now,
Bashing bodies now

Cars wildly racing
Circling
Racing
Racing, and bashing, and circling now

Rockets plunging into dark waters of
Endless depth.
Tearing clouds and
Ripping stars

Engulfed in mud-colored walls
Fidgeting, nervous, and empty

Oh,

They come and go,

Come and
go


Go, go --
go away

Gone, forever.

Jump and soar
Down, down
through the air
A feather gliding
A child sliding down an invisible slide

Drifting, and hovering --
Swimming through open emptiness,
Hovering inches from the ground

Seconds from impact