Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

The poem opens with a direct address to the reader, immediately setting a tone of defiance against the concept of rationalism, described pejoratively as "ugly" and "heady." This rejection of rationalism serves as a declaration of the speaker's intent to embrace the full spectrum of their emotions, particularly the pain and sorrow that rational thought seeks to mitigate or explain away.

The speaker's decision to banish the word from their vocabulary, and by extension, their life, highlights a deep-seated need to experience grief without the filter of logic or reason. The metaphor of the thesaurus protected in the chest, and the fist raised against the blinds, encapsulates the speaker's struggle to shield their inner turmoil from the outside world, and perhaps from their own attempts to rationalize their pain.

The image of the "immutable mountain" symbolizes a potential source of solace, a natural constant that might offer perspective or comfort. However, the speaker's deliberate choice to reject this consolation in favor of remaining inconsolable underscores a profound need to fully confront and experience their grief without seeking escape or relief.

The poem then enumerates the "fourteen sorrows," one for each slat of the blinds, providing specific instances of pain and loss that the speaker wishes to acknowledge and dwell upon. These sorrows range from the universal—such as the cloud trying to obscure the sun and the beech branch damaged by passing trucks—to the deeply personal, including the neglect of gardens once planted and the deterioration of a dead friend's photograph.

The repetition of stumbling, both physically and metaphorically, alongside the speaker's acknowledgment of their "lubberly body" and the intertwined shame between the speaker and their father, deepens the exploration of vulnerability and self-reproach. The act of raising a fist against the father, and by extension, against the inherited shame, reveals a complex relationship with authority, expectation, and identity.

The poem's climax, "for spurning consolation / with fourteen slammed slats," acts as a powerful metaphor for the speaker's deliberate choice to isolate themselves with their grief, refusing the light of reason or the possibility of healing that might penetrate the closed blinds.

"Petition to Be Inconsolable" concludes with a paradoxical acceptance of dying—both in the literal sense of life's end and in the metaphorical sense of enduring loss and sorrow. The speaker's acknowledgment of welcoming this state "against all reason" captures the essence of the human condition: the capacity to find a strange solace in the embrace of pain, to seek authenticity in the depths of despair, and to resist the urge to mitigate or rationalize away the complexities of our emotional landscapes.

Laure-Anne Bosselaar's poem is a testament to the power of poetry to articulate the inarticulable, to explore the nuances of human sorrow, and to assert the validity of feeling deeply in a world that often prioritizes detachment and rationality. Through its vivid imagery, emotional depth, and raw honesty, "Petition to Be Inconsolable" invites readers to reflect on their own experiences of grief, resistance, and the search for meaning in the face of suffering.

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