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The Flea Trainer
| Open Poetry #49 |
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The Flea Trainer |
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Namyh Senior Member
since 2009-01-20
Posts 988 |
The Flea Trainer I can see fleas on tiny seesaws, sitting tiny swings that sway, contented and bored to just pass the time. How came they conditioned this way ? First put the fleas within a jar then place the lid on top. The fleas will jump and jump and jump hitting glass and lid with knocks and after a while the muscles condition the jump to avoid the pain of colliding with lid and glass so hard, over and over again. You can remove the lid. Let out the fleas, even put them on swings that sway. They’ll jump, but within the limits imposed on muscles conditioned this way. We start out fresh to climb the mountain, to leave our marks on Life, to jump the stumbling stones of living and clear the hurdles of strife but we bang our heads. We skin our knees. We fracture our hopes and means. So when we jump, it’s not so high. Conditioning has stolen our Dreams! From the corner of my eye, I spyed the jar. Without lid, there’s a chance to get out. Yet the fleas within just could not do it, with freedom as close as a shout. But my eyes perceived a single flea, jumping high and above the rest, looking for the opening at the top of the jar where freedom is the dream and the quest. Each time he jumped, it seemed much higher, defying his conditioning to win. I found myself cheering on this flea now showing me the Hero within. With eyes face up for one giant leap to clear the barrier, the bar, it lunged past fleas and the opening at the top. This flea-trainer jumped “Out” of the jar. I roared. The fleas in the jar were shocked! I clapped. Disbelief ran fast. But there was no denying this Will of one flea, now looking from the other side of the glass. I learned from the “insignificant” where significant wisdom is free that it’s not the size of the flea in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the flea. Being beaten will no longer defeat me, tho’ I’m hammered on Life’s anvil and scarred. No longer will circumstances crush my Dreams. I’m a Flea ‘trained to jump’ from the jar. Namyh |
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| © Copyright 2015 Namyh - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Lori Grosser Rhoden Member Patricius
since 2009-10-10
Posts 10202Fair to middlin' of nowhere |
You tell a great truth here. A lesson I'm afraid I forget often, underachiever that I am. Good job! ~L |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Namyh.I loved this story very much.Who would have thought a tiny flea could have such lessons to give. It also reminded a a game we use to play.We would hold out our hand and say we had a flea in it. Then ask whom ever we so tagged to please hold it's tiny coat so it could jump and the person always complied. we then asked the person to hold the hat, all the while pretending the flea needed to rid itself of these items in order to show itself and jump. Soon the person so tagged would say they could see no flea and it was then we asked "why do you hold his hat and coat?" Silly as most games for kids, But we loved it. Best to you Namyh |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Absolutely good poetry, Namyh, concerning the ability to give odds on those who do not believe we have the iron will to not be defeated. Very good . . . ~ My inner world is my paradise and i am its keeper ~ |
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Mr Martini Member Posts 366 Beneath The Line |
Wisdom, it is said, comes with age Namyh, and you expound much wisdom in your poem. However, a key component in that wisdom was this line: "it’s not the size of the flea in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the flea". Now let's look at a famous quote from Mark Twain: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog". Give credit when and where it is due. Any schoolboy could have spotted the aberration. Au Revoir Here's to you and here's to me and should we ever disagree, here's to me! |
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Namyh Senior Member
since 2009-01-20
Posts 988 |
Lori – Isn’t it ironic that many achievers were at one time underachievers but they just kept on achieving until they weren’t underachievers anymore, like a flea inside a jar who keeps jumping until he’s a flea outside the jar. File this lesson under “F” for fleaology Lori and pull it out when most needed. Thanks for spending a spell to enjoy. Namyh |
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Namyh Senior Member
since 2009-01-20
Posts 988 |
latearrival - Perhaps that conditioning jar is not much different from our conditioning world, each with its limitations imposed on the creatures living in it. Yet fortunately we have been engineered to break the bonds which prevent us from jumping from the jar and to defy the limitations holding us back from progressing one small step ahead. Kinda makes me proud to be a member of a flea species called Man, existing and happy to be alive playing in the tag game of life just like a kid. Thanks latearrival. Namyh |
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Mr Martini Member Posts 366 Beneath The Line |
Namyh, do you wish then to ignore that you plagiarized a quote from Mark Twain and incorporated into your poem? By changing 'dog' to 'flea', does not make it yours. As a member of other poetry sites, its known to me that you have posted this same poem using Twain's quote. "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog" - Mark Twain I repeat, "give credit when and where it is due. Any schoolboy could have spotted the aberration". Here's to you and here's to me and should we ever disagree, here's to me! |
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Namyh Senior Member
since 2009-01-20
Posts 988 |
Mr. Martini - Mark Twain was no doubt proud of his creative words he wrote decades ago and I give him great credit. However, I take equally great pride in my creative words written today and decades later which were not co-opted, altered, plagiarized, changed or stolen and which prove by their appreciating historical readership that I don’t have to take to be productive or steal to be imaginative, a lesson for all schoolboys everywhere prone to point a finger and quick to make a blame. If I expounded much wisdom in my poem, as you say I did, and that phrase was a key, I hope it turned a lock and set free any doubting thoughts which may have been in jail. Perhaps I should indeed start to read the works of Mark Twain, since I never have before. Thanks for the motivation Mr. Martini. Namyh |
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Namyh Senior Member
since 2009-01-20
Posts 988 |
JerryP - That determined flea had heart but it didn’t let fear stop it, past failures weaken it or other flea opinions deflate its intent. We can learn a lot from that flea about risk, leaping and confronting the odds head-on. Perhaps, there is an iron-willed flea trainer in each of us more than we know. Thanks for being drawn to this fable and flying over this way to enjoy the poetry of it all JP. Makes a poet pert proud. Namyh |
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Mr Martini Member Posts 366 Beneath The Line |
Nothing you said was true. I know it and you know it. You gave Mark Twain no credit and its completely obvious that you changed his quote to fit your poem, furthering your plagiarism by now claiming the entire quote was yours, having "never read Mark Twain". |
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Namyh Senior Member
since 2009-01-20
Posts 988 |
Mr. Martini – Take this to heart or don’t. I have no intention of subverting my hard earned creativity to please you over the coincidental phrasing of words separating two authors by decades. He has his words and I have mine and never the Twain did meet, despite your petulant persistence that it did. Get over it! OR Get passed it! I have…and with a clear conscience too! Namyh [This message has been edited by Namyh (12-03-2015 07:47 PM).] |
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Mr Martini Member Posts 366 Beneath The Line |
"Mr. Martini – Take this to heart or don’t". Alright, fair enough Namyh...I don't. But in the interest of fair play, a second opinion. |
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Ticklefingers Senior Member Posts 710 Louisiana |
As long as you two want to have at, why not compromise with something like this: quote:It really is good poetry, but I'll not get further into the discussion. I like you both. How you say, "can't we all be friends"?  88's boys She told me "play one for your supper Danny and maybe you'll get breakfast". |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
A writer could go their whole life without ever reading Shakespeare (though I can't imagine why they would!) and still find themselves standing on his shoulders in almost everything they pen. Never mind that he coined 1700 words we use every day, by changing nouns to verbs, verbs into adjectives, adding prefixes and suffixes, and even devising words wholly original. Have you used the word "bedroom" lately? Yep, Shakespeare was the first to join those two words into one. And don't forget the phrases. It hard not to copy The Bard every time we write about "bated breath" (The Merchant of Venice), "refuse to budge an inch" (The Taming of the Shrew), "cold comfort" (The Taming of the Shrew), "dead as a doornail" (Henry VI Part II), "devil incarnate" (Henry V), "fancy-free" (A Midsummer Night's Dream), "forever and a day" (As You Like It), "for goodness' sake" (Henry VIII), "forgone conclusion" (Othello), "full circle" (King Lear), "good riddance" (Troilus and Cressida), "heart of gold" (Henry V), "love is blind" (Merchant of Venice), or maybe "wild goose chase" (Romeo and Juliet). And that's just a handful of instance among scores. Indeed, there's a marvelous poem at the top of today's page called Yours For The Taking that owes it's entire premise to Shakespeare. "But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve" is a direct quote from Othello, Act 1 Scene 1, where those words came together for the first time in the English language. Shakespeare is the apex of a very large mountain. There are many, many others, albeit to a lesser extent, we don't have to ever read or study to nonetheless find ourselves paying tribute to, even if perhaps we often do so inadvertently. Mark Twain is certainly part of that mountain. Namyh says he's never read Twain, and I have no reason to doubt him. He says he didn't base his words on the very well knows words of Twain, and again, I have no reason to doubt him. No one, however, will ever convince me he's never seen, read or heard Twain's immortal lines. It may have been decades ago, and he no doubt no longer remembers when or where, but I am certain Twain's phraseology lodged itself into his subconscious at some point and subsequently leaked out of his pen ever so slightly modified. It's up to him, I guess, whether he want to retroactively recognize the debt he owes? The human memory is a funny thing. |
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BluesSerenade Member Patricius
since 2001-10-23
Posts 10549By the Seaside |
Ron is a class act, his comments are what makes passions in poetry what it is, what it once was, and why I keep lurking when my words run dry. I have so many great memories. Happy holidays to you all. Now where's my santa hat!? |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
...and all this time I thought that phrase came from Vince Lombardi! |
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Mr Martini Member Posts 366 Beneath The Line |
While your knowledge of Shakespeare is impressive Ron, it seems you've over-dressed for the dance. This is quite different from 2 or 3 word phrases which became cliche' in our adopted language. In a courtroom other than yours, there would be stiff penalties to pay for encroaching on someones 'intellectual property'. Even an elementary review of the long lines in Mark Twains' quote with Namyh's and having just one word altered, is beyond the scope of 'reasoning' and the laws of probability. In other words, the odds against Namyh coming up with his line "coincidentally", word for word with the exception of his "flea" for Twain's "dog", are astronomical. He's a better salesman than a writer and you just bought his goods. Since your word is the last around here, I'll not pursue the matter any further. Here's to you and here's to me and should we ever disagree, here's to me! |
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