I'll Call Him Art

Art is undone. His chair's askew. His eyes,
his eyes are locked with mine. His look is raw,
mascara running, caught by small-town law,
the bible belt, bewildered parents' sighs.

Art is a man-child boy-girl compromise,
sitting between his farmer maw and paw,
here in the sheriff's office, Satan's claw.
Art holds the Word of God, holds back his cries.

I'm helpless, Art, to save you, where we are.
I try to say all this with one quick glance
before I go. Let's both go, shed the scar
of twisted stares. Let's cut and run. Let's dance.
You'll tell me all about it in the car.
Coyote-howl away the circumstance.

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I almost didn't post this one, partly because it was discussed so recently in TDE, and partly because I have a couple of minor problems with it. It got under my skin, though, and in the end I couldn't not post it.

This poet drives me crazy sometimes with her metrical intolerance; she often seems to place too high a priority on sound at the expense of, well, everything else. The payoff is that her verse has a songlike quality. This poet contributed the only poem on the Lilt website that's written in iambic pentameter. This one lilts, too, and between that and the pathos -- the "raw" look in those mascaraed eyes, that heart-tugging "I'm helpless" -- it's burned itself into my memory. This despite the fact that I hate "shed the scar" and am not crazy about "circumstance." I think it's the overall effect that matters.



[This message has been edited by Rose Kelleher (edited June 21, 2008).]

Heavens! I think 'circumstance' is one of the finest things in this very fine sonnet. I don't know whether the writer had this quotation from G.K. Chesterton in mind (probably not) but I'll copy it in nevertheless. It's the last sentence of 'The Purple Wig' in The Wisdom of Father Brown'.

As Miss Barlow rattled away cheerfully, he crumpled up the copy and tossed it into the waste paper basket; but not before he had, automatically and by mere force of habit, altered the word 'God' to the word 'circumstances'.

I wish to register agreement with your subjective appraisal, Rose, and even more emphatically. The points which bother you a little don't trouble me in the least. Conveyed by the sestet is a frantic, a nearly desperate impluse to rescue, at almost any risk, the tragic figure pictured so dramatically in the octet.

In poetry as in life, I hold with Søren Kirkegård who wrote that subjectivity is the only truth. For me, the emotional impact of this poem is unmitigated. I don't care how it complies with or varies from tenets of form which might influence an objectively-minded critic in judging its success or failure. It succeeds powerfully.

G/W



[This message has been edited by Golias (edited May 07, 2008).]

I like this one a lot.

'I try to say all this with one quick glance'

This is the killer for me, the line that says 'this was exactly as I say it was'. I love the last line too, 'circumstance' and all.

Wasn't wholly sure about 'Art holds the Word of God, holds back his cries.'.

Yes, it's a fine sonnet, written no doubt by a fine human being.

Alex

In its first draft I thought this unpromising and dumped on it. So did the EfH. But the writer worked harder on it than I've ever seen a sonnet worked at the Deep End, and it is very fine now. I still dislike the last line.

Okay, I take it back, John and Alex. You've talked me into liking "circumstance."


[This message has been edited by Rose Kelleher (edited May 07, 2008).]

The sonnet strikes me as being very Artful from the start. I can't see the reason for the repeat of 'his eyes' for instance, or who or what 'Satan's claw' is exactly.

But my main problem is that the last line seems to belong in another poem altogether. The short sentences and clipped conjunctions provide a tone that's informal rather than formal. But in the final line it feels like the author sets the poetickal amplifier up to 11, and it doesn't work for me.

Regards, Maz

I also don't know what 'Satan's claw' means. I basically don't understand this poem. I've read it a number of times and always come away wondering what the main point is. Most likely, I'm just not bright enough to get it.

Anne

A triumph of empathy, this one, for me. If Satan's claw seems overstated for some--it should be remembered that the Long-Arm-Of-The Law looks quite different from a distance than when it is reaching out for <u>you</u>: close-up I don't see why, subjectively speaking, it can't appear to have The Devil's Fingers. This is one of those walk-a-mile-in-my-shoes tropes, and yet the voice of the poem walks in those shoes so naturally that it can get away with a certain degree of archetypal exaggeration.

As for the last line, I think it pitch perfect. There is something about acknowledging the neutral fact of "circumstance" in individual fate that keeps the poem from seeming to judge anyone involved in the scenario too harshly. That howl is for all involved: Maw Paw, Law, and Art!

Heroic!

Nemo

[This message has been edited by R. Nemo Hill (edited May 07, 2008).]

<A HREF="http://web.archive.org/web/20050305223250/http://www.ctaz.com/~dmn1/hein.htm" TARGET=_blank>There is one art,
no more, no less:
to do all things
with artlessness</A>

That might imply looking for a church to fart in, I suppose, but hey...

Peter, that and the poems linked to are terrific little gems. I'd never heard of the poet before; thanks for the link.

I always admired this terrific poem.

(And thanks Peter for Piet Hein.)
Janet

I love the poem. I love the last line.

Nemo, thanks for articulating my exact feelings better than I could have done. What that word also does is trivialises the whole situation, says to the boy 'there's no good reason why you suffer, and nor should you'.

Nemo,

Thanks so much for opening the mystery of it for me. It makes sense to me now that you have helped me to understand the symbolism. I'm even a bit embarrassed since I've spent many an hour studying about how without the law there was no sin and that the law kills. (But the spirit gives life). Now I can also see how Art is the Word of God. It is a fantastic poem.

Anne

"Art" is doubtless chosen for multiple meanings; the one Anne mentions as well as others, including these: Art (the boy) holds (in his hand)the Word of God (his Bible)// The word of god is held (upheld) by art (human artifice).

Or is all that too obvious to need mention?

G/W

[This message has been edited by Golias (edited May 08, 2008).]

Art is art and the poem is about how people try to rope it in and impose social and intellectual and moral restrictions on it. Am I wrong?

Carol

This is reverberating and resonating in all sorts of directions!

Good work, author.

Nemo

[This message has been edited by R. Nemo Hill (edited May 09, 2008).]

Golias,

For me the "Word of God" is not synonymous with 'the bible'. Rather, it is the sum of all things that consist/exist -- i.e. in Christ. Just wanted to clear that up from my side.

Anne

Very much enjoyed! Just hope that car doesn't go over the cliff like it did for Thelma & Louise. And if it does, well, howling is better than whimpering.

This is exactly how I read this poem -- another one of my favorites.

"Art is a man-child boy-girl compromise" is my favorite line. along with that great coyote-howl in the end. Art should be free of all this...but it isn't. Well done!

I remember from the workshop, and was one of the active critters there. I think the poem got better along the way, and it wears well now, when I haven't seen it in some months. My congratulations to the author for patience and persistence. It's a keeper.

Alan

I gather the polls are almost closed, so I'll close, too.

Rosey and Timmy, this has been a most enjoyable party. I loved not knowing at first who wrote the sonnets (then I started to really want to know).

Shortly after I posted "Art" in the workshop, Reginald Shepherd posted this over at the Harriet blog (here's the link and an excerpt): http://poetryfoundation.org/harriet/...a_short_n.html

So I asked Reginald if he'd read "Art" and he hadn't, and he wrote his post a year before I wrote Art. So that quenched my qualms about the scar.

Thanks, John Whitworth, for easing my anxiety about "circumstance." I do feel like I read the Chesterton quote years ago - it sounds familiar - but it certainly wasn't in my mind when I wrote Art.

G/W - I wonder if you'd read about subjectivity in The Writer's Almanac? Because I believe the day before you posted here, the Almanac had that very quote about subjectivity. I'm so glad you felt the emotional impact.

Alex - Yes, this was exactly how it was - this really happened. Art was clutching a bible like a drowning man and trying to be brave. Thank you for such kind words.

Tim - Yeah, you guys were very tough on me. Luckily, I still think you're a sweetie, sort of.

Anne - think of Satan's claw as a gun, and as the opposite of the Word.

Nemo - thanks, dollface.

Peter - enjoyed the Hien.

Thanks, Janet, Paulie.

G/W - not at all too obvious to mention. thanks.

Carol - nope.

Thanks Cathy, Marybeth, Alan.

Rose - Listen, don't we often find our friends by loving their poems first? So you shouldn't feel guilty about picking poems by your friends.

Can't wait till next year! This has been a fascinating lesson in taste and judgment, not to mention a great party.