Song of Smoke
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To watch you walk
cross the room in your black
corduroys is to see
civilization start—
the wish-
whish-whisk
of your strut is flint
striking rock—the spark
of a length of cord
rubbed till
smoke starts—you stir
me like coal
and for days smoulder.
I am no more
a Boy Scout and, besides,
could never
put you out—you
keep me on
all day like an iron, out
of habit—
you threaten, brick-
house, to burn
all this down. You leave me
only a chimney.
A lot of power in this poem- both fear and courage...imagery, you leave me only a chimney....smoke coming out of the ears?
ReplyDeleteAssume that he speaks of his father....acting his power over the household...instilling fear- it is crazy how this was a lot of how people were raised in the old days, I wonder how many households still hold to this idea or power?
I didn't see the father son dynamic. I like that interpretation.
ReplyDeleteI can also see a couple. The fire is a metaphor for fighting. It starts and then just turns to a chimney of smoke. The smoke a symbol for the destructive things people say when they get upset.