The School of Naps
A nap on the farm was as common as a two-headed sheep.
This is why Meredith never learned to nap.
I, on the other hand, was encouraged to dream whenever
I wanted. In naps or in nap-like afternoons I smothered
in imagination. An only child is the parent of its parents,
a dictator with a small bedroom. I guess they had coherence,
those days in the close suburban yards and modest shrubberies
when I imposed my will on my impractical, summery
family. I’ve always had trouble getting things done since.
I seem to be walking along a floor mounted on springs.
When you’re happy you have a responsibility to those who are unhappy
to do your best with it. Even if it ends badly.
Most of my choices are bad and good interspersed,
like wearing a motorcycle helmet while riding a horse.
| Erik Kennedy |
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levelheaded: The School of Naps
The title and first line of Erik Kennedy’s “The School of Naps” are pretty funny. Napping probably shouldn’t garner its own school and two-headed sheep aren’t all that common. The poem’s central philosophy seems to be that “When you’re happy you have a responsibility to those who are unhappy / to do your best with it.” With that in mind, this poem is absolutely worth ingesting for what it is on its most basic level: pleasurable.
The specificity of “Meredith,” a non-napper in line two, is a reminder that some people have it far worse than our speaker who was “encouraged to dream whenever / [he] wanted.” Being “smothered / in imagination” when others are smothered in grief, poverty, violence, or depression is a privilege.
While we could examine the “dictator with a small bedroom” who has “always had trouble getting things done since” as the speaker lamenting his pension for napping and dreaming, the pep in his step (“I seem to be walking along a floor mounted on springs”) keeps the poem upbeat. The speaker doesn’t deny the negative side of life (“Most of my choices are bad and good interspersed”), yet he realizes the consequences have been more laughable than tragic. We’re lucky if we get the chance to ride a horse. Even if our helmet looks silly, we’re lucky to have a helmet. It’ll keep us safe should we fall.
– The Editors
