Pretty Happy Essay, Research Paper

Jeffrey T. Fields Pretty Happy

Literature: Form and Function

Concerning Kinship of Cat and Bird:

- This is the first poem I choose to write about. Briefly, it describes a cat (I think) devouring a bird that it has captured. And then talks about how the birds always fall for the cats old tricks, which are really not tricks but in fact just sitting there. He refers to the cat as idle hand on a keyboard awaiting inspiration . To be blunt, I am not sure where he is going with this one. I see images of a cat, perhaps my own, sitting on my windowsill eating a bird. I also see a bird, squawking and chirping as it is about to be captured by the cat. He may be talking about our lives in general, how humans constantly do the same things over and over again that cause their demise. A lot of the poems in this book touch upon death or the afterlife I think. What is he saying? Are we all just mindless creatures that walk this earth and go through the motions for the hell of it? The bird. The bird lets out a sound just before it is caught, protesting it own downfall. Is he trying to say that we are always complaining about something even if it is our own fault? Possibly.

Einstein s Brain:

- I loved this poem, although short and to the point I found it very amusing. I picked this one to write about because I can see a connection with the above choice. Some of the images that come to mind when reading this are, for one, Einstein s brain in a jar (don t they really have his brain somewhere?) a man at the door, a sad rocking chair and another man weeping. I also see pieces of brains wrapped in cheesecloth, not appealing. In any event, the last line of the poem is where I see the connection. Don t worry, I m almost finished and the results promise to be inconclusive . This is great. It is so cynical to me, and it makes the point I made above all the more clearer. Why do we bother? Life s a bitch and then you die, no? Another outlook I have is this. His poems often describe, in detail, little facts and ideas that pose no important relevance to the shorts. I kind of think he is hinting on the little things in life that we pay to much (or not enough) attention too. And that these things have no meaning in the grand scale of Life. Or maybe not. I think this guy Peter is pissed at the world, perhaps even suicidal.