Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Mark Strand’s "Tomorrow" is a haunting meditation on loss, longing, and the fragile act of hope. The poem’s concise structure belies its emotional depth, as Strand weaves a narrative of grief and anticipation. His hallmark minimalism is present throughout, emphasizing emotional resonance through sparse but evocative language. The poem grapples with the tension between an irreparable past and the illusory promise of the future, creating a liminal space where memory, reality, and imagination coexist.

The opening lines, "Your best friend is gone, / your other friend, too," plunge the reader into a stark sense of absence. Strand's choice to begin so abruptly reinforces the immediacy and permanence of this loss. The matter-of-fact tone suggests a resigned acceptance, yet the absence remains deeply felt. The speaker’s isolation is compounded by the absence of context; no details are given about the friends, the circumstances, or the emotional fallout. This ambiguity invites readers to project their own experiences of loss onto the poem, making it universally resonant.

The second stanza introduces the metaphor of a dream that "used to turn in your sleep, / like a diamond," a powerful image that merges beauty, fragility, and endurance. Dreams, often associated with hope or aspirations, are here likened to a diamond—a symbol of clarity and permanence—only to be swept away, "sail[ing] into the year's coldest night." This chilling imagery underscores the finality of loss and the inevitability of time's passage. The "coldest night" evokes not only physical chill but also emotional desolation, amplifying the sense of a world devoid of warmth or comfort.

Strand’s exploration of culpability appears in the questions, "What did you say? / Or was it something you did?" These lines reflect a common human response to loss—the impulse to assign blame, often inwardly. Yet the speaker dismisses this inquiry with the assertion, "It makes no difference," signaling that any answers would be futile in altering the reality of absence. The collapsing "house of breath" and the "voice burning" evoke a vivid sense of disintegration, both physical and emotional. The "house of breath" suggests the body or the fragile structure of life itself, while the image of the burning voice encapsulates anguish. Despite the visceral intensity of these images, the speaker dismisses them as "nothing to worry about," a gesture that hints at denial or a refusal to dwell in despair.

The pivotal shift occurs in the penultimate stanza: "Tomorrow your friends will come back." This assertion introduces the possibility of hope or reconciliation, yet its tone is imbued with uncertainty. The return of the friends could be literal, imagined, or symbolic, leaving the reader in a space of ambiguity. The "moist open mouth" that "will bloom in the glass of storefronts" is a strikingly sensual image, suggesting renewal, vitality, and visibility. The reflection in the storefront glass implies a restored sense of self, even if it exists only in the realm of illusion.

The repetition of "Yes. Yes." adds a note of insistence or self-persuasion, as if the speaker is willing this future into existence. This moment of affirmation is immediately tempered by the final line: "you will invent an ending that comes out right." The use of "invent" signals the artificiality of this resolution. The speaker acknowledges the necessity of crafting a narrative where the pain is resolved, even if such a resolution is a fabrication. Strand leaves the reader with the understanding that hope, while vital, may also be an act of self-deception.

Structurally, the poem's brevity mirrors its thematic focus on the ephemeral. Each stanza flows seamlessly into the next, creating a rhythm akin to a conversation with oneself—a quiet, internal grappling with grief and hope. Strand’s refusal to offer punctuation at the end of most lines allows the imagery to bleed together, emphasizing the fluid, dreamlike quality of the speaker’s reflections. The unpunctuated phrasing also mirrors the continuous motion of time, where moments and emotions are not easily separated or resolved.

Thematically, "Tomorrow" occupies the liminal space between despair and the fragile promise of renewal. The titular word, "Tomorrow," suggests forward motion, a step beyond the cold night of loss, yet it is imbued with uncertainty. Tomorrow, by its very nature, is always deferred, never entirely within reach. The poem captures this tension, balancing the weight of absence against the buoyancy of imagined reconciliation.

Strand’s imagery oscillates between the physical and the metaphysical, grounding the abstract emotions of loss and hope in vivid sensory detail. The collapsing house of breath, the blooming mouth, and the cold night all work to tether the reader to the speaker’s embodied experience of grief and longing. At the same time, these images transcend the personal, pointing to universal truths about human fragility and resilience.

"Tomorrow" is ultimately a testament to the human need to create meaning in the face of uncertainty. Strand acknowledges the impossibility of undoing loss while affirming the necessity of imagining a future where things "come out right." In this way, the poem encapsulates the paradox of hope—it is both a lifeline and an illusion, sustaining us even as it eludes fulfillment. Through his characteristically spare language and profound imagery, Strand captures the essence of what it means to live with loss, to dream of reconciliation, and to press forward into the promise of tomorrow.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...