In the current New Yorker, Anne Carson gives us “Pronoun Envy,” a mash-up of a poem, including threads about the female students of Harvard Divinity School, circa 1971, protesting the use of masculine pronouns to refer to God and mankind; the archaeopteryx… “One night / the archaeopteryx / exapted its feathers — as wings — and / over // the yards of Harvard / rose divinity students / in violent flight…” base 2 mathematics; and a hockey game. Oh, there are other things thrown in there as well, but that’s a start. The science about feathered dinosaurs is in flux at the moment, but Carson’s take is from roughly 1971 as well, and that seems fine, given the premises of the poem. Because the poem bounces around so much, and is free verse, there isn’t much structure to support the ending, so she gives us a turn near the end to help guide us: “And to this day…you may see a slight residue of / those nights. / Here’s / what to look for: / a pony…” She uses her pony to work out the last few stanzas. A pony is, of course, what we are supposed to look for in a room full of manure, right? So she’s making fun of her own poem. Those kind of little jokes hide throughout, which makes it fun to read. All in all, one of her more successful poems, for me.
Wislawa Szymborska has a poem in the previous week’s New Yorker, translated by Clare Cavanagh, called “Reciprocity.” “There are catalogues of catalogues.” So it starts, and the poem is a sort of catalogue indeed, running through poems about poems, “plays about actors played by actors…” and then shifting slightly off course: “griefs as infectious as laughter….Seen glances.” It’s an intriguing poem for me, reviewing the 21 pairs listed, seeing how she deepens the meaning with well-chosen images, and ending with a note of sadness. A strong poem.
Peace in poetry,
P M F Johnson
My eBook of poems, Against The Night, a sweet, rueful look at love in a long marriage, is available on Amazon, and at other fine e-retailers.
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