Poetry journal #2

The World Is Not a Pleasant Place to Be by Nikki Giovanni(p. 226 - Imprints)

The world is not a pleasant place
to be without
someone to hold and be held by

a river would stop
its flow if only
a stream were there
to receive it

an ocean would never laugh
if clouds weren't there
to kiss her tears

the world is not
a pleasant place to be without
someone

I think the poem "The world is not a pleasant place to be" is very interesting, because it reminds me on how I feel sometimes when something is going the wrong way with my friends.
I feel empty, dull, and I just don't want to do anything. I don't feel like laughing or having fun. I am just sitting somewhere, starring, without feeling my own body.
Especially during the last couple month I had this feeling more often. Although I have a lot of friends here, I still miss my old, really close friends that I know from kindergarten.
They know me so good that they always get a smile on my face, even in the worst moments. I think the peom makes this feeling very clear and strong.

Therefore, the speaker uses a lot of personification in his poem. "An ocean would never laugh" is one quote that refers to that. The ocean symbolises the sad person that needs somebody to talk to. The helping persons on the other side are the clouds "clouds [that are there] to kiss her tears" and make the other person feel better. The part shows how important those realtionships are and that everybody needs somebody at some time. To show this strong thought, the speaker uses repetition in the beginning and ending of the peom. He makes very clear at the beginning on what the peom is about and in the end he reminds the reader again on that.
Other poetic techniques used by the speaker are methaphors. The second stanza as a whole is a metaphor. "A river would stop its flow if only a stream were there to receive it " shows the reader in another way again the importance of connections or relationsships to other people.


http://www.wildernesstrips.com/images/rogue-river-whitewater.jpg
I think this picture relates very good to the peom, because it shows that even if there is a breaking point in our lifes, we are strong enough to get over it when we work all together and other people are there that care about us.