Bukowski

this is the poem that my poem is based on
"A Poem for my 43rd Birthday"

To end up alone
in a tomb of a room
without cigarettes
or wine--
just a light bulb
and a potbelly,
gray haired,
and glad to have
the room.
and you turn over
to your left side
to get the sun
on your back
and out
of your eyes.
----------
My imitation poem

The wind is freezing
my face and the sheer
atmosphere of the
bars and neon lights
advertising beer
and a dark room for
you to drink it in
is even colder.
My shoes fill up with snow
My coat is torn and
I want to go back
to my cold bed
and my cold apartment
and be alone there
instead

Life of Pi Essay

Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi is, among other things, strongly anti-agnostic. While the book offers atheists a small amount of leeway, it condemns agnostics, deciding them to be without imagination and artistry. Pi, being of numerous faiths is, of course, a wonderful storyteller and a dedicated artist which somehow proves that agnostics aren’t either of these things.

Agnosticism is different depending on whom you ask. Some say it is a belief in God, but a statement that we cannot know the nature of God. Some people omit first half of the former definition, saying that God may or may not exist. Or, to many, it's a claim that we can never truly know if a God exists. Either way.

During the beginning of the book, Pi describes agnostics as doubtful and ignorant saying that “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation”. He feels that agnostics are weak and unable to move forward in life however, for many agnostics, it is not about doubt and not knowing. It is about being honest that it is impossible to claim to know.

Pi is designed to be an open-minded character, not discriminating against any religion. The authors voice does shine through as it should in any book but it seems as though, Pi hardly recognizes agnosticism as a religion at all. While Pi does compare it to other religions it is almost shown to be lack of religion. What Martel fails to see is that agnosticism is not lack of wisdom, but the beginning of it.

Vonnegut story

One day, Hank couldn't breath. One day he woke of and was so sick of the world that he nearly suffocated. When he woke up he had trouble breathing and by the time he got to his art gallery, only a few blocks from his house, air would barely enter his lungs. he stumbled into his office looking for his phone and he, to his surprise, breathed. He wasn't breathing air. he can't anymore. Paint fumes are what saved his life.

Hank lives in a contained space, filled with various chemicals, paint fumes among them. things from his life that he has learned to adapt to. He does nothing but paint. It is almost as vital to him as eating and sleeping are to us but, he doesn’t care about that, he cares about art and when more paints are coming to him and when canvas is coming to him.

I am his caretaker. He can’t see me. To him I could be anyone -- any number of people. I get him his meals and serve it to him through a slot in the door, wearing a mask to make sure that the people in the real world don’t die.