Move
You’ve got a college degree, what are you doing here?
That question dances in your head, holding your mind in chains.
Your body doesn’t move; it won’t move.
You remain rooted in place,
Unable to leave, unable to feel, unable to live.
But you have to move, isn’t that what everyone does?
You have to leave, go somewhere else, be your own person.
You have to feel, meet someone new, be someone new.
You have to live, see the world, be a part of the world.
But you’re still stuck in place, what are you doing here?
January 7, 2025 at 8:21 am
Jon I thought this was a really well written poem. You managed to fit a lot into 10 lines. I really like the idea it brings up about getting a college degree and what it actually means. The expectations that are brought upon you and the expectations to be like others. My favorite line was the 5th one. I thought it brought a powerful message and the repeated “unable to” really gave the poem a nice sound.
January 7, 2025 at 8:44 am
I found many things satisfying in this poem, however a few things I liked the most was the repetition, and also the personification. The repetition I noted down was at the end of the first stanza, where you said “Unable to leave, unable to feel, unable to live,” and throughout the second stanza, with the repetition of the worst “You have to.” These examples help emphasize a sense of urgency and entrapment. The personification in “That question dances in your head…” helps show how often this person thinks about his purpose, and it shows that this question is always bugging them.
January 7, 2025 at 11:57 am
I don’t know if this was your intent, but to me, this reminds me of the feeling of falling behind. Watching others move forward and being ashamed because you yourself don’t want to, or simply cannot muster to will to. This is especially well captured in the line “Unable to leave, unable to feel, unable to live”.