Years of accumulated rage or fear or sorrow
you thought safely buried, converted to fertile soil,
burn like a peat fire thought extinguished,
dressed in flowering dogwood and jewel weed,
undetectable behind eyes calm as summer sky.
Then suddenly a smoke wraith appears,
a small flame licks a stand of dry cat tails,
All the beautiful animals inside you panic,
frogs seek moist mud to bury themselves
thrush and vireo nests turn to ash in seconds,
to the houses of those who live near you.
You bring in all the fire suppression you can muster,
helicopter drops of clenched fists and teeth,
you try to douse the fire with drink
though you know alcohol is fuel for fire;
you set backfires with cigarettes and weed,
and after awhile the fire seems extinguished,
the fire has only retreated below ground again
where hot spots can smolder even under a blanket of snow.
Some people believe they must hide who they are to be better. Fearing they wont be accepted they try to change themselves. Not being one of the best of society and being looked down upon, they try to hide their past. To escape their kind they change their personality and try to match their character to the more 'beautiful' way. They go on fooling not only others but themselves as well. However they do not know that the truth always comes out. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby explores the theme of pretension, by revealing how the lower class people of society put up a facade in order to be affiliated with an arrogant, superior class.
Newly rich are disillusioned by glamour and believe money can bring them happiness. Though some only believe that money could bring them happiness, others fall in love, not with not their lovers, but with the glamorous lives their lovers live. Everything around them is made beautiful because of the money they own and the clothes they were. In the short story "Rags Martin-Jones and the Pr_nce of W_...