Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Susan Wheeler's "What Memory Reveals" is a cryptic meditation on the fragmented and disjointed nature of memory, identity, and existence. Through its surreal imagery and elliptical language, the poem explores the interplay between past experiences and present consciousness, suggesting that memory is both revelatory and unsettling.

The opening lines evoke an ethereal quality: "Angels, pulled into light—provoking the air, fall here." This imagery situates the poem in a space where the divine and mundane intersect, implying that memory often arises unbidden, disrupting the ordinary. The juxtaposition of "fallow breakfast" and "a trafficked burst" on Columbus Avenue grounds the abstract with tangible details, creating a tension between the celestial and the earthly.

Memory, as suggested by the poem, is neither linear nor coherent. Wheeler weaves together disparate scenes: "a momentary lunge," "a looming sail in a nightmare," and "mayonnaise in a refrigerator door." These images, seemingly unconnected, evoke the fragmented way memories surface—random, vivid, and often incomprehensible. The reference to a first photo session, "swaddled," hints at the early moments of life, when identity is shaped but intent remains elusive, described as "a ruinous composite." This line underscores the poem's central theme: memory as a collage of impressions rather than a faithful narrative.

The shift to "lower Manhattan" introduces a sense of place, but even here, the images resist coherence. The setting becomes a canvas for surreal episodes, such as "a poolhall, crisscrossed by rudimentary reliefs." The mention of "Minnesota cicadas" and "a green lawn dotted with tumblers" suggests fleeting memories of specific yet ungraspable moments, tinged with both nostalgia and disquiet.

The recurring motif of light serves as both a literal and metaphorical device. It illuminates, as in the "bright and terrifying night," but also blinds and distorts, reflecting the dual nature of memory as enlightening and unsettling. The "dog" and "Thalia rearranging the glove compartment" introduce characters that seem to personify facets of the speaker's psyche or fragmented recollections. Thalia, the muse of comedy in Greek mythology, may symbolize a playful or ironic undertone in the face of the poem’s darker themes.

As the poem progresses, Wheeler deepens the surreal tone: "It was time that altered monster genes." Time becomes an agent of transformation, distorting memories and reshaping the self. The "model apartment" and "elevator" hint at modernity’s sterility, contrasting sharply with the visceral, chaotic nature of memory. The line, "Like the murderer who only dreamed, you can't shake catastrophe's history," is particularly haunting, suggesting that memory, even if imagined or misremembered, leaves indelible scars.

The closing lines return to the everyday, with "you pay for your breakfast and its litanous menu, scrambled." The mundane act of paying for a meal contrasts with the surreal journey through memory, emphasizing the disconnect between lived experience and the inner world. The imagery of "earth enough to fill each car, each open mouth yawing in the light on Columbus Avenue" brings the poem full circle, uniting the physical and the metaphysical in a final, expansive gesture.

"What Memory Reveals" challenges readers to embrace the disjointed and often chaotic nature of memory. Wheeler’s use of surrealism and fragmented narrative mirrors the way the mind processes and recalls the past—randomly, emotionally, and incompletely. Through its rich imagery and layered meanings, the poem offers a profound reflection on how memory shapes identity, often revealing more about our inner selves than we might willingly confront.

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