bes·ti·ar·y (/ˈbesCHēˌerē,ˈbēsCHēˌerē/) noun: bestiary; plural noun: bestiaries
a
descriptive or anecdotal treatise on various real or mythical kinds of
animals, especially a medieval work with a moralizing tone.
Thumb, loose tooth of a horse.
Rooster to his hens.
Horn of a devil. Fat worm
They have attached to my flesh
At the time of my birth.
It takes four to hold him down,
Bend him in half, until the bone
Begins to whimper.
Cut him off. He can take care
Of himself. Take root in the earth,
Or go hunting with wolves.
2.
The second points the way.
True way. The path crosses the earth,
The moon and some stars.
Watch, he points further.
He points to himself.
3.
The middle one has backache.
Stiff, still unaccustomed to this life:
An old man at birth. It's about something
That he had and lost,
That he looks for within my hand,
The way a dog looks
For fleas
With a sharp tooth.
4.
The fourth is mystery.
Sometimes as my hand
Rests on the table
He jumps by himself
As though someone called his name.
After each bone, finger,
I come to him, troubled.
5.
Something stirs in the fifth
Something perpetually at the point
Of birth. Weak and submissive,
His touch is gentle.
It weighs a tear.
It takes the mote out of the eye.
At first read, my mind skimmed this poem uninterested. But as I read through again and again I was really smiling by the end. I was suckered in by the unique personification and idea that the hands themselves contain so much memory! Each with a different experience, purpose and life.
ReplyDeleteSame!
DeleteI made the mistake of reading this without reading the title first. I had no clue what was going on. Then I read the title, reread the poem, and got it. It;s fun. It could be five poems, each one stands alone well too.
This shows how poetry can bring out new truths about our the world, worms, hands and ourselves.
I love how the ring finger is troubled and a mystery!
can someone please explain the mood and theme of this poem please I am lost.
ReplyDeletesomeone please help explain the theme and mood
ReplyDeleteGo back through the poem and look at all the descriptive words. If you have a physical copy, highlight or circle them. Then think of how those words what you feel. That is the mood. Every reader will have their own interpretation of the mood.
DeleteFor the theme read the poem again and make a summary of what the poem is literally describing. From the literal summary, make an analogy to something else. The theme could be anything a reader can explain with evidence from the poem.
I’ve often described this poem to writer friends (perhaps partially tongue-in-cheek) as perhaps the cruelest poem ever written.
ReplyDeleteThat is, how could any writer read this brilliant poem and then possibly go on to complain that “I just don’t have _anything_ to write about?”