A Great Poem 2

A short warning: This poem discusses death, and it is pretty dark all around. It might not be what you want or can read today, this year, or ever. That's completely legitimate. Fortunately, many other great poems are just waiting to be discovered!

This poem comes to us from the first-ever poetry book I bought. I got it at my local thrift store. As a side note, I highly recommend looking through the book section when thrifting! The book in question is a poetry anthology, by the name: The Best American Poetry 2008. Anthologies--- collections of multiple authors' writings---are a great way to get into poetry or short stories. They give you an array of different styles, meaning you might just stumble upon one you really like! 

Now let's get to the poem!

This is

Entering - by Laura Cronk

Moonscape of snow at night.

To die, to crash,

could be a crush of snow.

All softness.

I imagine, driving alone,

being enveloped by snow, crashed into, quickly.

The mice must have these visions.

Talking quietly when they can't sleep

about tunnelling in endless grain until, full of it,

completely enveloped by it, peacefully, it takes them.

From start to end this poem is powerful! 

I like the great visual separation between these short sentence fragments. Poetry is often, at least partially, a visual experience. There is actually a word describing poems that are formatted to look like something---block poem. This particular piece doesn't really fit that category, but there is a visual aspect to it. Reading this poem feels very cold, isolated, and, quite honestly, devastating. Here is where the visual space comes into play. There is this pause and hold, the movement is not fluid, it is constantly interrupted. I'm reminded of how sometimes we think so much or feel so empty that even the shortest sentences are difficult to pull together. This poem feels like a low point, a struggle to not give in, and every few words there is an active decision to be made! Does one move forward with this though? Does one just let themselves be "enveloped by snow"?  

Another thing I want to touch on is the contrast between harsh and delicate. The first line (moonscape of snow at night) is so serene. You can see it, can't you? The beautiful shimmer of snow at night, it's almost magical. And then the whiplash of "to die, to crash". There is a constant ebb and flow, two extremes balanced and reproached with every line. The poem is asking you again and again and again to take another look at this dance between "crush of snow" and "all softness", life and death. The only question is of the two (life and death) which is the crush of snow and which all softness? I'll leave you to ponder that on your own.

I hope you enjoyed this poem! Have a nice day :)