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Critical Analysis #2
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How Many?
| Critical Analysis #2 |
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How Many? |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
When the schools were closed, how many students jumped? The night before, the day before that morning, that morning there must've been a grumble, barely heard, a flash of light and power must've stopped for seconds to stop everyday things. This must be why she opened the green bottle and poured and poured again. Some things, I suppose, must be explained: these houses are not your houses, these apartments are not yours, and the schools are of a different kind. The heat rises from the floor, there are no ovens, and there is always a hole in the kitchen. It holds a pipe attached to plastic, a tube which gives gas to the stove that has no oven. And the voice of a drunken father spreads over this land like smoke from a refuse fire. With certain people this is common, this uncommonness, to drink in the morning, through noon, and most of the night after a rain storm ruined what had to be done. This must be why she unscrewed the third bottle and poured and poured again. And after the fifth or the sixth one, on instinct or habit, she must've forgotten herself or through lack of thinking or thought confused his voice with hers. Was it father's ghost, "I'll do it! I'll do it!" or was it her whisper, "I'll do it, I'll do it"? She must've forgotten what she had done, that she had cut the casing to the gas line through lack of thinking or thought, instinct or habit. Waking from one, returning to the other, she must've forgotten what she had said or what she had heard when she grabbed a lighter from a shelf, placed a cigarette between her lips, and tried the lighter, tried again and again. How many students jumped that day? Note: Inspired by something Serenity said. |
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chopsticks Senior Member
since 2007-10-02
Posts 888The US, |
I wonder what Serenity said ? Anyhow ........: In South Africa, and maybe other places in this world, they say ,( Yesterday past ) for our ( The day before yesterday ) So, a S A poet may write “ On the night of yesterday past” in the place of your “ The night before, the day before” They both have the same amount of syllables. Would they both work in the poem ? I don’t know, I am to technically disadvantage about poetry to say. Btw, I like the poem , but there is much more to say about it. |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
Then say it. |
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chopsticks Senior Member
since 2007-10-02
Posts 888The US, |
“ Then say it “ Brad, you can‘t get by with a three word reply like that. Give me a little something. BTW, means I was going to throw this away, but here it is for what it‘s worth. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
I'm wondering what serenity said too. Sheesh.  |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
What's wrong with a three word reply? I swear, there are times when I get into trouble no matter what I do.  Karen, You said, 'there's an explosion!' So I wrote about something that happened here. |
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chopsticks Senior Member
since 2007-10-02
Posts 888The US, |
Brad I apologies. when you said almost the same words to me, I didn’t even give you three words. The rain storm ruined what, that had to be done ? What was in the green bottles ? If I knew the answers to those , then I could decide if her demise was an accident or was it suicide. Right now I think it was an accident . Btw, I did wonder what inspired this poem. |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
No apology necessary. I was playing around -- and got caught. The green bottle -- soju -- it's a kind of Korean vodka. 'what had to be done' is, in many ways, the essence of the whole poem. |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Soju be better than misso. I have trouble following the political implications, but that's just a matter of ignorance. Best, Jim |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
I'm starting to feel like Milton rereading his own Lycidas. It was not intended to be political, but Pak Chung Hee is reported to have said (when asked why the price of soju was kept so low): "Drunk people tend not to start fires." I paraphrase. And he was wrong. |
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Brad Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705Jejudo, South Korea |
I just posted this comment at another site -- just figured I'd share: It was probably a mistake to mention Korea. The explosion that forms the background happened in Korea about a year ago. That didn't trigger this however. What did was was an e-mail conversation with a friend from New Orleans and she said, "I just heard an explosion." That got me thinking. I had originally heard the story from a middle school girl and she presented it in both a cryptic and gossipy way. It began, "The schools were closed last week." As I teased the rest of the information out of her (most of which is in the poem), I realized that while she was seeing the alcoholic woman as separate from herself, I was seeing the two as separate from myself (They're both Korean, I'm not.). As it happens, my wife who is also Korean (Guess where I live, guys!) started telling me stories about her father and his drinking sessions. I knew that my father-in-law, now deceased, had these sessions, I had even tried to keep up with him but he would go two or three days and I would pass out by the first afternoon. But I didn't know that he, after the first or second day, would threaten to cut the gas line as explained in the poem. Not every time, not often, but occassionally. And that scared me. So, I had three different points that I wanted to connect. How the hell was I going to do that? |
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