A Few Words On The Soul
emotional intellect, as well as the part of you that
We have a soul at times.
No one’s got it non-stop,
for keeps.
Day after day,
year after year
may pass without it.
Sometimes
it will settle for awhile
only in childhood’s fears and raptures.
Sometimes only in astonishment
that we are old.
It rarely lends a hand
in uphill tasks,
like moving furniture,
or lifting luggage,
or going miles in shoes that pinch.
It usually steps out
whenever meat needs chopping
or forms have to be filled.
For every thousand conversations
it participates in one,
if even that,
since it prefers silence.
Just when our body goes from ache to pain,
it slips off-duty.
It’s picky:
it doesn’t like seeing us in crowds,
our hustling for a dubious advantage
and creaky machinations make it sick.
Joy and sorrow
aren’t two different feelings for it.
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: A soul is your morals, your
supposedly is you
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Sentence pattern emphasizes
how time passes without a soul, like normal time
passes
5
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Children are often believed to be
more emotional and pure, less corrupted by the world
around us
10
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: I like this sentiment, but I can't
quite figure out why. It reminds me of a person looking
back on their life and realizing how much has
happened, and maybe being grateful for your life is
what gives you soul
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ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Boring everyday tasks don't
require your soul, which makes sense. (By these rules,
I don't have a soul right now, weird to think about)
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Soul purposefully ignored when
20 hard things to justify are done, like eating meat. This is
true for me, I don't like to think that the meat I'm eating
used to be alive, so my soul "steps out" so I don't have
to deal with the moral and emotional implications
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Most conversations don't mean
anything, commenting on how fake people are?
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ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: People don't like feeling negative
emotions, so sometimes it's easier to try not to feel.
This is a problem I struggle with, so it's very relatable
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: This doesn't make sense to me. I
30 think it's saying when we are actually hurt, we don't
have a soul...
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Ignoring the bad parts of ourself
is like shutting off your soul occassionally
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: The first page seems to
emphasize the absence of our soul, which creates a

It attends us
only when the two are joined.
We can count on it
when we’re sure of nothing
and curious about everything.
Among the material objects
it favors clocks with pendulums
and mirrors, which keep on working
even when no one is looking.
It won’t say where it comes from
or when it’s taking off again,
though it’s clearly expecting such questions.
We need it
but apparently
it needs us
for some reason too.
translated from Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh
more negative mood, not because of the word choice
but because we are forced to recognize how we leave
our soul out of our lives
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Contrasting words, but the next
line says there is no contrast (contrast in sentences)
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Joy and sorrow together, a very
meaningful feeling, soul only comes around during
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times of deeper meaning and understanding?
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Tying back to child-like curiosity,
more soul when like a child?
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: This page gives more hope,
40 helping us understand our soul is still there, and we
can choose to use it more often. It also emphasizes
the importance of the relationship between people and
souls
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: This says we are the ones who
45 are getting rid of our soul in our everyday lives, by
comparing it to something that is still there even when
people don't care to see it
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Personifying soul; we are
working together with it
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: Clarifying the symbiotic
relationship between people and souls in short lines
gives the message emphasis
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: I think this poem is
commentating on the fact people leave morals and
true emotions out of their lives more than they realize,
and incites that recognition within readers.
ANNIKA DAMSTEDT: The author uses authorial
choices such as word choice, line length, and
metaphors to place emphasis on certain ideas