Let's begin again, shall we? I've been having a rough kind of year and a return to poems, to beauty, to writing and thinking beckons and, hopefully, soothes.
Today's poem will be Fathers and Daughters by Amanda Strand.
This poem appeals to me with its language and its pathos. The shock and grief were palpable despite the poem's brevity and lack of histrionics.
The scene she paints upon leaving the hospital ("The snow fell./His truck in the barn,/his boots by the door,/flagpoles empty./It took a long time for the taxi to come.") is the heart of the poem. I felt such a sadness at those lines - the winter scene; the fact that the taxi took a long time to arrive. God, that line about the taxi is fantastic. She's so lost at his death and the ability to move on will be slow in coming.
And then the last: " “Where to?” he said./“My father just died,” I said./As if it were a destination." It's a bit pat, a nice round ending, but still it contains the sadness she reflected earlier in the poem. It makes me think 'no, for you it's not a destination, but it will waylay you for a while'. Which makes me think about destinations, about finality, about death (being the end, a resting place).
This poem to me is not so much about the grand concepts of death and permanence as much as it is a personal poem of a private (though universally shared) sadness. But still, I responded positively to it because 1) it's an emotionally-charged poem and 2), it allowed me to branch off and consider much larger, impossible-to-resolve concepts.
Favorite line: "It took a long time for the taxi to come."
Saturday, September 13, 2014
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I thought the opposite. She can't wait to leave-- her step-mother is there (and "isn't up to" taking the ring off), and she isn't staying one minute longer than she needs to. She even waits outside in the snow rather than sit in the room or grieve with her step-mom. The taxi suggests she flew in from far away, and that she's going back. I also think it's at home, with a home nurse, since she describes the boots and the truck. The destination is the end of her and her father's relationship, which the poem suggests wasn't very good.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your thoughtful comment! Even though we reached different views, I enjoyed reading your take on the poem.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that the relationship between the daughter and father is as bad as you see. She did come back to his deathbed, after all. The destination might be the end of their relationship, but I didn't get the impression that they had had a negative one.
You've given me more to think about for this poem. Thanks! Hope to hear from you again.