At Least I Flew - By: Jiten Thapar

I dived,

My father’s wax wings slicing through the sky,

The radiating sun, unravelling my wings

As I collapse towards the sea,

Wind carrying my laughter and a cry.

Every heartbeat traced the thrill of impossibility.

Yet I held back,

I felt the warmth.

One moment,

Gravity is nothing but a word.

Another moment,

I am soaring, softening into the horizon.

Fearless, lightweight.

Then the fall comes.

Yet even during the descent,

I know at least I flew

And in that last flight,

I touched everything I had ever wanted to be.

Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.

In the poem that I wrote, “At Least I Flew”, I respond to Jacob Peter Gowy and his art piece, The Fall of Icarus. I make this reaction by highlighting the tragedy where Icarus is falling but also the beauty of how brave his flight was. Compared to many of the other interpretations of the painting that focus on themes of loss and failure, punishment, and limited ambition, my poem contrasts those and focuses more on the victory that Icarus felt during the risk of his flight as he had the courage to cross the boundaries that he was demanded to stay between. The painting was characterized by my peers and they believed it to be a sort of symbol for doom, exemplifying the fear and inevitability of the fall. These reactions shaped my poem and how I composed it as they encouraged me to provide a sense of balance between Icarus’ flight and the seriousness of his fall. This can be seen in the lines where I wrote “One moment, Gravity is really nothing, just a word” and “I am soaring, softening into the horizon”. This is the way where my ambition and Icarus’ are alike and how both of ours cover the limitation of the flight. The artwork and my poem both build up to the part where although human ambition is delicate, it still has a significant purpose due to the sun and wings which are symbolic of the risk and aspirations in life. My text and Gowy’s are both interpreting Icarus’ flight while exploring our own personal lives at the same time. I wrote the poem as if I were Icarus and our lives aligned, showing that through the voice of Icarus, he is not arrogant, rather he is just someone who is willing to take a risk. My poem adds on a message that there is always success in failure, making his fall look like a lesson to the importance of taking risks in life.

Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.

Honestly, it was just a flow that really came to me at a time of darkness in my life. I truly thought that I was never a writer and that English was not my strong suit, but I was consistently told to write about my feelings. I chose to follow that advice and I began to write and while writing I tried a variety of methods like journalling and letters. And none of those really stuck to me so I moved onto poetry. I was tired of people always seeing evil and cruel teen things that can be beautiful and the main thing that made me want to write this was the fact that there can be something beautiful in even the most evil list of things. I began to write this about myself, but further, it became a poem about Icarus and his flight. I used Icarus as my medium to convey my feelings and to have fallen means to have flown so with that in mind, I just let my pen and paper do the work for me.

Why did you choose to write this poem?

I wrote this poem because since I was in a dark place at my life, I needed to channel out my feelings in any sort of way. Originally, I was embarrassed about having to write out how I feel, but it really did help me and writing became a hobby to such an extent where I would write about different pieces all day.

Do you have any tips or anything to share with the youth writers who may be reading this?

Don't try to sound poetic, but instead try sounding like you're a true person and you're just trying to express the way you feel. Poetry isn't written because people want to become famous or for the reason that you may believe. Poetry is written because sometimes emotion must be expressed, and no one should be embarrassed to express that emotion. Collect your images together and don't just write little feelings; write what makes yourself true.