A Place To Drop It Comments

Wow, this is powerful Daniel and reminds me of an author who talked of distrusting one's first instinct.

To me, this poem spoke of a conflict and/or a progression between desire and love. Desire is generally defined as the state of wishing for or wanting something... like clothing and physical contact. In the opening line, the poet says, 'Everytime I pick up desire/right away I'm on the/lookout for a place/ to drop it, gently.' Immediately we are presented with the theme and conflict of the poem... Desire is not good, like a 'hot potato, ' it must be dropped... But gently... Or with care. But why? Maybe it isn't bad or good? The next two stanzas outline how responding to desire is almost an automatic reaction not really thought through... One minute he's fine and then the next he catches himself 'cradling' desire in his right hand... When he needs the left hand (or the thinking part of himself) to remind him to not respond to desire at all (whether it might be perceived as dark or light, good or bad) . The next two stanzas, discuss what many might describe as the 'root' of human desire (Garden of Eden) ... physical attraction between men and women and the response to that - clothing. A feeble attempt to drop this desire. He writes 'Ever since Eden/The mere fact of clothes covers our nakedness/. He continues to speak of human touch only happening at night (in darkness) . The last two stanzas are my favorite and I believe lead into one another in interesting ways. First, the poet says, '...when our guard is down (this stanza starts with the end of a sentence from the last stanza and feeds meaning into both) /The closeness of bodies/Is a light that brings/only warmth to these/ dark uncoverings. What a beautiful line. I see this as human physical love without clothing is 'close' to being a purer form of desire, though still innately tainted by darkness. Purity not attained. The final stanza leads us to the purest form of human desire and closest to love. He writes 'After the skylark dawn/pierces the cold air/the high soprano of the happiest Angels reveals/where I should drop sweet desire. First the image of the skylark harkens to Shelley's poem, where the skylark's call is so pure and beautiful it embodies the otherworldly existence of love and heaven. Thus, it appears the poet is offering a juxtaposition between two different kinds of desire, one of which will lead us to enlightenment, to true love. Studying this poem led me to read excerpts from Plato's Symposium where Socrates makes a speech which explains that love should be a vehicle through which one might be able to commune with the divine. So, is desire the root of love? The last line, 'where I should drop desire, / Is it saying that desire should be dropped into the spiritual realm, to the divine in the hands of the Angels? I was a bit mesmerized by this simply written poem with very complex undertones. First, the title pulled me in...to find out what to drop... Then, the idea of dropping desire... Such a basic aspect of being human, was puzzling... Why drop it when it feels good? Why is there this innate struggle? What does the human gain when he/she drops desire? Wonderfully written poem!

I enjoy your Desire poem a lot it made me smile.

A thoughtful poetic write on desires, as how they are suddenly appearing or develop in our mind and capitalize, but thereafter very rightly as you said how and where to drop them. This poem dealt very aptly on that. Thanks for sharing.

Lovely, thoughtful poem to read. Desires sprout in us naturally like leaves sprout upon trees. Being reasonable towards their fulfillment or discarding them as unwanted one try to overpower us is a struggle that keeps on going... Loved the poem very much.

When close to someone, our guard is down and we are more susceptible to fulfilling our desires, this is very true. Yet at times desire comes upon us in the most inopportune times of life and we must quickly find a way to drop them somewhere before they consume us. We are after all civilized, and do not wish any wrong doing or harm to another. This poem really resonated within me, at times desires fill me exclusively and I am surprised at their intensity, writing them into poetry to drop them into the universe somewhere is how I diminish them. Thank you for a beautiful and thought provoking poem, Daniel. RoseAnn

Yes, most of the time man is overpowered by desires. When they run riot and go out of control, an inner voice asks us to drop them down somewhere! To be clothed in desire is man's natural tendency..... but putting a rein on them is propriety and part of being civilized! Unbridled desire can only do us harm! A thoughtful write! Enjoyed reading it!

Wow! Daniel, this piece was inspired!

Oh that aroused waves of desire seem to overwhelm us and all seem natural to drop them...somewhere. Daniel you have beautifully painted the emotions that has such power over human frail flesh. Great. Thanks.

This made me smile Daniel i think i am right in saying you wrote this in a kind of tongue in cheek. I enjoyed reading this