[Marion Shore]

As Such, A Simile; As Much, A Sonnet

-
There was a Man,
   an old man now,

as angry   then,
   as angry   now

about what Happened
   by Such,   on Such:

Thus,   much Unjust
   still leaves   Nonplussed,

as such back Then
   as much as Now.

….
There is   This Man,
   not Then,   but Now,

that needs to Know,
   to Live,   Somehow.
-




Full disclosure: I tend to be a traditionalist. So when I first looked at this piece, my thought was "This is a sonnet?" As a reader, I probably would have passed over it with no further ado. But with my judge's hat on, I have tried to leave my prejudices behind, and give every poem a fair and objective reading – as much as that's possible! – And in so doing, I found myself liking this odd little piece very much.

There's something about the two-beat lines, the nursery rhyme quality, the strange rhymes… that give it a deceptive simplicity, and that somehow underscore the old man's sense of bewilderment, his belated attempt "to know/to Live, Somehow". The capitalizations are strange also, yet somehow work for me, although I can't exactly say how.

But – is it a sonnet? I think you could argue that it is. 14 lines of course does not a sonnet make. But if you break it down, you can see a sonnet-type structure – even though it's set up as couplets, there is a coherence and a movement, and at the ellipsis, a turn, where it switches from past to present, and builds up to the surprising and poignant concluding couplet.

I should add, that as objective as you try to be, a poem ultimately works on a subliminal level, and this definitely works that way for me. Perhaps because it reminds me of someone who was very close to me. That being said, I have a feeling this piece will be controversial. Which should be interesting. I look forward to hearing what others have to say.