Matthew Dickmans Prescription of Good Life - Research Paper Example

Matthew Dickman’s Prescription of Good Life Matthew Dickman’s book, “All-American Poem” contains a number of poems that speak about his mind. His style is unique is simple as he draws everything from his own experiences and from the world around him. Like Whitman, he uses simple vocabulary and easy expressions that are not difficult to comprehend. According to his prescription of a good life, people are required to enjoy themselves and be happy. They must indulge in activities that give them peace and happiness. In this essay, three poems from his book, “All-American Poem” are taken that are American Standard, American Studies and All-American Poem. The poet’s style and expression match the daily lives of American people, so he appears a poet of the people who writes for the people and they can related with his experiences as his experiences are similar or somewhat grounded in American culture. This paper scrutinizes three of the above-mentioned poems in terms of poet’s prescription of good life. The poem, American Standard starts with the poet talking about his readings while sitting on the toilet seat as he says, “I have spent many hours, sitting on the toilet, reading………….” (Dickman 1-2) He elaborates about his reading experiences and his comprehension related to those readings. His toilet as a whole was constructed by a company named as American Standard and he relates his experiences of using the toilet with the formation of American standard. He wants people to enjoy themselves and involve in partying for their happiness and merriment, as being a part of American society, people are allowed to enjoy as they like. There are also some ill happenings in life, but as per the poet’s perspective, a person should ignore his losses and try to be happy by clubbing, doing sex and going to parties. He elaborates about his activities in the toilet and connects them to his happiness. He also wants to be as comfortable while being in toilet and is not ready to hurry up. At the end of the poem, when he recalls about his visit of Africa, he seems to mention the African Americans in America whom he regards to be kind and friendly people. His poem informs about the activities what American people usually do. He poem, American Standard not only appears as a narrative of his experience and his life, but also about the accommodation that America gives to foreigners such as African Americans who have migrated from Africa to settle in America. He says, “the American Standard taking whatever you give it, flushing, and then filling back up with water” (Dickman 22-23) Everything that goes into the American Standard becomes a part of it or melts into it such as African Americans have become a part of America and its pop culture. The poet mentions in the poem about partying and get together of people along with his sex with a women who is engaged to a man from Colorado. He informs people about the merriments of life and what prospective steps they can take in life. For example, when he is in the toilet, he enjoys readings and his readings are not restricted to poetry, adventure, or anything. His readings are expanded to various fields, he reads magazines, comics, newspapers, books and so on. He presents the very idea of happiness in life and what is advantageous to people in enabling them to be happy. The poem, American Studies is about an artist who marvels in her activities and all her activities are connected to art. Being an artist is life to her as the poet says, “There’s an artist that lives nearby Whose life, she says, is her art.” (Dickman 1-2) According to the poet, every person can define his or her happiness in life and can select activities that make them happy. The poet mentions about the accommodativeness and flexibility of the artist when she is ready to be happy at any cost by indulging in all the activities that make her happy as an artist. After mentioning about the happy artist, he also presents the narration about the guy in New York who pull out a gun to shoot himself in the foot. Comparatively, the other person was a sadist and chose to be unhappy. Therefore, the poet believes that it is in people’s own hands to be happy and to adopt the path of being cheerful. No one can make the other person happy if he, himself is not interested. Life can be tragic as well as comic. A person has to choose his own way of living. He talks about Ralph Stanley’s saying, “cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine, we’ll understand it all by and by. And by and by we do” (Dickman 22-24) The poet wants people to be happy like the happy artist, not unhappy like the unhappy artist. He advises in the end of the poem to “Cheer up” and it is the best prescription of a good life. Whatever makes one happy should be adopted as per poet’s prescription. All-American Poem again asks people to enjoy their lives as the poet says, “Let’s live downtown and go clubbing. God save hip-hop and famous mixed drinks. Let’s live in the cardboard box………….” (Dickman 6-8) The poet wants people to live the way they like without taking care of anything. He asks people to go for clubbing, enjoying hip-hop and having drinks, whatever pleases them. The whole poem appears as a plea to people that asks them to live. The poet uses the word live a number of times with multiple options that appear pleasing to him to recommend people to choose what suits them as per their liking. In All-American Poem, the poet mentions a number of states and regions making himself related to every American living in every part of America. He talks to different states and gives them loving names ensuring his love for every part of America as he says, “You are everywhere, sweet Carolinas. You’re my boss, Tennessee, you honeysuckle. Give us a kiss Hawaii.” (Dickman 29-31) His tone is patriotic, the poem as a whole appears loving, and calls people to live with love in all parts of America. The poet also mentions about America being at war, but still, he wants people to be happy and live. For him, no activity is illegal until and unless, it is for the merriment of a person. He mentions about a girl taking ecstasy that is a drug, but he considers her happy, so her activity as per poet’s consideration is not illegal. He extracts the content of the poem from daily life and never shies from mentioning anything. He adds his experiences and his imaginations for enabling people to observe their criteria for happiness without getting involved in melancholic thoughts about their lives. All the living should be based on enjoyment whether it is with the usage of drugs, drinks, music or any other ecstatic activity. Indulging in activity that is adding to one’s happiness is justified and should be adopted by people of America living in various parts of the country. America as a whole should become a happy place and people should forget about war or troubles. Matthew Dickman’s prescription of good life is enjoyment in all kinds of activities that give pleasure to people. He thinks that whatever is useful for giving enjoyment or pleasure is justifiable. The three poems, American Standard, American Studies and All-American Poem, show poet’s aspiration of people’s happiness and enjoyment as the central theme of his poems. Works Cited Dickman, Matthew. All-American Poem. American Poetry Review, 2008. Read More