Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Susan Wheeler’s "Krycek: The Confession" is a haunting and fragmented exploration of guilt, memory, and the ephemeral nature of existence. The poem moves fluidly between lyrical abstraction and stark confession, creating a tapestry of imagery and sound that evokes both the personal and the cosmic. Wheeler’s title, referencing Krycek, a character from The X-Files, suggests layers of secrecy, betrayal, and the pursuit of truth—a fitting frame for the themes of loss and reckoning woven throughout the piece.

The opening line, “On an upper story, someone is dying,” situates the reader in a layered reality where death occupies a parallel, unreachable space. The immediacy of this acknowledgment is juxtaposed with the speaker’s mundane task: “On this lower floor, I am revising.” This contrast between life’s finality and the ongoing work of revision—both literal and metaphorical—establishes a tension that runs through the poem. The dead are described as simultaneously present and elusive: “Throw the dead ones out. They rise.” This cyclical imagery conveys the inescapable persistence of memory and grief, as well as the speaker’s inability to fully separate from the past.

The poem’s early stanzas are punctuated by rhythmic, almost incantatory refrains: “Set it off on the left, oh, set it off on the right, now, set it off.” This repetition mirrors the circularity of mourning and confession, as if the speaker is trapped in a ritual of reliving and recounting. The imagery of “collars of reprieve” and “pendulous aggrieved” evokes both the physical weight of grief and its ceremonial trappings, such as funerals or acts of atonement. The mourners “bow down,” their gestures suggesting submission to loss and the inescapable passage of time.

As the poem progresses, the speaker’s tone becomes more intimate and self-reflective. Lines like “It is my work that waits, not yours. / It is my clock that ticks, not hers” emphasize the speaker’s isolation and the uniquely personal nature of their guilt or burden. The phrase “expiry report” reinforces the bureaucratic detachment with which death is often handled, contrasting sharply with the raw emotional undercurrents of the poem.

Wheeler’s use of imagery is striking throughout, particularly in her descriptions of nature. The firefly’s “bleep of light / across the dark lawn” captures the fleeting and fragile beauty of life, while the “indigent woman” sipping and staring suggests a haunting parallel to the speaker’s own introspection. The recurring motif of light—fireflies, candles, and sacraments—serves as both a literal and symbolic illumination, highlighting moments of clarity amidst the darkness of grief.

The central confession emerges in the lines:
“There was a woman, / She was dying. / When I denied her, / I was lying.”
Here, the speaker admits to a failure of compassion or truth, their denial compounding the woman’s suffering. The metaphor of her face as a “Piteous kite” hovering over a “blighted spirit” evokes a poignant image of vulnerability and fragility, the woman’s life tethered to the forces pulling her away.

The poem’s final section grows increasingly fragmented, mirroring the disintegration of certainty and control. Phrases like “the nine yards whole: the homonym,” and “the bone that breaks, the outer clotted artery she bent” layer physicality and abstraction, blending the corporeal with the symbolic. The lawn “exhales insects,” and the imagery of the elevator shuddering upward evokes a journey toward an uncertain resolution, a metaphorical ascent that mirrors the movement of the soul or the weight of memory.

Wheeler’s language, rich with sound and rhythm, amplifies the poem’s emotional resonance. The repetition of phrases like “‘Night. ’Night.” and the final invocation—“Receive me though I have arrears”—suggests a plea for forgiveness or understanding, both from the departed and from the self.

At its core, "Krycek: The Confession" is a meditation on the intersections of memory, guilt, and mortality. Through its fractured structure and evocative language, the poem captures the speaker’s struggle to reconcile the irrevocable nature of loss with the ongoing work of living. Wheeler’s ability to weave personal confession with universal themes makes this a powerful and haunting piece, resonating long after its final lines.

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