Juliana Spahr wrote this collection of poetry after the events of 9/11 and leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Many pages are filled with facts or headlines she read in the news. Her subject goes back and forth between people coming together and people drifting apart. Periodically, she goes back to the connection she has with the rest of the world--the connection we all have with each other.
So, I guess I didn't get that this book was only two poems when we first started reading. I took it as two sections, and each date was the title of the next poem. Even though "Poem Written after September 11, 2001" and "Poem Written from November 30, 2002, to March 27, 2003" are the only two listings in the table of contents, the way the book was set up gave me the impression of two parts with multiple poems in each. To realize that this whole book was only two poems really surprised me.
Spahr uses a lot of repetition. A LOT. Almost to the point where, in a couple places, it gets annoying:
"as everyone with lungs breathes the space between the hands and
the space around the hands in and out
as everyone with lungs breathes the space between the hands and
the space around the hands and the space of the room in and out
as everyone with lungs breathes the space between the hands and
the space around the hands and the space of the room and the
space of the building that surrounds the room in and out" (pg. 5)
And that went on for a few more pages until she got to "the space of the mesosphere in and out" (pg. 8). Yes, at the end of each repetitive stanza, she ends with "in and out" and even mentions breathing. So, each stanza could be seen as taking a bigger and bigger breath in and out; breathing is something of a repetitive action--but also a necessary one. I'm not so sure how necessary Spahr's repetition was in this case.
We had the opportunity in class to listen to Spahr read this poem. I don't mean to be critical, but hearing her read through the repetition only confirmed my thoughts on her choice to repeat so much. Now, she could have been having an off day, or something, but as she read, it sounded to me like her voice was getting tired of saying the same thing over and over and over. She started out reading the exact same way each stanza, in the same tone of voice, but I noticed her "change it up" a couple times--as if she was getting bored, herself--and her voice went up for a word (instead of staying level) in order to keep her, and her audience, focused. I don't really think her intention was to sound bored; I just couldn't help but notice little things like that. If she wanted to make it sound like breathing, I don't think she should have changed her voice at all. And if she wanted us to read her poetry as breathing, maybe she didn't have to take it so far.
I looked up the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere. The troposphere is the atmospheric layer closest to Earth, followed by the stratosphere (where aircraft fly and the ozone layer is) and the mesosphere. I guess I could understand why Spahr included the first two layers of atmosphere, but humans don't really make use of the mesosphere. There is space travel, but if that was important, why didn't she include the rest of the atmosphere, the other planets, the Milkyway, etc.? Why not go all out and add the universe?!
I did learn the the mesosphere is the last of the "uniform" layers of the atmosphere--which, as I understood it, has something to do with molecular masses of different chemicals. The mesosphere is the place where most meteors falling to Earth end up burning out. It is also the layer we know the least about. It's too high for aircraft flight and too low for orbital spacecraft. Does its air of mystery hold some sort of importance?
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