Wednesday, April 1, 2009
"Prisoners" by Denise Leverton
I have just finished reading "Prisoners" by Denise Leverton. One thing i notice about this poem is her imagery in the use of food. It seems as if she is relating food to life. For example, when she says "We taste other food that life, like a charitable farm-girl, holds out to us as we pass—but our mouths are puckered, a taint of ash on the tongue" it seems as if she means that though the many different joys and explorations of life are put before us we still insist on "puckering" our mouths and not accepting what is potentially out there for us. We still insist on "the old apple of knowledge." Though many people may want to take a bigger "bite" out of life we find ourselves often scared to take that risk which will cause potential change. This concept is what labels us as "Prisoners" as the title exclaims. The metaphorical sense meets a more literal sense in the last stanza when Leverton explains that "The ashen apple of these days grew from poisoned soil. We are prisoners and must eat our ration." In prison you are served the same meal day in and day out, everyday. There is no exhileration; no change. Just as waking up everyday and taking a bite of that same apple, following the same routine...with no change.
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ohhhh ok..now i get it a bit more..i thought it was saying something like we are stuck in like a world where we get used to certain things that we dont even bother to try something new because we are still going to go back to what we are use to. Its like a safe-net..you already know its routine and to try something new is like putting you at risk for a change that can scares you. But i like how you put it..cool.
ReplyDeleteYes, you both raise some interesting questions--about the unwillingness, or inability, to change; about overlooking the depth and beauty--the poetry--in the everyday (though, ironically, death's door is "ordinary")--this is a thematic strain you can follow through Levertov's poetry (at least the earlier poetry--bring "February in New York...", for eg., into this). We are prisoners of ourselves in this way....
ReplyDeleteAlso, your on track to notice the image/metaphor patterns based on food--the "farm-girl" and the "plain bread," and the two types of apples--a older knowledge, perhaps an older way of relating to the world (perhaps a ref. to her own earlier poetry) that was more fulfilling, not so bitter, unwholesome, disconnected--all these fallen rotting apples--as present circumstances she (we) are locked into...