How is your heart pt.4

   In my personal opinion I think the poet is better off being content than wanting more materialisticly, and relationship wise     

Although you can argue that he should want more because he is a human, and you shouldn't be living like that, and that you should experience relationships. 

You also need to keep in mind that there are more than just him who live a life like that, and he doesnt really care for relationships, because the ones that he's experienced (the relationship between him and his dad, and his dad and his mom's relationship.) have always ended badly. 

A pro to being content is that he doesnt have to worry about people pretending to be his friend for fame and fortune... unless you count some of the prostitutes he was with. 

Another Point people could argue is that shouldn't he want to be sober, and not be a drunk like his dad? Well to him maybe alchohol is a form of power, or a form of how he escapes the temptation of wanting more. He doesnt want to be like his dad.

You could also say that materialisticly he should own a house, car, or something like that to get him by. However money does not buy you happiness, and he doesn't want to be rich, and long for a life he doesnt have; like his father did. He saw the way his father strived for more and how his father acted out because of it. This is clear in the poem he wrote called "My Father" 

the specific words "a man like that" as if he did not want to be associated with it.  Also in the poem this stanza reads 

"caught between my father and the bums" Both the bums and his dad wanted nothing more than to be rich, and he wanted nothing more, so he was caught between them. He didn't want to be so stuck in wanting something that he would act out like his dad or just stay on the streets like bums, and so he made his way getting drunk, waking up in dirty motel rooms, sleeping with prostitutes, and seeing his so called "ugly" self in the mirror was him saying I am not happy, not sad but it's better than wanting more and ending up like that. 

In my opinion I think this poet is better off being content because he has a good reason for it; the poet is content based on his personal experience and that is wha he values more. He doesnt want a car, or a house, or a relationship, and his life, whether being an alchoholic or a weird dude who sleeps in ratty motels he is content because he doesnt want to end up like his father who ultimately failed and was hungry for power. To the poet I think he got power from the satisfaction.