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Poetry Sunday: Definitely

Browsing the Poetry Foundation's online magazine last week, I came across this poem. It is by a poet that I was not familiar with and I'd never read the poem.

 A little research turned up the fact that she is an American poet from Missouri and she is 70 years old. She is an honored poet and has previously won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.

 I was entranced by her poem, although I can't really explain why. I'm not even sure that I know what it means, but something about the cadence of the words, their energy and subtle imagery caught my imagination. 

 So, what do you think the poem means? 

 Definitely

 by Mary Jo Bang

 What is desire
But the hardwire argument given
To the mind's unstoppable mouth.

 Inside the braincase, it's I
Want that fills every blank. And then the hand
Reaches for the pleasure

 The plastic snake offers. Someone says, Yes,
It will all be fine in some future soon.
Definitely. I've conjured a body

 In the chair before me. Be yourself, I tell it.
Here memory makes you
Unchangeable: that shirt, those summer pants.

 That beautiful face.
That tragic beautiful mind.
That mind's ravenous mouth

 That told you, This isn't poison
At all but just what the machine needs. And then,
The mouth closes on its hunger.

 The heart stops.
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Comments

  1. CarmenOctober 24, 2016 at 7:33 AM

    She said, desire. I think she is conjuring an image of the person she desires, or maybe she is playing with something...Well, perhaps like you, I don't know after all. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersOctober 24, 2016 at 9:59 AM

      The wonderful thing about poetry is that it can really mean whatever you want it to mean - whatever it means to you is the correct interpretation. So, I think you are absolutely right!

      Delete
  2. Judy KruegerOctober 24, 2016 at 1:25 PM

    Wow, that is good. We crave and partly it is that craving that keeps us alive and sentient but in the end it will be our extinction. That is what I think it means. Today all I want to eat is cake!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersOctober 24, 2016 at 2:39 PM

      I think you are onto something there. I like your interpretation. I also like cake.

      Delete

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