What is an important problem that plagues our society today? Is it our desensitization to killing? Is it the absence of simplicity? Is it how we treat the elderly and the sick? Or is it something else? Such problems are revealed in 55 and Counting by David Waldon. Waldon illustrates a few problems we—as a society—face today through his poems “Just Doin’ What Comes Natural,” “Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich,” and “Old, Cold, and Rolled.”

Waldon’s peom, “Just Doin’ What Comes Natural,” discusses the multitude of reasons why society chooses to kill. The speaker identifies a few of these reasons throughout the poem. For example, the speaker notes that mankind will openly “kill for profit” and “kill for thrill” (Waldon 98). These lines indicate the greed and dark desires that reside in mankind today. There are many individuals who are not afraid to inflict harm on others to satisfy personal goals. This poem is significant and meaningful to me, because it openly criticizes society’s constant …show more content…
The speaker notes that he longs to be a “boy again” to escape the “barbarity of men” (Waldon 107). The speaker wishes to return to simpler times. He wishes to—once again—make “marks on [his] kitchen wall,” read “comics without shudder,” and be “content as clouds float by” (Waldon 107). The speaker indicates that he can no longer enjoy those activities, because he belongs to the same group of “men” that he condemns as “barbaric”. He must be constantly worried about the present instead of “forgetting ‘now’” (Waldon 107). This poem criticizes the adult world through the speaker’s desire to escape it. I relate with this poem personally because I also reminisce about my past. There are times when life becomes too complicated, and I enjoy thinking back to my silly and simplistic