Post by Susan on Jan 13, 2019 17:56:03 GMT -5
I am a huge Linda Gregerson fan, and I am drawn to this poem for many reasons.
1. Sound. As Lin pointed out, so much sssssss, suggesting to me secrets, silence, moving stealthily
2. Couplets. Many (most?) of the poems in the book this comes from (Prodigal, New and Selected) are in these couplets or tercets with indentations and jagged edges. But, as in this poem, the jagged edges are often consistent throughout the poem. The line breaks suggest to me a controlled torn edge.
3. The way she weaves in and out of different images or engagements – first we learn about the mother, then the male speaker, then the possum, and on through the poem, ending again with the mother, whose “sweet” and perhaps simplistic or idealistic view begins and ends the poem. But we are changed in between, asked to consider if that view is realistic
4. The subject matter. The poet seems to be saying that if we only paid attention properly, everything could come clear. These lines especially: There are // principles at work, no doubt: / beholding a world of harm, the mind // will apprehend some bringer-of-harm, / some cause, or course, // that might have been otherwise, had we possessed / the wit to see.
5. Syntax, which includes so many asides such as this one: My mother’s mistake, if that’s // the best the world-as-we’ve-made-it / can make of her, hasn’t // much altered with better advice. Without the aside, between the commas, the sentence is simpler and less powerful: My mother’s mistake hasn’t much altered with better advice. So much more meaningful with the words between the commas.
1. Sound. As Lin pointed out, so much sssssss, suggesting to me secrets, silence, moving stealthily
2. Couplets. Many (most?) of the poems in the book this comes from (Prodigal, New and Selected) are in these couplets or tercets with indentations and jagged edges. But, as in this poem, the jagged edges are often consistent throughout the poem. The line breaks suggest to me a controlled torn edge.
3. The way she weaves in and out of different images or engagements – first we learn about the mother, then the male speaker, then the possum, and on through the poem, ending again with the mother, whose “sweet” and perhaps simplistic or idealistic view begins and ends the poem. But we are changed in between, asked to consider if that view is realistic
4. The subject matter. The poet seems to be saying that if we only paid attention properly, everything could come clear. These lines especially: There are // principles at work, no doubt: / beholding a world of harm, the mind // will apprehend some bringer-of-harm, / some cause, or course, // that might have been otherwise, had we possessed / the wit to see.
5. Syntax, which includes so many asides such as this one: My mother’s mistake, if that’s // the best the world-as-we’ve-made-it / can make of her, hasn’t // much altered with better advice. Without the aside, between the commas, the sentence is simpler and less powerful: My mother’s mistake hasn’t much altered with better advice. So much more meaningful with the words between the commas.
