Synopsis of selections from Stick-Paul's Poetry Anthology

Good Day,

I have received many confused e-mails from you, Stick-Paul's adoring and unworthy fans, in which you have expressed your inability to decifer the meaning of Stick-Pauls verse with even the remotest accuracy. I have decided to post brief synopses of the selections in order to put an end to the stream of e-mails that crowd my inbox.

The following should allow you to find this apparently elusive meaning. If it does not help, please do not e-mail me about it. Ask someone else to help you, I haven't the time, nor the patience to clarify something any further which is already so clear.

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Synopsis of the first selection:

• In the first stanza, speaking to the workers in the commune where he was staying, the marrow of what Stick-Paul says is: ~ at the end of the day you, the workers, go to your homes, which is determined by your place (caste) in your compartmentalized society.
• In the second stanza: ~ even your leisure time is communal and determined by your caste.
• In the third stanza: ~ of the food you produce you are alotted a disproportionately meager share, and are complacent in the face of this seeming injustice.
• In the fourth stanza: ~ after you have expended your leisure time and eaten your meager rations you have only another day of work ahead of you.
• In the fifth stanza: ~ your work consumes you, and your life, becoming an end in itself, devoid of any higher purpose.
• In the sixth stanza: ~ and while you work, those who impose this way of life upon you eat of the bounty of your produce, taking what they have not worked for and spiriting it away, claiming that the lot they have determined for you is the best that is possible.

Synopsis of the second selection: (Since this selection is not devided into distinct stanzas, I will break it into its three logical sections; as, if it had been written with distinct stanzas, these sections would comprise the first, second, and third stanzas respectively.)

First logical selection: (1st hypothetical stanza)

Consciousness
the fatalist spake
a product of one's
portion take

• In the first stanza, refering to a note jotted by the author in the margin of Part I of the work The German Ideology by Carl Marx, the marrow of what Stick-Paul says is: ~ Marx seems to think that the worker derives his identity, his essence, from the work that he does. Stick-Paul makes a judgement of Marx's condition of mind in saying that he is a fatalist. This is clear from the original text but it is assumed that the reader of this selection will take Stick-Paul's assessment at face value, interpreting the entire selection in that light.

Second logical section: (2nd hypothetical stanza)

as birds their toil
to an end
brings happiness
a birdie heav'n

• In the second stanza: ~ Here Stick-Paul draws a parallel between the workers condition according to Marx and the life of a bird. He suggests that the bird, since it is devoid of reason and must follow its instincts blindly, that the bird is happy in its work, since its work determines what it is; i.e., a bird. Thus, a bird that follows its instinct accordingly attains the highest state to which it is able to ascend. The third stanza shows the other side of this parallel.

Third logical section: (3rd hypothetical stanza)

so it is
apparently
with little minds
and history.

• In the third stanza: ~ The second half of the parallel begun in the second stanza makes up the first three lines of the stanza we are addressing now. Stick-Paul suggests that the workers are, to Marx, like the birds of the second stanza. They - the workers - have no purpose outside of their work, and so are not fulfilled in any other way but through their work. In order to fulfill their purpose they must perform the task alotted to them, which they do not choose any more than the bird chooses to be what it is. Thus the worker is now an instrument of the entity that determines his task to be performed, which is in this case the state - those in power.
• Stick-Paul mentions history as being another element of the worker's identity that is determined in this way. He does this because Marx mentions it as such in his margin note.

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Now, if you have any questions further questions about the selections, ask your friends what they think, not me. If you feel you must ask someone with an I.Q. over 3, post a comment. I may, or may not, reply. Hopefully one of you who is able will enlighten the illuminati that still can't understand, and save me the effort and frustration.

Aloofly,
Stick-Paul's manager.