Words Loose From Their Docks - a poem about Abstractions

Words cut loose from their docks
sailing out in the open sea
just past your vision,
a mirage dancing the waves.

'Society' floats with a big blanket for a mast,
mooring out into past the horizon,
never touching its hull to the sand.

'Justice' has never docked,
perhaps it is a spectral ship
having no man stepping on the deck.

Have you ever seen 'Democracy'
and watched sailors join her rank?

Or sailed past 'time'
and seen rot and the effects of age?

Were the images defined?
Could you see it in the clear?

Floating loose, gone from control
trolling, rolling
separated from the center

What is 'justice?' Can you see our 'rights?'

Abstract, abstract -
pull language further from the docks.





synopsis: The words like 'society' in the metaphor of the poem are ships, but also are words high up on the abstraction ladder, having little observational referent in reality. Thus in the metaphor these ships/words have been released from the docks/reality. The ideas/ships exist abstractly, and thus are hinted to be spectral, or bordering between existing in reality and in the imagination. However, people rarely think about the word choice used to create our mindsets or form our ideas and truly consider what 'justice' or 'society' means. This makes us vunerable in the sense that a spinster politician or leader can weave a beautiful picture of ideals promoting a 'harmonious society,' or 'social justice' when in essence we have no true definition (much less a thing that these truly refer to) to the words. Thus through the use of words high up on the abstraction ladder we sail the ship of language and understanding further and further from the docks, taking our worldviews further from reality and more into idealism (which is not altogether bad, but something we should be aware of.) Word choice often sounds so good because it has little referent for us to have negative experiences with, or often so bad because of the connotations (or subjective feelings) placed on the words by repeated use in speeches and no true experience of the word because it lacks referent. Words are powerful things for deciding our world view and how we are geared to make snap judgments. It is important that we take responsibility and acknowledge the power of words and search for the true meaning and intention behind any abstract word (which in a sense is every single word, but go higher up on the ladder to make this manageable.)