With these poems we again see how deeply places affect people as well as how people affect and create places. Some places in these poems go through outside physical changes like in Ishigaki Rin's Plucking Flowers, but changes in the speakers viewpoint also create significant changes in the place they are writing about. I think poems can create a place within the words and poets are allowing us, the reader, to enter this space.
Ode to the Crossfader by John Murillo was one of my favorites. The short enjambed lines and repetition really grabbed me, but I think his other poem 1989 best embodies the ideas of place we are thinking about. And by taking the reader to such a specific place the poem very effectively evokes a specific time. Because a place is not always the same especially since the place in this poem is built so much upon the people within it."we'd still not hear the robins celebrating daybreak." This represents the natural element which will always be a part of that space, but is not important to place in this poem. The language Murillo uses to create imagery is so important to this poem. "Deejay Eddie Scizzorhands-because he cuts so nice-taps ashes into an empty pizza box" This line creates such a vivid picture for me and I love how it doesn't use and flowery language generally associated with 'poetic language'.
A quote that I think is really interesting in the frame of the question 'what is place?' comes from Black Map by Bei Dao. "I've come home - the way back longer than the wrong road long as life" The idea of home can be represented by places, but also people, and feelings. I believe that Dao is using a combination of place and feeling. Dao is truly returning to his home after a long time. The space has changed and so has he. I love the phrase 'long as life' it makes me think of the circular patterns of life. The last line in the poem is "reunions are less than good-byes / only one less" For me this reveals how when you go back to place and it has changed you have to say goodbye to the place you used to know.
Your transition from the "circular patterns of life" into reunions and goodbyes is bittersweet, like the reminder that for every reunion there's a goodbye that went before it or there's a goodbye that's going to come after. I had a difficult time understanding that line and your analysis is really helpful.
ReplyDeleteRose,
ReplyDeleteyou grabbed at some very different poems and lines to show the different levels that place inhabits in these poems. As you say in response to Dao, there is not separation between place and feeling. That makes it more profound for us who live in different circumstances. This was a great moment: I believe that Dao is using a combination of place and feeling. Dao is truly returning to his home after a long time. The space has changed and so has he. I love the phrase 'long as life' it makes me think of the circular patterns of life. The last line in the poem is "reunions are less than good-byes / only one less" For me this reveals how when you go back to place and it has changed you have to say goodbye to the place you used to know.
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Forgot to comment last week, and as such, I am commenting this week. Dao's quote about goodbyes and reunions reminds me that anytime you have a happiness or equilibrium with a place or even a person it is very possible you will never get it back. Every moment the weather, the earth is constantly changing and relationships are evolving. Although it will be spring again, it will never be last spring again. I think sometimes as humans we try to recapture feelings associated with places or people or things (nouns). The most frustrating part to some people is the newness of the seasons and places. Nothing is ever quite the same.
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