"Maine Coast"
Link (With reading - 0:00 – 1:08): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/90623 Hey everyone! For this installment of “Contemporary Poets: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram,” we’re going to do something a little…different. This time, I urge you to first read and mentally analyze the poem text, and then listen to Bertram read her piece via one of the audio links. I found that it completely altered my understanding of the work. Just in case the Poetry Foundation link doesn’t work right, as I had some trouble with a bad gateway earlier, here is the poem (don’t sue me!) and the same audio recording from a different, but affiliated, site: “ for Dylan I watch the ocean square into a turning Burn. Burning, my holes glass over. Lightning Hits the beach, melts me shut. I’ve drowned Before, in the bye along a row of shored Rocks. From the barrel chest butcher I buy Tight roasts. This year’s man, his clownish dog walks me In the park until I die on his leash and domestic Night’s sticky seizures. I thumb and ♥ it Like liking a million times. The rich own long Lighthouses to show us how away from them We are. Past waiting for the press of his chest To my back, I hobby along to the next hem’s Promise. Again I straddle the blade thinking This is the time it will fill the gash. ” Audio: http://www.wnyc.org/story/maine-coast/ (0:35 – 1:42) For context, Bertram wrote this poem to discuss conflicting emotions she experienced during what was designed to be a romantic summer in Maine. The first thing that stands out to me that emphasizes this topic is the enjambment. The first sentence sets into motion the pacing of the piece: “I watch the ocean square into a turning/Burn.” The ocean is in turmoil, the speaker’s mind is in turmoil, but the speaker watches the ocean “square,” which indicates that they are in a fixed position spatially. To me, this creates an image of the world spiraling and revolving around a fixed point. It illustrates an internal struggle that the speaker has to unwillingly experience, the resolution of which could impact their future and all subsequent interactions with those around them. The last line serves as closure for the flow as it is the only end-stopped line. The final sentence, “Again I straddle the blade thinking/This is the time it will fill the gash,” indicating a bleak submission to the status quo. Many of the stylistic choices Bertram makes add a certain personality, a feel, to the piece that provides depth to the motifs and themes being alluded to. I think that the sentence “I thumb and [heart] it/Like liking a million times” represents an obsession with maintaining what may be a damaged relationship for the sake of holding on to that social media status. On the other hand, the lines “Past waiting for the press of his chest/To my back, I hobby along to the next hem’s/Promise” signify that the speaker may be bored or annoyed by the repetitive nature of their relationship, or tired of exchanging blank promises and feeling hurt when they go unfulfilled. What are your thoughts about this piece? Did the audio alter your interpretation at all? Comment below!
2 Comments
Jessica
3/3/2017 10:58:32 am
I really like you're analysis! You really make it a personalized blog that gets readers involved. :)
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Jeremy
3/8/2017 10:34:08 am
This was a good analysis! I like how personal you get in it and analyzed the use of symbols in place of words. I believe that Jessica covered most of it in her comment, good job!
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AuthorHello everyone! My name is Alecia Guishard. Welcome to Reader's Delight, a site that fosters an open discussion on literature, as well as provides an avenue for my own thoughts on various reads. Archives
March 2017
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