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(Before
I was born)
“They
told us to carbon-gray
our panes before
looking –
so
we, school children, went
waving that
too-clear glass
over a candle.
To
each, a candle;
to all, the same
sun.
We
looked up through the soot
and there was a
glowing dot,
filled by a glowing
shadow,
dropping
straight into our eyes:
Did
not look the same in
England (where men
always
ate
potatoes) as it did
for
us in France (where
only
famine's pique ever broke our
tongues from that
dodge: 'Potatoes are
for pigs – and
the English').”
(Today)
The
movie wanted to know
what
was in my pocket –
“My
grandpa's wallet, filled
with
my notes – and a straw,
so I
know which end is up.”
And
what do I love.
And
what do I fear.
“Breathing.
I don't hold on
to the
old ones, never
feel
fat-drug selfish drawing
in some
extra – just light and high.”
(Undoing
this robe. Looking –
muscled,
snow-white) “Reaching
thirty
without a kiss,
without
a promise
that
there's nothing wrong, nothing sick
with
this creature, wearing breath and –
in his
pockets – nothing.”
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this poem and found myself going back and rereading it throughout the week.
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza reminded me of Irish traditions. In response to the death of Prince Albert, Dubliners were asked to paint their doors black. The Irish instead painted their doors a wide variety of colors. This also occurred around Christmas time where there is a tradition that the youngest member of a family lights and places a candle on the window to as a symbol of welcome to Mary and Joseph. This might have just come to mind because of the allusion to the English men only eating potatoes. I know the poem mentions the speaker has been to England rather than Ireland but Ireland had not become independent until 1949.
I enjoyed the line “To each, a candle; / to all, the same sun”. Since sun is a homophone of son, I interpreted it being a statement of how religion has divided us through history. In Ireland, there is the constant battle between Catholics and Protestants. The separation from the church Catholic Church was used as further excuse to continue the rivalry between the English and French. But when examined at its core, all religions have the same fundamental beliefs. They all believe in peace, kindness, and compassion. The image of the soot covering the flame, further reminder of the way many political figures and heads of the religion have distorted the key aspects of religion by smaller technicalities.
I’m still unsure if the speaker is meant to be of French descent or of Irish but it is obvious that the traditions of both French and Irish culture have eclipsed in the last three stanzas. The film, a key component of French culture and known for their profound themes, provokes the speaker to reevaluate the way he is living. The straw in his wallet reminded me of the Irish tradition of taking home a piece of straw from the church crib at Christmas will fill your home with luck and blessings. I personally know that it can be difficult when you identify yourself with two cultures. You have a wider understanding which can make you feel light and high. The culture of our ancestors influences what we fear and love which can make challenging to have a strong understanding of your beliefs and opinions.
Are the pockets considered empty because the wallet is filled only filled with money (I assumed that the notes were referring to the British word for bills) and his desire to let go of the past, shown through his constant intake of new breathes.
Was the poem meant to address these cultural and religious statements or have I completely misinterpreted it?
-Neda N
The poem has two speakers:
DeleteAn older Frenchman (reminiscing about how they used to watch solar eclipses as school children - by waving candles over pieces of glass to make them like polarized carbon lenses)
And myself (after one recent solar eclipse here in America, and having just watched a documentary called "Life In a Day" late late at night)
The Frenchman uses the eclipse as a backdrop for talking about cultural distrust/disdain by the French toward the English, and how only the threat of famine caused them to move past it.
I used the eclipse as a backdrop for my own strange feeling of alienation from (or lack-of-deserving) other people in any intimate way - and the doubt and the sort of mental famine that accompanies that.
And the Eclipse itself is a kind of passing sense of estrangement - where the world for a moment is separated from the daylight sun by the passing shadow of the moon.
I saw a connection between the three, so I brought them together in a poem. Glad you liked it.