"I found some magic boots" a short poem

[Jeremiahcp]

[Deleted by User]

[Erthona]

Ah...it's that new math.

dale

[Jeremiahcp]

=) I consider math and poetry to have many similarities. Both of them take a larger equation and attempt to narrow it down to the variables, by simplifying the problem until it is reduced enough to solve.

[Magpie]

Hi Jeremiah,

I definitely find this little offering here interesting and perhaps somewhat baffling at the same time. First of all I presume it is somehow connected to the "Seven-League Boots" that are found in various European folklore and fairytales, which from what I've just learnt is also found in many modern games that I know nothing about at all such as World of Wickercraft.

I think that the idea of using old folklore imagery is a good one and has lots of potential when used with a fresh approach. The problem that I have with the poem is that for me after the third line it seems to confirm what it says in lines 2 and 3 ie that 7 times 3 is 21. I feel as though I'm missing some bit of information that would tie it all together for me. I like the idea of numbers having significance and 3 and 7 commonly occur in many writings.

The other thing it reminded me of was a commonly borrowed and reused line in American folk and blues songs that uses the phrase "Well you're three times seven, that makes twenty-one" to emphasise the point that the person in question has reached the age of adulthood.

Cheers for the read,

Mark

[Erthona]

Incorporating various forms of mathematics in literature, such as did Dodgson and Omar Khayyám to name a couple has been around for a long time. It was almost the norm during the "Golden Age of Islam", to incorporate complex levels in the form of codes in poetry, or at least so I am told. I only learned enough mathematics (and have quite forgotten most of it) to get my Bachelors degree.

Thanks for doing the research on the boots. I remembered them from the folktale(s), but that was in my ancient past and now only only a faint glimmer   I shall avail myself of your link.

dale

PS Oh yes, from several, but especially from "Pilgrim's Regress", "Jack the Giant Killer," and "Howls Flying Castle." Evidently a good device dies hard (no relation to "Bruce Willis that pygmy possum).

[Jeremiahcp]

Thanks for the input guys/gals. Yes, this was inspired by the seven league boots. I feel the meaning of the poem is not very direct, but it is also suppose to be sort of a riddle. So I am having a hard time judging the clarity of the poem.  If I take 3 steps and travel 21 steps, then I only got to enjoy 3 of the total steps traveled and I missed out on 18 steps that, while traveled, I did not take myself. The poem is about taking shortcuts through life, and what we lose when we do.

[ellajam]

Thanks for the input guys/gals. Yes, this was inspired by the seven league boots. I feel the meaning of the poem is not very direct, but it is also suppose to be sort of a riddle. So I am having a hard time judging the clarity of the poem.  If I take 3 steps and travel 21 steps, then I only got to enjoy 3 of the total steps traveled and I missed out on 18 steps that, while traveled, I did not take myself. The poem is about taking shortcuts through life, and what we lose when we do.

If that was your aim, I think you can add to it to somehow let me know what is missed.

[Erthona]

If that is true, I think you defeated yourself by your own cleverness, I know for that is often my problem. Cleverness is not often a virtue it seems. Still, it's a good poem, even if it failed to do what you wanted it to. That is often the case in poetry and I do not mean that in the case of those people who throw shit against the wall and hope something sticks. It's just that sometimes something inside us hi-jacks our works and decides to do something else with it.
I think the problem there was no worth attached attached to the loss of the "steps". That is, the steps had no inherent worth, but saving time and effort did, so there was never any sense of loss because you were bypassing whatever was there. You could do it ironically like: in step "whatever" I missed shaking the rough old farmers hand who surely would have talked my ear off, delaying my progress and feeling me full of the wisdom of the earth/plow.

Something like that. That's just off the top of my head. The same could be done as someone day dreams looking out of an airplane window and thinking of all he is missing, just to save time. The point being we give up the richness of life in order to save time and make money and in modern time, we give up the real in order to get and be apart of the artificial. The point being, you could keep this poem the way it is, as it is interesting, and still have plenty of avenues to talk about missing things along the way because the focus is to get there as quickly as possible. Might even work better as the Seven League Boots are a bit obscure these days.
To mix metaphors, I agree, you missed the boat on this one, but their are plenty of shots left in your gun to try again.

Best,

dale

[Jeremiahcp]

If that is true, I think you defeated yourself by your own cleverness, I know for that is often my problem. Cleverness is not often a virtue it seems. Still, it's a good poem, even if it failed to do what you wanted it to. That is often the case in poetry and I do not mean that in the case of those people who throw shit against the wall and hope something sticks. It's just that sometimes something inside us hi-jacks our works and decides to do something else with it.
I think the problem there was no worth attached attached to the loss of the "steps". That is, the steps had no inherent worth, but saving time and effort did, so there was never any sense of loss because you were bypassing whatever was there. You could do it ironically like: in step "whatever" I missed shaking the rough old farmers hand who surely would have talked my ear off, delaying my progress and feeling me full of the wisdom of the earth/plow.

Something like that. That's just off the top of my head. The same could be done as someone day dreams looking out of an airplane window and thinking of all he is missing, just to save time. The point being we give up the richness of life in order to save time and make money and in modern time, we give up the real in order to get and be apart of the artificial. The point being, you could keep this poem the way it is, as it is interesting, and still have plenty of avenues to talk about missing things along the way because the focus is to get there as quickly as possible. Might even work better as the Seven League Boots are a bit obscure these days.
To mix metaphors, I agree, you missed the boat on this one, but their are plenty of shots left in your gun to try again.

Best,

dale

"I think you defeated yourself by your own cleverness"

That was what I was most worried about. But I like your suggestion to help clarify the poem. I'll have to think about the best way to add more value to the lost steps. Thanks for the great feedback.