A person will have a people
but a human has a race.
People divide all not alike
yet humans are all the same.
A people will conquer and dominate
while the human cannot relate.
People judge and criticize
and humanity gets all the blame.
Posted Sep 15, 2022, 10:58 AM UTC
The way that the ideas of the individual and the collective are played against one another is wonderful. The poem is satisfying to read as each line flows wonderfully into the next. Great piece.
Thank you.
The themes in your poem are incredible. It effectively highlights the dichotomy of competition in a species that also has a high need for interpersonal connection. We work together to build empires and computers, but in the same vein tear each other down. Perhaps they’re both in our nature?
Thank you.
I am loving the love this has got and am just as shocked that it has elicited such a response!
We have to remember each other and remember to look out for each other.
I resonated with this. Very good work! 10/10.
Thank you.
I really like the concept driving this, and I've enjoyed re-reading it and playing the lines against each other. I think it still could do with minor tweaks to get the flow going and you could maybe delve into the lines a bit more but its great as is
Thank you.
I have thought it might not have said all that it ought and I have looked for areas to tweak but alas... I'm old and I know that's no excuse, lol.
This is really great I think. It has made me think of these two words in way I never have before. We live in a world where group identity often dominates individuality and creates a mob culture. I think this is puts the reality we live in beautifully into words.
Thank you much!
This was great, true, and well pondered. Have my upvote (:
Thank you.
What do upvotes go on the black market these days, I could use a few extra dollas to fail at online dating some more and those places suck not only the money directly out of your pocket but one's spice out of life as well.
Thanks so much for the piece OP! I’ve been reading a TON of American short stories and poetry— which I adore. This feels very reminiscent of a lot of the activist / contemporary poets around Chicago, many of which have incredible pieces attacking the same things you are here! I can’t remember who said it— but I love the sentiment that the person is smart, yet PEOPLE are stupid, together, panicky, irrational, etc. thanks again!
Thank you and you're welcome.
I just Goggled "the person is smart but the people are stupid" and the first hit is: Agent K said it to Agent J in the movie, Men In Black.
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This poem clearly sets out to drive a wedge between two terms that many of us assume to be synonymous. The wedge marks humans as real and organic and people as culturally poisioned and conventional/synthetic. I'm sympathetic to this position, and I think you have some backing in the etymology. Human is related to humus, the soil, and the earth. It's literally latin for earthling (or soiling (or Adam)). Person is related to performance, masks, and acting. It also was popularized in a latin phrase of governance used to officially mark people as acceptable or unacceptable (grata, non grata).
P.S. Consider removing the word all in the final line. Imo, your writing feels swifter and hits harder without it.
Thank you.
As I recall, the word *all* in the final line may have come from the inner debate on whether to use *takes* instead of *gets*. Thinking about it now I think I am still on the fence with that one.