ON COURAGE.

Aristotle often disagreed with his teacher,

which is no small thing

when your master is no street preacher,

but Plato, who is passing on wisdom of Socrates,

hoping to find

solace at the precipice

of the higher human mind.

Whereas Plato humbly

passes on what he was taught

in dialogues, where he is not a character,

Aristotle is fraught

with danger,

and takes no distance from the debates,

Aristotle is bold, full of courage,

in the face of the Fates.

It seems courage is one of his core values,

he writes:

“You will never do anything

in this world without courage.

It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”

He undresses Lady Wisdom in candlelight

and looks upon her,

with bedroom eyes,

and disagrees with master and learner alike

in pursuit of mental clarity, correct classification—

something like

a working system of physics, logic, and ethics.

Three foundations

of Stoic philosophy get a reinvention,

from his consternation.

What is it you want to change

in yourself and the world?

Do you want to bend culture

or paint a world for a girl?

Do you want to make art

that shocks but then causes wonder?

Borrow courage from Aristotle,

and run towards the thunder.

Hey Text and Rocker!

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WARRIOR: A TEXT AND ROCK POETRY COLLECTION ON ART. HEART. AND THE WARRIOR ETHOS.

Ka-pow!

—Swift-Footed Markilles