Donaghy was a contemporary American poet from New York who wrote, taught, and played Irish traditional music. He grew up in New York; his parents were Irish immigrants, and his poems "reference literature, science, and the oddities and losses of contemporary life," according to POL.
Key terms: allusion, diction, free verse
Machines
Dearest, note how these two are alike:
This harpsicord pavane by Purcell
And the racer’s twelve-speed bike.
The machinery of grace is always simple.
This chrome trapezoid, one wheel connected
To another of concentric gears,
Which Ptolemy dreamt of and Schwinn perfected,
Is gone. The cyclist, not the cycle, steers.
And in the playing, Purcell’s chords are played away.
So this talk, or touch if I were there,
Should work its effortless gadgetry of love,
Like Dante’s heaven, and melt into the air.
If it doesn’t, of course, I’ve fallen. So much is chance,
So much agility, desire, and feverish care,
As bicyclists and harpsicordists prove
Who only by moving can balance,
Only by balancing move.
What a neat poem. I enjoyed the musicality and romance of the language that Donaghy uses. He begins with "Dearest..." as if the poem were a letter- he is explaining a comparison that he meditates on and extrapolates in the poem. He compares aesthetic creation with mechanical creation, along the way referencing figureheads from different fields- Purcell, Ptolemy, Dante. He questions how the creation of a text or song are similar in intricacy and stature to the creation of a bicycle. In the last three stanzas, he wonders about his own creation- what does he put into his poetry, his life, and does it reach the level of beauty that he sees in cycling or other aesthetic creation? It's a really interesting thing to think about. Everyone has a talent, a craft. How do they all compare? We tend to think of aesthetics as being lofty and transcendent, but when put against a machine with such intricacy and grace, what do we value? I'm reminded of Claude Levi-Strauss's distinction between engineer and bricoleur - the engineer is one who creates new purpose out of found materials and bricoleur is one who simply re-creates using the pre-conceived purposes of the materials. Of course, that understanding is not necessary for this poem, but it's something I've thought a lot about and it's an interesting distinction to make. What do we really value in our creations? Creativity? Usefulness? Aesthetic?
http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/26439
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ReplyDeleteI find this poem very intriguing. It connects to me on a more personal level, as the symbolism reminds me of life. With basically every poem I read, I somehow find a way to relate it back to the main idea of 'LIFE,' but this one is in its own way unique and just really cool. For one, as mentioned above, the poem starts off in a format similar to a letter. Not many poems address the reader intimately like this; they usually are expressing a theme through writing letters to a deceased love one or letters to themselves, but the mere fact that from the very start this poem connects with the reader....oh.....oh that's good.
ReplyDeleteI want to talk about the very last two lines for a minute:
Who only by moving can balance,
Only by balancing move.
This reminds me back to when I was a young child first trying to ride a bike. I would look at older kids zipping around on their brilliant red bikes, and for them it seemed so easy! I remember practicing for hours in my back yard. I would sit on the seat and try to balance, but no matter how long I practiced, I would never be able to last for more than about 10 seconds before falling over. Distressed and frustrated, I refused to ask for help (because I was a stubborn little girl and NOPE IM DOING THIS BY MYSELF NO THANK YOU MOMMY NO THANK YOU DADDY IM FINE). It took me FOREVER to finally realize that in order to keep up, you have to keep moving. (cue emotional/inspirational music) Sometimes, life can be tough. Sometimes everything might just seem like it is falling to pieces around you and you have no hope and there is nothing good left and you are worthless and everything just sucks. But if you do not keep moving, there is no way you can possibly hope to stay up. Life gets hard, and the best thing you can do sometimes is just keep swimming.
Wow, the depth of this comment is so exciting! I love the personal connection. And how true. I love your focus on connection: I was reading one of my teacher friend's blogs last night and they were questioning how we teach writing (analysis vs. connection). At the end of the day, writing is for connection. I think you're right- that's so there in this poem. We've all learned to ride a bike. The narrator is connecting this to our ability/desire for creation (your desire for independence). It's just not all machinated; it's a process, and it's a valuable process.
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