tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11921782.post3554287734149395386..comments2023-07-30T07:20:00.952-05:00Comments on Say Something Wonderful: Morning Exchange (Pre-Coffee)E. M. Selingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426524354823232002noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11921782.post-92047885167299028962010-01-10T10:33:23.481-06:002010-01-10T10:33:23.481-06:00Fascinating! I think you're right about the s...Fascinating! I think you're right about the source of that bit about the singer, although I suspect that the poem means to be mysterious about it, as it does about the other scenes. Rereading it, a few days later, the lines about "reading messages in the weeds / even the strangest parts of ourselves / growing dear" strike me even more strongly as the keynote of the poem. It gives us some "weeds," metaphorically speaking, and invites us to read messages in them, cherishing their (and our own) strangeness. Maybe the "mask" fits in as well--the man who refuses it bathes in poison, so perhaps there's a preference in the poem for the indirect, the "masked," throughout?<br /><br />Not my favorite poem, or even my favorite kind of poem, but enjoyable.E. M. Selingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426524354823232002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11921782.post-87170545263426484822010-01-07T08:21:58.847-06:002010-01-07T08:21:58.847-06:00You may well think I'm being too literal in my...You may well think I'm being too literal in my response to this, but I wonder if the bit about<br /><br />Here when it rains<br />the streets fill up like rivers<br />A woman swirls away in her Italian car<br />and the whole city mourns<br />They say she could sing<br /><br />refers to San Antonio, where the poet lives. Apparently "Violent flooding has always been a threat in San Antonio" and<br /><br /><i>The 1990 death of a popular singer, Cassandra Rodriguez, 20, in floodwaters of San Pedro Creek at the Five Points intersection downtown also drew attention to the city's flood dangers. A $1.4 million jury award helped prompt the city to upgrade that intersection and improve its rescue capabilities.</i> (<a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Then__Now_Flooding_rescues.html" rel="nofollow">Huddleston</a>)<br /><br />My impression, judging by the image of the rose destroyed by the sun, the singer drowned by flooding, and the man spraying trees who is being poisoned, is that what they have in common is that "Here" (in San Antonio? in the world in general?) there is a disregard for human life, and people are exposed to unnecessary risk. So the gifts (of nature? like the singing and the roses and the tree?) are destroyed.<br /><br />The poet seems to appreciate even the weeds (but the man poisoning himself by spraying the tree presumably wouldn't). Perhaps in trying to suppress things with poison, he's killing the "strangest parts of" himself?<br /><br />Could the incense be used for mourning?Laura Vivancohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00906661869372622821noreply@blogger.com