This old brown boat's been tied up at the pier too long under
unruffled, pale skies of aquamarine. The yellow strand runs
flat and passive, untrampled even by happy children, between
a few ramshackle bait houses and deserted gas stations. Her poor
gunwales grow rotten with barnacles and worms; she's been
sequestered too long in a calm, protective harbor where
sandpipers madly scamper and lost grebes scream. She was
made to travel, not rot in place, cut off from space and experience,
with ever deepening texture and character, but atrophying,
infertile discernment.
Apathy of the spirit is subtle; death is not, and the politics
of the moment tricks us into false pretensions we may be
years in penetrating and discarding. This modern art, though,
is made in the moment, not raised like medieval cathedrals down
generational centuries. We inhale, we exhale life; we live;
we must live right now before we die, before we die, before we
have to die, for no one else can do it for us, not even on Lost or
Arrested Development. And when did the sluggishness begin?
When, the spiritual ennui set in? You know. You know precisely when.
You've read your Joseph Campbell, and you're familiar with the
call refused. But someone keeps on calling you, paging you,
pinging you, poking you, beseeching you, entreating you, reaching
out for you, texting you to get up off your withered laurels and,
like Beowulf, disembark on one more dragon hunt at least. Splash a
fresh coat of paint on that lonely boat and let's move out onto
deep water.
The poem is full of surprising similes. The boat tied up too long compared to a woman who is passive, stagnant, unmoved by children or perhaps infertile even as suggested by the line 'infertile discernment'- wow, such a net of hidden meanings and striking equivalences.
ReplyDeleteI like the careful division into physical description in the 1st, mental/spiritual experience in the 2nd and a twist/mix of these two in the last stanza. The juxtaposition of medieval, meticulous art as opposed to the modern art- more impulsive, more energetic(but still, I don't really agree with this so let's assume it's just for contrasting here and now rather than criticizing art).
Never enough Beowulf, eh? Well, maybe he isn't that grand of a read but a good metaphor to use no doubt.
I agree fully that we should live for the moment, for the current existence rather than making funeral preparations like ancient Egyptians did- and spending big bucks for dead vessel receptacle. I mean- I understand if someone believes in the immortality of soul but what's the use of catering to your dead body? Zombies are older constructs than we initially thought, it seems.
you're becoming quite the capable reviewer, mr denair, regardless of whether you perceive the same elements and connections that i (consciously) do. perhaps there's a career in this for you. as i've said, once you release your stories into the wild, they're no longer your own.
ReplyDeletei think this one is quite nicely written, although i'm getting a little sick with myself, falling into a certain kind of pattern which this one exemplifies all too perfectly -- act 1: setting the scene in sensorial imagery, act 2: spelling out the philosophical interpretation, ramifications, and/or implications, act 3: melding it together with a nice bow on top. effective, but i'm sick of it, and will have to try to run away from it for a while.
what i like about the beowulf allusion here is that it is to the 2nd half of that old novel, which everyone tends to ignore, in which our hero sets out to preserve personal dignity despite knowing it will almost certainly end his life. this isn't really exhorting people to live for the moment, but as much of my stuff is, a call to action of those tending to, or already resigned to, ossification. another link to beowulf: think theoden recalled to life (ah, dickens too!) in the two towers.
As an aside, I had a Professor who attempted to teach us how to speak Old English. He then read the entire epic poem in that fashion. It was brilliant.
ReplyDeleteBack on topic: the comparison of the 'old brown boat' to a woman who wasn't meant to 'rot in place' was very fascinating. I loved your use of the word 'ennui,' which also, obviously, links back to the idea of spiritual containment. It's also interesting that you mention Beowulf's final dragon hunt. Beowulf died afterwards, so naturally, the speaker suggests that one should 'go out with a bang,' so to speak.
:)
i like both your interpretations, although i'd intended 'she' only in reference to a boat. no matter.
ReplyDelete