#!/usr/bin/perl

use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;


my $storm = [

    "Every want without a pleasure.\n",
    "Cries to each beyond unheard.\n",
    "Softly spun, bound in isolation\n",
    "and placed in the abundant caress\n",
    "of an infinite stillness.",

];
    
my @stillness = (
        
    $storm->[0], 
    $storm->[1], 
    $storm->[2], 
    $storm->[3], 
    $storm->[4]

);

say @stillness[0..4];

[download]

"...the adversities born of well-placed thoughts should be considered mercies rather than misfortunes." — Don Quixote

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Storms in the Stillness
by luis.roca (Deacon) on Feb 13, 2011 at 21:38 UTC

    Even if only for the sake of TMTOWTDI and learning. :) 

    #!/usr/bin/perl

use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;

my $stillness = [

    "Every want without a pleasure.",
    "Cries to each beyond unheard.",
    "Softly spun, bound in isolation",
    "and placed in the abundant caress",
    "of an infinite stillness.",

];
    
foreach my $storms (@$stillness) {
        say "$storms";
    };

    [download]

    "...the adversities born of well-placed thoughts should be considered mercies rather than misfortunes." — Don Quixote
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Storm in Stillness
by ELISHEVA (Prior) on Feb 14, 2011 at 08:04 UTC

    Nice poem and good use of Perl to reinforce the message.

    A poetry comment, not a Perl one. Might you consider changing that last line from "infinite stillness" to "adj stillness". "outward stillness" might not be exactly what you want, but something like that.

    If I understand your poem you are exploring the mutability of storm and stillness. My sense is that you are using "infinite" as an intensifier, but I think it might be confusing your message. If one can change into the other without notice or over time, or if one hides the other, then neither is actually infinite. In fact they bound each other. Any infinity as exists comes not from their own boundlessness but rather from their connection to one another (switching back and forth again and again over time.).

[reply]

      I very much enjoyed your interpretation. I wrote this about a month ago now and had been focusing more on how to create a program that reinforced the poem (still debatable as to whether or not I succeeded — maybe a closure?) Your comment became a topic of conversation as I drove my wife to work and revisited the poem with her — so thank you. :)

      What I think makes the intention unclear is the equating of 'storms' with pain. For me, storms actually define both good and bad. Sometimes they can overtake one another and that day the painful ones were more dominant in my thoughts. I had also been thinking a lot about the writing of Jorge Luis Borges who sometimes examined the infinite both outward and inward (The Library of Babylon is one example). So I tried combining the two concepts into one poem.

      I can see if one looks at 'storm(s)' and stillness as interdependent siblings the poem is a little off. Since I focused here on an incomplete equating of 'storms' with pain it makes how I visualzed the relationship confusing. The storm of a terminal illness in a family is an example that fits the description in the poem. As we know there are also storms like the wave of inspiration that hits a composer driving the artist to create one of thier greatest works.

      I started seeing storms as inherintly coming from within. The more examination and the deeper one digs the more of these storms we find. Within ourselves, nature etc. You are correct (at least as I'm concerned) in saying they are mutible (fickle) and always replaced by another. (Usually even creating the one that will replace them.) There are ALWAYS storms.

      When I look outward there always seems to be an encompassing structure. This 'stillness' compliments the energy of the storm and simultaneously 'contains' those storms. A galaxy containing stars and planets. Our emotions kept in check by responsiblities bigger than ourselves. Yet if I examine it further sometimes the results of those storms are the very thing containing the new ones. The storms become the stillness.

      As you can see I'm still figuring out how to paint the relationship. ;) The poem(s) and art are just excercises that show the progress in my thinking. Sketchbook work.

      Thanks again for your thoughts.
      Luis


      "...the adversities born of well-placed thoughts should be considered mercies rather than misfortunes." — Don Quixote
[reply]

        In my experience even storms of pain have seeds of stillness, hope and healing within, provided we are willing to feel the pain and work it through. It is not for nothing that in the classic stages of grief, acceptance (note:not resignation) comes after depression and anger, not before. I'm sorry for whatever loss you or those close to you are going through or have gone through recently. There are certain sorts of wisdom one always hopes one's friends have no reason to know.

        You might also find it interesting that one of the most prominent words for peace in Biblical Hebrew is "shalom" which is related to completeness and wholeness and also implies peace after a storm or battle. Stillness or calm, in the sense of an absence of tension, is an entirely different word (ragua). The two separate meanings persist to this day in modern Hebrew.

        I love your signature quote by the way.

[reply]

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