The narrative sense of the poem works well, which is where many people fail. The sense of place is excellent--and it's a place worth going into with detail. Many poets chose the wrong places, or misdescribe well chosen locales.
This poem even has a more modern edge of commentary, and it only adds to the verse. It is more like encyclopedia annotation than today's typical pithy nonsense. Here's the opening of the poem, it's excellent:
| Going Back to the Island |
1
The motor boat groans under the bundles of tobacco leaves plus all of us. 2 Are we anywhere near the island now? Touch the wave, taste it. The saltier it gets, the nearer we are. 3 What is the smell of blue? A whiff of toasted coconuts, the smoke rising from the kilns. Brine sprinkled over a pail of corals. Lime squeezed over the sky, the lone albatross. The tangy sea breeze from us to you. [...] |
No comments:
Post a Comment