Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lynn Emanuel’s "Homage to Sharon Stone (2)" delves deeper into the reflective and metafictional themes introduced in its predecessor, weaving a complex tapestry of identity, performance, and the quotidian set against the backdrop of celebrity culture. This poem extends the exploration of the self as both observer and participant within the broader narratives of life and art, challenging conventional boundaries between reality and representation.

From the outset, Emanuel sets the scene as the "before," describing the world in its "wrapper," a phrase that connotes both concealment and the mundane start of the day. This setting is casual, "blowzy, frumpy," capturing the ordinary world in a state of unpolished authenticity. The description serves as a grounding contrast to the glamorous yet transient appearances of Sharon Stone, whose morning routine starkly contrasts with Emanuel’s and her neighbors’, who are humorously described as "hitching themselves to the roles of the unhappily married."

Emanuel’s self-portrait is vivid and unembellished. Clad in a bathrobe and curlers, smoking a cigarette, she positions herself as both a creator and a character within her poetic narrative. This blending of the mundane with the literary is emphasized as ash falls on her text, symbolically merging her lived experience with the act of writing. The repetition of her full name, "My name is Lynn Emanuel," throughout the poem acts as a refrain, anchoring the reader in the reality of her identity amidst the fluid roles she describes.

Sharon Stone’s depiction, always in the process of being swallowed by a limousine, serves as a recurrent motif that Emanuel uses to explore themes of visibility and invisibility, presence and absence. The limousine, a symbol of both luxury and isolation, is described almost as a vessel navigating through "the shadowy ocean of these words," suggesting that Emanuel views her environment—both physical and textual—as a space traversed and occasionally obscured by narratives outside her control.

Emanuel’s reflections on identity are particularly poignant as she muses on her desire to transcend her own persona: "I have always wanted to be a car...I am a woman, one minute, then I am a man, I am a carnival of Lynn Emanuels." This passage highlights the fluidity with which she approaches the concept of self, embracing a multitude of identities and experiences within her poetic exploration. The whimsical desire to be "Gertrude Stein spying on Sharon Stone at six in the morning" further illustrates her playful yet earnest engagement with the boundaries of authorship and spectatorship.

The poem also delves into the transformative power of the written word, as Emanuel attempts to "unwrite the world that is all around her." This ambitious phrase captures her drive to reshape or reinterpret her surroundings through poetry, suggesting a form of literary escapism or reinvention. The imagery of the sun as "a fox chewing her foot from the trap" encapsulates a raw, visceral struggle for freedom, mirroring Emanuel’s own efforts to liberate her narrative voice from conventional constraints.

In "Homage to Sharon Stone (2)," Lynn Emanuel not only pays tribute to the complexity of human identity but also celebrates the act of poetic creation as a means of confronting and redefining the self. Through vivid imagery, introspective commentary, and a deep engagement with the interplay between the mundane and the extraordinary, Emanuel crafts a narrative that is both a reflection on personal identity and a commentary on the nature of art itself.

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