Though I don't recall the date, I remember hearing you read that at the Ear Inn, decades ago. It stayed in memory. I also remember you being reproached for contracting the bug, which struck me as totally unfair and callous. You didn't mean to, it just happened. "Not marble nor the gilded monuments/Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme," thus Shakespeare. So I sense contrast between a bronze statue and the mortal body, eager for pleasure and subject to mortality. The statue won't seroconvert and will outlive us all; but also can't have sex. Also, the contrast between those two things and the "powerful rhyme." I second your proposal that there is some internalized homophobia in the poem. People are traditionally not supposed to use rear entry for sex, a prohibition ignored by very large numbers of people both homo- and heterosexual in orientation. The sin of Onan is also implied because of the spillage. It's not a pretty line, indeed, is a bit on the disgusting side, but it adds thought and weight to the poem. I also like the pretty line about forsythia wearing yellow ribbons. No way am I against poems having pleasing sensory details in them. Stevens: "It must give pleasure." It must.
The poem and the story of the poem — another layer or version of music and story (the elements). This morning, I was especially struck by the contrast between statue and action, and the hunting prowess (if I may say that) suggested or embodied in both.
That's a marvelous meditation on how a poem came to be. I identify with the process in a lot of ways, and I think it's wonderful that you remember as much as you do so clearly. I don't think could write in such detail about the first poems I published. I wish I could.
Though I don't recall the date, I remember hearing you read that at the Ear Inn, decades ago. It stayed in memory. I also remember you being reproached for contracting the bug, which struck me as totally unfair and callous. You didn't mean to, it just happened. "Not marble nor the gilded monuments/Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme," thus Shakespeare. So I sense contrast between a bronze statue and the mortal body, eager for pleasure and subject to mortality. The statue won't seroconvert and will outlive us all; but also can't have sex. Also, the contrast between those two things and the "powerful rhyme." I second your proposal that there is some internalized homophobia in the poem. People are traditionally not supposed to use rear entry for sex, a prohibition ignored by very large numbers of people both homo- and heterosexual in orientation. The sin of Onan is also implied because of the spillage. It's not a pretty line, indeed, is a bit on the disgusting side, but it adds thought and weight to the poem. I also like the pretty line about forsythia wearing yellow ribbons. No way am I against poems having pleasing sensory details in them. Stevens: "It must give pleasure." It must.
The poem and the story of the poem — another layer or version of music and story (the elements). This morning, I was especially struck by the contrast between statue and action, and the hunting prowess (if I may say that) suggested or embodied in both.
That's a marvelous meditation on how a poem came to be. I identify with the process in a lot of ways, and I think it's wonderful that you remember as much as you do so clearly. I don't think could write in such detail about the first poems I published. I wish I could.
Wow! That's a lot of world in one poem. Fantastic read.