Cassandra Clare River Of Milk

When looking at contemporary literature from a philosophical point of view, one can often find truths that give us a greater understanding and awareness of our surroundings, literature allows us to expand our knowledge in a deeper, more connected way. Similar to this, Cassandra Clare, a poet from Tehran, Iran, once said that “Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.” In that light, Kaveh Akbar, a poet also from Tehran, shares a similar philosophy on literature exemplifying the idea that place can shape and influence one's truths. Akbar epitomizes this ideology in his poem, “River of Milk,” which argues that in order to experience real truths, one must go through the process and experience of breaking down and re-evaluating parts of themselves and others and through these truths, a society becomes more united and more connected than before.
Early on in the poem, the speaker says “...my body burned / …show more content…
Moreover, the poem states that “there are so many ways to be deceived”(17), giving examples of a “butcher's thumb pressed into the scale”(17) and “a strange blue dress / in a bathtub”(17-18) being that the devil uses the blue dress as a sort of cover as the dress symbolizes a calm and peace nature. The poem also says to not aim for eloquence, but for honesty and that one should surround ourselves with people who constantly question what their sense of truth is. When the speaker says “you grow to love the creatures you create / some of them come out with pupils swirling others with teeth”(25-26) it, in essence, means that although one may not be appreciated or accepted, especially by their children, learning to love and appreciate them for questioning oneself and their sense of truth is