Bishop's Filling Station is both insulting and obvious into one type of lifestyle of what I immediately thought of as the uneducated blue-collar class. Bishop's tone seems to insist that she is in disbelief that people live lives such as this- but upon further inspection, this poem invokes thoughts of a mechanical way of life. These individuals are so encapsulated in their way of life- whether happily or not (though it would seem they are just going about their day as if nothing else quite matters): "Somebody embroidered the doily./Somebody waters the plant,/ or oils it, maybe. Somebody/ arranges the rows of cans so that they softly say:/ ESSO-SO-SO-SO" The last line suggests to me either that these people, though they may be simple and mechanical, have tapped in to some part of the human psyche so as to keep their dingy way of life alive through their business, or that perhaps this arranging of the cans is some intervention of a divinity that even the dirtiest individuals have some sort of sense about them. Or perhaps I am off entirely. Finally, I appreciate the different use of enjambment and the end-stopped lines as they seem to make the imagery come alive more with purposeful pauses and breaks.
Komunyakaa's Camouflaging the Chimera obviously has meaning interconnected with the Vietnam war and gives a totally different tone, for me, than Filling Station (perhaps this is why I like both of these). This poem invokes much more visceral, animal, and instinctual feelings of survival and stealth: "from Saigon to Bangkok/ with women left in doorways/ reaching in from America./ We aimed at dark-hearted songbirds.". You also see the desperation and the need to push on, whether to fulfill the mission, or more seriously, for hatred (or perhaps something else) for the enemy: "But we waited till the moon touched metal, till something almost broke inside us". Finally, I see use of consonance (broke/silk; l-shaped/revolved/eyelid) near the end of the poem which helps to further drive the tone that Komunyakaa is trying to bring forth.
Jenn, I feel as if these two poems are as you say, simple. They have several meaningful levels of connections tot he human psyche and they are trying to convey this ideals through this soft and subtle tone that they use. They describe the places they are mentioning in such simple and divine detail that I can understand why you like it. The animalistic feelings, the struggle for survival is so meaningful and filled with a lot of depth.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that someone feels the same way about these poems as I do! Especially Komunyakaa's, who I didn't realise was about a specific war, that's a nice observation. I thought Bishop's poem was rude and shallow but reading your analysis makes me think that she has done this for a purpose (albeit a lame one). I hadn't notice how mechanised the place was either, it really brings out the smartness and strategy of the family.
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