OK, I think I got it:
Do you remember when you were a kid?
And you met somebody you really liked,
who liked you too—
And it feels like this bubble
that you’re both blowing air into—
And you really want to reach out and touch it,
but you know that it will pop.
So, even while the wind sweeps it away
to spit-splash on an old swing,
There’s a weightless, breathless, tingling always about
watching a thin rainbow smear,
stretched wide on the intangible air,
just floating?
That’s it
That's why
a note all
blank
signed
my
name
As I read this poem, I felt like there was one main interpretation I was taking away. I felt like it represented a one sided romance derived from years of a growing friendship that can’t be acted on because if it is, the friendship will be ruined. As the two people blow into the bubble, contributing to the friendship and growing closer, the desire to reach out and touch the bubble, or reveal these hidden romantic feelings, will ruin the friendship, so the person holds back, preventing themself from damaging the friendship. However, as the two people grow apart, the friendship bubble, the relationship that they grew along the way, simply floats about to a new place, in limbo, never to be added to or detract from, like two friends who grew apart and never spoke again. However, this leaves the one person feeling unrested, as they don’t know how to feel or what to do. This is a story I have felt many times going in and out of friendships while trying to make others. Additionally, the shape of the poem, mimicking a bubble slowly blowing up until it tapers off gently in space, really adds to the feeling as the tension grows as the bubble stretches with the words until it is shaved off and left floating, unresolved and simply there for us to read over and over. I really enjoyed reading this piece and even more enjoy the everlasting feeling it emits, of a loving yet painful friendship left in purgatory, never to be revisited.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading this poem, I was reminded of the preciousness of friends and the rarity of a budding friendship. The words resonated with me because I have struggled with the loss of a friend, and I like how eloquently he put it, like losing a friend is the popping of a bubble. As he describes blowing air into the bubble, I think of the effort that it takes to build and maintain a friendship. The early stages of a friendship are fresh and new, so I can relate to the eagerness of hoping a friendship will remain for many years to come. The formatting of this poem is also notable as he feels like he is writing an addition to some conversation of which we are unsure. He describes this lightness of a bubble and emphasizes the necessity of friends, yet they are fleeting, like the wind pushing it away. This resonated personally for me because I made a friend from first grade, and together we created a steady bubble and the bubble hovered between us for ten years, before like the poem says, the wind swept it away. We all change, we all grow, and we all suffer loss. I suffered from losing a bubble of friendship and there are times I look back with fondness on the memories we created and there are times I reflect with sadness on the future adventures I missed out on. The childhood of bubbles represents to me the sanctity of innocence, but shows the everlasting change we all go through as we mature and enter adulthood. Additionally, the spacing at the end to me demonstrates space and distance that builds with time and even a bit of isolation. Friends do not necessarily stay with you forever, but they guide and shape you, just like a bubble touches you before it disappears.
ReplyDeleteYou can always send that old once-friend a card.
DeleteYou don't have to write anything in it :)