What does this poem mean to you?

Question

I dont really get it.But i think it means life changes dramatically?it means more than that.I dont know the author I just read it in a book called 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower'.i think I read it's also akid's suicide note.

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
He wrote a poem
And he called it "Chops"
because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was also all about
And the teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts
That was the year father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tuck him to bed at night
And was always there to do it

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn"

because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hanged it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
And the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lens & black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
his mother & father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it

Once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence:A Question"
because that was a question about his girl
And that's what it's all about
And his professor gave him an A
And a strange steady look
And his mother nvr hung it on the kitchen door
because he nvr showed her
That was the year Father Tracy died
And he forgot how

And he forgot how the end
of the Apostle Creed went
And he caught her sister
making out on the back porch
And his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
And the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at 3 a.m. he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
He called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen.

Answer 1

It's about the slow, steady death of innocence and the wilting of achievement by ambivalence. The subject of the poem watches as the scenes that once brought pleasure, slowly change to things ignored, taken for granted and ultimately discarded as being polluted or tainted. It is actually a very well written piece, whoever wrote it knew how to draw the reader in and turn it to an inevitable end...one the reader hoped would be different, but knew on a visceral level would end just the way it did.

It also shows how you can use mirrored lines across stanzas to tell a story that doesn't circle back onto itself, it corkscrews slowly to oblivion.

Very well done

Answer 2

It is about Innocence, Discovery (of self), and Death.

1. DEATH I think the author is dead. He put the poem wrote on the paper bag on the bathroom door, because he is bleeding to death by cutting his wrists (so he cannot make it to the kitchen).

2. DISCOVERY In each verse, he grows older and as he does so, he comes to see the world for what it really is; And that people had lied about certain things (i.e Santa Claus).
The authors' final discovery is Nothing.

3. INNOCENCE Lots of examples here: Parents kissing in the first verse, not so in the last. The simple XXX's on the valentine when young, to the distaste sensed when kissing a girl later on.
The key is- all the innocence is corrupted in the end.

RIP the author :p

Answer 3

It's difficult to say... I'd have to say that his life when he was a child was so much brighter than it is now. From yellow paper with green lines to white paper with blue lines. From bright to drab. Not all poems can be understood, but it shares some kind of awkward silence. I felt kind of bad when my teachers and peers didn't get my poems because I thought they said a lot. It seems like the "he" in this poem didn't feel as much happiness as he did when he was younger. He could write about dogs and friends and fathers and zoos, but all he had to write about afterwards was Autumn. Just a season. Maybe he felt like there was nothing left for him. =/ What a sad poem if I understood correctly.

Answer 4

to me it means your life goes on with changes and sometimes you get a lot of different answers and sometimes you can't rember the question to the answer

Answer 5

It means stuff about things and stuff.

Answer 6

o...k...?