“Carpe Diem…”
A poet’s immortal words prominent in my premiere promptsponsive tanka to Sahil Patel’s challenge
The prompt: Write a poem about the thing that you want to change in yourself?
Procrastination A defense mechanism Leads to stagnation Heed Horace’s homily Arrive at destination
I have battled procrastination my entire life. Some would call it laziness. I get that, but that does not paint the correct picture. I enjoy putting in the work, more so if I like the work. Having a high level of intelligence, I have for the most part gotten away with procrastination. Have I though? I have had to live with the stress of looking at the horrible messes on my desks for months at a time over the course of countless years.
Just getting by does not lead to progress.
As written by Elaine Birchall, MSW, RSW, and Suzanne Cronkwright in their blogposts in Psychology Today:
Are you procrastinating and having difficulty maintaining your initial enthusiasm to declutter, or are you taking other actions that you want/need more in your life than the mental, physical, and spatial clutter that surrounds you and weighs you down? Perhaps getting started is where you get blocked.
They note in their next blog in their procrastination series that often procrastinators have “vulnerabilities about self-esteem.”
I certainly had those.
Even though I have conquered those issues and transformed by fears into superpowers
I confidently state that my transformation from a sniveling, dependent-personality, people-pleasing weakling to a Superman, who does not hide his identity behind that former Clark-Kent alter-ego, proudly astounds me
I still find the bad habit of procrastination hard to break.
I chalk this up to the first prong of what Sebastian Purcell, PhD taught me about what the stoic and Aztec philosphers preach about willpower:
What Epictetus is saying, effectively, is that
1. one part of willpower concerns the ability to do what is disagreeable,
2. another part concerns willing not to do something, and
3. a final part concerns knowing what you truly want in the first place.
These are, in short, your will-to, will-not-to, and want-to powers.
From which I repurposed the serenity prayer to:
Gods, please breathe into me the strength to do with serenity that for which I have distaste; the strength to say no to burning desires; and the wisdom to know that my path will lead to what I truly need and serene happiness will ensue.
So where does Horace fit into all this?
His full injunction, “carpe diem quam minimum credula postero,” can be translated as “pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one,” but carpe diem alone has come to be used as shorthand for this entire idea, which is more widely known as “seize the day.” Tomorrow will be dying. — Source
I chose to describe his words as a homily, besides about my adoring alliteration, because the word describes a “discourse that is intended primarily for spiritual edification rather than doctrinal instruction.” Source.
Not surprisingly, Horace’s quote has lost its proper context through misapplication of metaphors across language barriers.
As Latin scholar Maria S. Marsilio points out, “carpe diem” is a horticultural metaphor that, particularly seen in the context of the poem, is more accurately translated as “plucking the day,” evoking the plucking and gathering of ripening fruits or flowers, enjoying a moment that is rooted in the sensory experience of nature. “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may” is the famed Robert Herrick version. But let’s not be persnickety; aren’t these merely two different metaphors that mean essentially the same thing?
Well, yes and no. It’s an example of one of the more telling ways that we mistranslate metaphors from one language to another, revealing in the process our hidden assumptions about what we really value. Metaphors may map to similar meanings across languages, but their subtle differences can have a profound effect on our understanding of the world.
Ironically, Robin Williams’ character, while seeking to teach his students to look at the world in a conforming manner, actually falls into the trap of conformimg to how “seize the day” and other phrases have “been co-opted by advertisers to sell us more things that we’re told will make us happier.”
I like how that connects the dots to Melanie J.’s response today to the same prompt:
why can’t you let me breathe? why do I need to be placed inside a box? I just want to be me, free of all these labels that dictate who I should be.
Please, please, please do hit that link and read Melanie’s excellent poexsayplanation (neologism Tree Langdon?) of that fine poem.
In my view, poets who confidently explain their poetry really care about their message, and those that eschew explanations, are arrogant and egotistical.
Tagging these fine poets from the world of Diana C.’s Know Thyself, Heal Thyself — Sahil’s prompt very much fits the pub: Rita Duponty, Carolyn F. Chryst, Ph.D., Anthi Psomiadou, Claire Kelly, Joseph Lieungh, Stuart Englander, Tree Langdon, Dr. Fatima Imam and Dr. Preeti Singh for participation.
In Rama I create,
