Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

William Matthews' poem "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" beautifully captures the transition between seasons, the interplay of memory and present experience, and the delicate sensations of a summer night. Through a series of vivid and evocative images, Matthews weaves a narrative that reflects on childhood, nature, and the passage of time.

The poem opens with the arrival of spring: "It's spring. Lilacs and gin tinge the humid air." This line immediately sets a sensory-rich scene, blending the floral scent of lilacs with the sharpness of gin, creating a tangible atmosphere of a specific time and place. The transition to summer is marked by more detailed imagery: "Next thing you know it's summer-hollyhocks and fireflies in a pickle jar (seven running down their dusty batteries and two already dead)." The fireflies, a quintessential symbol of summer, are presented with a touch of melancholy, as some are already losing their light, hinting at the fleeting nature of the season.

Matthews continues with the image of lichen on lakeside rocks: "A rash of lichen chafes across the lakeside rocks he loves to sprawl on after swimming." This introduces the figure of the boy, who becomes central to the poem. The "shadowy siblings" of animals he will not see this year—"The moose. The loon. The fox"—add a sense of absence and longing, a nod to the elusive nature of wildlife and perhaps the transitory nature of childhood itself.

The mention of the fox brings a personal history: "for whose insouciant gait a dance was named that swept his lovelorn parents like a wave about to break across dance floors they still dream of, disguised as bays and meadows." This dance connects the boy to his parents' past, a shared cultural memory that ties generations together through movement and music. The imagery of dance floors transforming into natural landscapes evokes a dreamy, almost magical quality, blurring the lines between reality and memory.

The poem then shifts to the boy's perspective: "The boy not quite asleep on the third floor of a strange house looks out over the undulations of the golf course, its pockets of shadow, its moon-washed mounds." From his vantage point, the boy observes the night, smelling "people dancing" and sensing their presence through perfumes, shampoos, shoe polish, and the "creamy purr the saxophones lavishly emit." The sounds and scents rise into the night, creating a rich tapestry of sensory experiences that envelop the boy in a world both familiar and strange.

Matthews' description of the night is imbued with a sense of enchantment: "The stars and the tolerant moon let down their tarnished light and we send back, like a constant exclamation of balloons, our sounds and fervent odors." This exchange between the celestial and the terrestrial highlights the interconnectedness of all things, as the night sky and the human world engage in a silent dialogue. The metaphor of balloons suggests a lightness and joy that contrasts with the weight of the physical bodies and memories that hold us down.

As the boy watches, he sees a figure in the moonlight: "The boy watches a dog skulk out of the rough and dark to lift its moon-silvered leg—that's not a dog, it's a fox! And its fur is not silver but gray—and pee distractedly into a sandtrap." This moment of realization, where the fox is mistaken for a dog, adds a touch of whimsy and surprise, capturing the fleeting and often deceptive nature of perception in the moonlit night.

The poem concludes with a reflection on the passage of time: "Soon the band and summer will disperse. The lake rocks mildly in its bowl. It's late, it's almost dawn. But what the sun elicits from the lake, the rain will surely return." The cyclical nature of time is emphasized here, with the inevitability of endings and beginnings. The quiet rocking of the lake suggests a sense of calm and continuity, as the natural world continues its rhythms regardless of human presence.

"What a Little Moonlight Can Do" by William Matthews is a lyrical and contemplative exploration of memory, nature, and the ephemeral beauty of summer nights. Through rich sensory imagery and reflective narrative, Matthews captures the essence of moments that linger in the mind, offering a poignant reminder of the delicate interplay between the past and the present, the seen and the unseen.

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