Borders

[NorseThing]

Recently Alberto Rios waw featured on PBS News Hour.

This is in part why he was featured even though he produced the poem a decade and a half ago:

Border Lines

A weight carried by two
Weighs only half as much.


The world on a map looks like the drawing of a cow
In a butcher's shop, all those lines showing
Where to cut.

That drawing of the cow is also a jigsaw puzzle,
Showing just as much how very well
All the strange parts fit together.

Which way we look at the drawing
Makes all the difference.
We seem to live in a world of maps:

But in truth we live in a world made
Not of paper and ink but of people.
Those lines are our lives. Together,

Let us turn the map until we see clearly:
The border is what joins us,
Not what separates us.


©2003 by Alberto Ríos

http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/fox/page2.html

So I thought I would start a thread with this poem as the beginning of a place to post other poems or simply comments regarding borders and border lines.

I will be posting In a few days my first effort, but this opening thread post might get your creative juices flowing to do the same.

[Owlparrot3]

Excellent initiative ,i would rep you if i could .
It felt good to read to me despite the fact that i am somewhat of an extremist nationalist .

[NorseThing]

Another related poem by Alberto Rios. This one I can at least understand how it is a poem. The first one I cannot really see what makes it a poem. Maybe I am a bit when it comes to poetry. This one is from even earlier.

The Border: A Double Sonnet

Alberto Ríos, 1952





The border is a line that birds cannot see.
The border is a beautiful piece of paper folded carelessly in half.
The border is where flint first met steel, starting a century of fires.
The border is a belt that is too tight, holding things up but making it hard to breathe.
The border is a rusted hinge that does not bend.
The border is the blood clot in the river’s vein.
The border says stop to the wind, but the wind speaks another language, and keeps going.
The border is a brand, the “Double-X” of barbed wire scarred into the skin of so many.
The border has always been a welcome stopping place but is now a stop sign, always red.
The border is a jump rope still there even after the game is finished.
The border is a real crack in an imaginary dam.
The border used to be an actual place, but now, it is the act of a thousand imaginations.
The border, the word border, sounds like order, but in this place they do not rhyme.
The border is a handshake that becomes a squeezing contest.
The border smells like cars at noon and wood smoke in the evening.
The border is the place between the two pages in a book where the spine is bent too far.
The border is two men in love with the same woman.
The border is an equation in search of an equals sign.
The border is the location of the factory where lightning and thunder are made.
The border is “NoNo” The Clown, who can’t make anyone laugh.
The border is a locked door that has been promoted.
The border is a moat but without a castle on either side.
The border has become Checkpoint Chale.
The border is a place of plans constantly broken and repaired and broken.
The border is mighty, but even the parting of the seas created a path, not a barrier.
The border is a big, neat, clean, clear black line on a map that does not exist.
The border is the line in new bifocals: below, small things get bigger; above, nothing changes.
The border is a skunk with a white line down its back.

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/...-double-sonnet

If you want to give a sonnet form a try -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet

It is very Italian and very medieval / renaissance.

I am hoping to have something of my own to add to the thread in a bit. No promises of when though. Genius comes quick, but I am very far from that. Just struggling to find something new and Medieval to add to an AAR (perhaps). Of course the brilliance of TWC members could be utilized in the AAR with proper credit and promotion!

[NorseThing]

First, I am not a poet and perhaps this is proof.
　
　
This is my initial contribution of a poem in a sonnet form regarding an idea about borders. I am encouraging other brave souls to make an attempt as well since you now have a base to be favorably compared to. I know nothing of a sonnet other than what I have read from wiki, so the rest of this may be very much off base. I am not happy with the result, but maybe some bright member will take it upon himself to punch up or at least offer a critical ear and eye to this effort. I have no poetic ear for iambic pentameter so in this real sense this may at the start be considered a failure since the attempt was to be a traditional sonnet. Any comparisions that are unfavorable to Milton and Shakespeare are understandable in any case. In some format this will be the epilogue to my AAR: Tales of the Crusade, Chapter 3
　
　
A brief note that may interest no one: I chose to use the word 'trust' in the final rhyming scheme sets because it comes to English via the Danes. I thought that was good enough to have it since this is a Danish AAR from about the period when the Italian sonnet form written in English had it's beginning.
　
　

Ingrid's Poem

　
　
(a Sonnet in traditional Italian form as Plutrarch may have written,
plus the letters of the rhyming scheme in lead on each line)

a Borders are not lines between warring lands.
b They are often the boundary setting
b of peaceful borders. True signs between king
a and noble that has bound the noble's hands.
　
a Conflict comes from posessing many lands.
b Nobles can't have duty to more than one king.
b Demands of duty are made from each king
a and this resulting in broken commands.
　
c Kings can many times resolve such conflicts
d by sword, by marriage, or with a tribute.
e Can any man made by tribute be trusted?
　
c Will a sword forever hold firm the sceptics?
d Family bonds are strongest to contribute
e to harmony 'tween crowns and not busted.
　
Ingrid's Poem (in a narrative form as Wm Shakespeare may have written this if it was his creation of a sonnet)
　
Borders are not lines between warring lands. They are often the boundary setting of peaceful borders. True signs between king and noble that has bound the noble's hands. Conflict comes from posessing many lands. Nobles can't have duty to more than one king. Demands of duty are made from each king and this resulting in broken commands.. Kings can many times resolve such conflicts by sword, by marriage, or with a tribute. Can any man made by tribute be trusted? Will a sword forever hold firm the sceptics? Family bonds are strongest to contribute to harmony 'tween crowns and not busted.
　

[HunterKYA]

Sounds like this poem is comparing the actions of how royalty should rule by respect, rather than through bribery or force. The word usage likens that kings should rule with a firm, but fair hand; yet during times of unrest, should apply their power with a deft touch, lest they be seen as a tyrant otherwise.

[Alwyn]

Nicely done, I like the idea of writing a poem which reflects on the events in a chapter of your AAR. I like the use of 'trust', particularly when you explained the background. The word 'busted' jars for me slightly, because I see it (perhaps wrongly) as a modern word, whereas the references to kings, swords and tribute evoke a historical period centuries ago. Nevertheless, the overall effect is good and I particularly like the line 'Can any man made by tribute be trusted'.

[NorseThing]

Nicely done, I like the idea of writing a poem which reflects on the events in a chapter of your AAR. I like the use of 'trust', particularly when you explained the background. The word 'busted' jars for me slightly, because I see it (perhaps wrongly) as a modern word, whereas the references to kings, swords and tribute evoke a historical period centuries ago. Nevertheless, the overall effect is good and I particularly like the line 'Can any man made by tribute be trusted'.

I agree. The word busted is out of place and out of time. One of the many reasons that I want to improve on this. Thanks to all who have responded here and with a pm on this.

[NorseThing]

I have given it some thought. Yes busted is not of the era, but what will fix the problem?

I have some thoughts for the last line and would like some input, please.

The line to be fixed: to harmony 'tween crowns and not busted.

Some alternatives:

to harmony and never mistrusted.
to harmony but may be mistrusted.

[Alwyn]

I wonder if 'contested' or 'ousted' might be worth considering as endings for the final line, although obviously either option would involve re-writing the final line.

[NorseThing]

I had looked at both words previously. I did take another stab at it and came up with these alternatives for the last line. I am trying to keep the problem and solution of the sonnet along the Shakespearean lines within Romeo and Juliette.

original post: to harmony 'tween crowns and not busted.

new endings:
harmony between crowns when not contested
to harmony 'tween crowns when not contested
to union between crowns when not contested

I had hoped for more discussion here, but I am grateful that your post did inspire me to tackle the problem again. +rep (sincerely)

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

Your second new line scans best, I think.

(Sorry - meant to be here sooner, but things have been busy. I'm still thinking of trying to write some kind of sonnet for you, if I get time.)

[NorseThing]

I agree that the second seems more poetic an best fits since busted was ans is a busted sonnet for the times.