Emily's+Poetry+Log+(December)

Favorite Line(s): "You said it was like lifting a cello/out of its black case." || Favorite Line(s): "To behold the junipers shagged with ice,/The spruces rough in the distant glitter" || Favorite Line(s): "He was balancing the world on the tip of his witty unknowing nose./I felt like I was falling down someplace else than anywhere there." || Favorite Line(s): "You are a creator caught in a creator’s net" || Favorite Line(s): "the/melody somehow prettier/as a remnant than/whatever it used to be." || (Translated by Paul Muldoon) || The poem "The Mermaid in the Hospital" is a rather quirky poem about a mermaid who finds herself with legs instead of a tail. The poem illustrates the mermaid's unfamiliar encounter with her new legs and seems to be an analogy showing the way one often copes with the unfamiliar, from the initial shock of a situation to acceptance and perhaps later depression, when the speaker "wonder[s] if her heart fell/the way her arches fell." The poem also shows that something so familiar to a certain group of people may not be something others are as familiar with. Hence, rather than perhaps making fun of those who find our habits or traits foreign (we may taunt someone such as the mermaid who is unable to grasp the concept of legs), we should sympathize and perhaps come to their aid. The poem may also suggest the consequences of forceful change that take away one's happiness or one's identity. Favorite Line(s): "It was the sister who gave her the wink/and let her know what was what." || Favorite Line(s): "The twilight is the morning of his day./While Sleep drops seaward from the fading shore,/With purpling sail and dip of silver oar" || Favorite Line(s): "By instinct, with his gift for staying hidden/While making sure unseen is plainly heard." ||
 * || **Date** || **Title** || **Poet** || **Comments** ||
 * 60 || December 19, 2011 || **[|To the Angelbeast]** || Eduardo C. Corral || "To the Angelbeast" is a poem that describes the intertwining of darkness and light. In the first line of the poem, the speaker states that "All that glitters isn't music," establishing the darkness of deception that may reveal itself in some objects of beautiful surfaces. Throughout the poem, the speaker uses constant contrast to establish the incorporation of darkness within light and light within darkness. The speaker mentions that he once "tossed fistfuls of dirt into the air: doe after doe of leaping." The description of does as dirt is thrown suggests the speaker's perception of the motions of the dirt as beautiful, "Gold curves. Gold scarves." However, the speaker's companion "said it was nothing but a trick of the light." The speaker describes watching "a deer break from the shadows," and compares it to "lifting a cello out of its black case," illustrating the light that is hidden within darkness. The last lines describing the lifting of "a cello out of its black case" contrasts with the first line of the poem. "All that glitters isn't music" yet music can lie in what appears dark.
 * 61 || December 19, 2011 || [|The Snow Man] || Wallace Stevens || In the poem "The Snow Man," the speaker expresses bewilderment at those who enjoy the winter season. Contrastedly, the speaker sees winter as a miserable time, "full of the same wind/That is blowing in the same bare place." The speaker believes that winter is bland and empty. He does not see the "frost" or the "pine-trees crusted with snow" as friends, nor does he appreciate the "distant glitter" of spruces and "junipers shagged with ice." The speaker concludes that winter is a time of nothingness. He regards those who appreciate winter with sarcasm, suggesting that they themselves are "nothing," beholding "nothing that is not there and the nothing that is."
 * 62 || December 19, 2011 || [|Coffee Lips] || David Ferry || "Coffee Lips" is a poem that contains many ironic or uncertain descriptions. In the first stanza, the speaker describes a guest who he meets as "An elderly man" with a "little boy's face." The speaker later calls the man an "elderly boy," which emphasizes the strange unification of two contrasting ideas into one. This strange description seems to be explained in the second-to-last stanza of the poem, in which the guest asks "When I come into places like this and there are people holding/Coffee cups to their lips and they look at me,/Are they about to drink the coffee or not to drink the coffee?" The question illustrates the uncertainty of many situations. This illustration reflects the general dilemma or uncertainty one faces when one is in the middle of a decision. This poem reminds me of the cup half-full/half-empty question and reveals that in some cases only one's perspective can answer a question.
 * 63 || December 20, 2011 || [|Monster [It's possible I misconstrued you.]] || Brook Emery || In the poem "Monster," the speaker uses the metaphor of a monster to convey the blame she mistakenly placed upon others for the fault of disaster and corruption. The speaker realizes that this monster was not responsible for the corrupt creatures and disastrous events on earth. Rather this monster is a "creator caught in a creator's net." This statement suggests that the monster is an allusion to God, while the speaker seems to suggest that God's creations are trapped in the net of the one who creates sin. The speaker then describes a somewhat apocalyptic scene in which "disease infects the flock" and "prey present as predators." The speaker's newfound belief in God's pure creations are conveyed in the next stanza when she states "I know saintliness exists," giving examples of good and kind actions around her. But although the speaker tries to "shoo the gloomy birds away" and gain the purity of goodness, "crows repeat about [her] one the lawn," the blackness of corruption forever surrounding her.
 * 64 || December 20, 2011 || [|Piano] || Dan Howell || In the poem "Piano," the speaker describes the lack of technical skill that a woman now has in playing the piano, in contrast with the "grace" and "assurance" she used to possess. The speaker states that the tempo is "always rubato." This statement is oxymoronic, as rubato places the tempo up to interpretation, yet the phrase "always rubato" suggests a level of boredom and monotony in the tempo. Although the sound of the piano playing is ungraceful and quivering, a hint of the old sound still remains. Although the technical skill is less evident, the "pure intention" and heart of the performance remains, allowing the music to be "somehow prettier [than] whatever it used to be."
 * 65 || December 29, 2011 || [|The Mermaid in the Hospital] || Nualani Dhomhnaill
 * 66 || December 30, 2011 || [|The Cricket] || Edwin Markham || "The Cricket" is a very relaxing poem that describes the beauty of nature along with the natural habits of the cricket. The most interesting part of the poem is perhaps its rhyme scheme. The poem follows a largely ABAB rhyme scheme in the first stanza, while the second stanza has an ABBCAC rhyme scheme. The second stanza's rhyme, however, is so 'jumbled' that the poem seems to cease rhyming, adding an interesting effect to the work. The last line of the poem, "and I will lead the clamoring day with rhyme" seems to circulate back to the first line of the poem, "the twilight is the morning of his day," in the first stanza where the rhyme scheme is apparent.
 * 67 || December 30, 2011 || **[|The Cricket in the Sump]** || Catherine Tufariello || "The Cricket in the Sump" serves as an analogy for the perseverance of a character with passion. Although the cricket is often subject to hardships such as the loud noises people make as we "fling a basket down or bang the dryer shut" or being "swept by a rainstorm through a narrow trough," the cricket remains "undeterred" and continues to do what he was created to--sing. In the second stanza, the speaker reveals that the cricket's music has inspired a young girl who begins to "sing to herself" and creates a fantasy of being a conductor or a dancer. This poem shows how determination and passion in something, even if such passion seems as small and insignificant as a cricket, can inspire those on a much larger scale than we may ever imagine.