Hello everyone I'm Rafael and welcome to the 76th episode of my poems podcast, where I read poems, talk about them, and try to demystify the art of poem writing. 

News bit: This week I'm pretty busy with work and repairing computers from friends and friends of friends, so not a lot of time to do anything else…       

This week's poem is called "Ain't no grave" that was inspired by a song from Johnny Cash with the same name. The guest poem is called "Reach for the top" that was inspired by a kid's view of the world, from http://AShatteredOne.deviantart.com. Now I'm going to read my poem then the guest poem, I'll talk a bit about both, how I made mine, and a few tips and tricks for those of you who would like to start writing poems but find that too scary or mystical to even dare to try.

Ain't no grave

I'm 6 feet under,

I've been buried,

I'm done with life,

I'm certainly not done with death,

I'm in the land of the unknown,

I'm waiting for the angels to come,

I'm waiting to meet Jesus,

I'm waiting to meet my parents,

I'm waiting to meet everyone I loved,

Gabriel! 

Mr Angel! 

I'm waiting for you! 

Cause,

There's no grave,

Can hold my body down.

So this poem is 100% inspired by the song of Johnny Cash with the same name and you should really listen to it if you want to better understand how this whole poem came together. 

So no need to tell you that this song and this poem is talking about death, but what I like about it it's that it's not talking about death as an end but as a new beginning, which makes the optimistic side of me happy. So because it's talking about death I had to take all the clichés about death and put them into the poem, that's how I started it to put everyone in the mood.

For example, I'm 6 feet under, that's certainly one of the most common expression to describe someone who's dead, then I just added a little more description, saying that I've been buried, and that I'm done with life. Here this last sentence is very important because it has a double meaning. It says I'm done with life, it doesn't say I'm done with death, and that's where the heart of this poem is.

I just say it in the second paragraph just in case you would not have caught the subtlety in the last sentence, I like to leave clues and double meanings in my poems, but at the same time I don't want to leave people in the dark forever, so after they've tried it on their own I give the solution.

I'm in the land of the unknown, that's pretty self explanatory, because nobody could know what is beyond death and come back to tell it, the trip is unknown. 

In the song they talk about angels and because I love them too, I had to include them and it gives the poem a nice touch too, apart from being relevant. 

Some people think that when you die you go meet Jesus and because in the song it's also mentioned, I had to include it. It goes with the fact that some other people think that you might be with your family for all eternity, as well as everyone you ever liked or loved, which you can consider a pretty good place to be. 

Let's bring some fun into this gloomy subject, let's call for Mr. Angel Gabriel! Even though the dead guy has all eternity, even dead it's a pain to wait so he's eagerly waiting for him. 

For what reason? Well because there's no grave that can hold his body down. Here I on purpose didn't put the "that" because in the song it's not, and we can still very much understand the meaning. 

The guest poem for this week is called Reach for the top, and I chose it because it shows very well what kid's dreams can be made of and how to achieve them. 

They don't understand,

They never will

When you're a kid,

You have crazy dreams,

Some may be almost impossible,

But we dream big,

Because we know what they don't know

We know that for you to get anywhere near your dreams,

You need to create the biggest goal for yourself

If you shoot for the top,

You may not make it there,

But you will make it somewhere awesome

Well I don't need to tell you that being a kid is very different from being an adult, and that's why being a kid is so awesome because it lasts for so little, when adulthood you could consider lasts for the rest of your life. 

A kid's view is very different from a grown up one, and that's why they often don't understand each other, and it even might look like the kid is in another world, or even a world of his own, because it might very well be true. I really like the start to be like that as it poses the foundations for everything else that's going to come.

When you're a kid you have crazy dreams, that nobody can deny, because you're not blocked by the view of the world, and things that can't be done, that's also why I think some companies nowadays try to make their creative people regress so that they can be well, more creative. 

Some may be almost impossible, but we dream big. Most geniuses of this century became famous because they tried to do something that everyone else was telling them was impossible, but they did it anyway, so the best way to solve a problem is not to think how difficult or impossible it is, but how can I solve it? The poem really makes me think of someone building a house, the natural progression that it's taking, is just perfect, starting from the ground and going up bit by bit, by explaining each part very simply and effectively. 

Because we know what they don't, that's a powerful sentence, that makes me think that we don't necessarily forget what we where before, but we just evolve, and everything that was past is buried in some corner of our brain waiting for it to go up again. 

We know that for you to get anywhere near your dreams you need to create the biggest goal for yourself. That's just like when you're negotiating, you will give a very high price so that when the other party wants to bargain and brings it down, it's still higher than if you had started with a lower price. That's again something everyone can understand and to make people understand your message you need to make it understandable. I really believe in this, some poems might be very nicely done, but after reading it you don't really know what the author wanted to say, or what it was all about, and that for me is a failed poem. 

If you shoot for the top you might make it there, so it just emphasize the previous two sentences. They're very important, I would even say at the core of the poem. Because it's important to have a dream, but it's even more important to make it a reality. The last sentence, brings everything in perspective and bring the poem to a beautiful end, meaning that even if you don't achieve your dream, you might still achieve something beautiful. 

So that's the end of my poems podcast, where I read poems talk about them and try to demystify the art of poem writing. This week it's all about being positive, so look at the bright side of death, and try to reach for the top, even if you're an adult now, you might get to a beautiful place. Have a great week everyone, see ya!