Nomen est omen
and we all have a place in society.
Why is somebody named Judas?
Why is somebody named Cain?
Are we judging people through the stigmata
their names are holding?
Are we putting shame on them without
asking them, how are they feeling and
are the rumors valid?
The world is a prison,
only the walls
of the buildings
look different
if you are living in South Carolina,
Sicily,
Scotland,
or Finland.
We all have our primitive needs,
and many people consciously
justify their greedy and lustful actions
by saying “we are nothing more than monkeys
and there’s no such thing as G-d,
only a void in which we will drop into when we die,
so, I have no need to try to be polite
or kind towards the others.”
Oh, woe.
Nomen est omen, and the world is a prison:
everybody’s trying to figure out the meaning of life
and if nothing else works
they are trying to pull
the other prisoners down.
How can I gain my enlightenment,
how can I reach Cloud Nine
when I’m in this mosh pit
of negativity,
surrounded by the clay monsters
without any heart?
Paula Puolakka is a Beat poet, writer, and MA (History of Science and Ideas.) In July 2019, her poems will be a part of 2019 Woody Guthrie Poets anthology “Speak Your Mind” (Village Books Press: OK, USA) and the 2019 Cathal Bui Anthology (Ireland.) In July and August, Puolakka is also the remote participant of the poetry workshop held by Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry. Her work will also be displayed on July 9 through Nine Muses Poetry as a part of their poetry challenge. To give the poem some background, Puolakka’s first name does mean “small” in Latin, but in Finnish, her name means a “fine lace that will gently capture the others into her firm grip.” Also, everything you have ever heard of her is not true. She knows her own life, nobody has ever asked her if the rumors are correct or not. She’s single and if she wasn’t, you would not hear anybody talking about it.