Hey MaryAnn and Michael,
I guess I didn't want to say anything first because it's a tough one for me, too. It was a poem presented in one of my classes from two summers ago, that I liked on some level, I think, but just didn't really get, so I was hoping somebody a lot smarter and more experienced in reading poetry might. Of course I guess "getting it" is not a requirement.
So anyway after two years of mulling it over, I think it's about a kid trapped in a barbershop. Ok, just kidding. But I guess it's about growing up. I especially liked the "true blade" line, which I take as a representing something inevitable, like truth itself, maybe. It seems like it could even be about loss and death of someone. (No matter how much you cry, things aren't going to go back to the way they were, so suck it up, kid.) It has a sense of no turning back, like getting a haircut. And he seems to be making the statement that this feeling, this experience is universal. (We've all been there - under the electric storm).
One thing I never noticed until recently was that it rhymes, sort of. (transom/cops come, crime/time, face/case). Although Levine certainly doesn't seem to be going out of his way to make it rhyme.
Do you think it's sort of an unwritten rule that lack of response means everyone thinks it's a crappy poem? Because I didn't get much on the last poem I posted on the non-metrical board. Yikes!
annie
[This message has been edited by annie nance (edited January 23, 2008).]
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