Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"A Un Desconocido" by Lorna Dee Cervantes is a deeply evocative and sensuous poem that navigates the terrain of longing, desire, and the elusive nature of connection. Through rich imagery and a passionate voice, Cervantes crafts a narrative of yearning for an unknown other, exploring the complexities of attraction and the paradoxes of love and desire.

The poem opens with the speaker searching for the other's hair, described as "black as old lava on an island / of white coral," immediately setting a tone of intense desire mixed with the exotic and the dangerous. This imagery not only evokes a sense of primal attraction but also hints at the transformative power of this desire, capable of enveloping and changing the speaker, as suggested by the hair that "deserted you and came for me."

Cervantes uses the metaphor of "funeral ribbons" and a "bow of salt" to convey the intertwining of desire with elements of mourning and preservation, suggesting that longing is as much about loss and the passage of time as it is about the yearning for connection.

The phrase "Here’s where I put my demise" marks a shift to a more introspective tone, where the speaker acknowledges the perilous nature of their desire, likened to "fire in a web of tide." This image captures the inherent contradictions within longing—fire representing passion and life, set against the tide, emblematic of change, erasure, and the cyclical nature of existence.

The poem delves into the ethereal and the tangible aspects of the desired other, referring to them as "my intelligent mammal, male / of my species, twin sun to a world / not of my making." This language elevates the unknown lover to a cosmic level, reinforcing the idea of a profound, almost predestined connection, while also grounding the longing in the physical and the known, in the shared biology and reality of being human.

Cervantes' exploration of desire is further complicated by the imagery of reduction and transformation: "you reduce me / to the syrup of the moon, you boil / my bones in the absence of hands." These lines suggest a dissolution of self in the presence (or absence) of the other, highlighting the vulnerability and the total surrender involved in love and desire.

The closing stanzas pose questions about the physical manifestations of the unknown lover and ponder the possibilities of where and how to cultivate this connection. The speaker imagines a place of intimate creation "In the neck of my secret heart," a space of warmth and nourishment, yet the imagery of crumbling bread and scattering crumbs introduces a sense of fragility and impermanence to this envisioned union.

"A Un Desconocido" concludes with a longing for tangibility and presence—"if only you were a stone I could / throw, if only I could have you"—underscoring the poem's central tension between the ethereal nature of desire and the longing for a concrete, graspable connection.

Through "A Un Desconocido," Lorna Dee Cervantes invites readers into a passionate and contemplative exploration of desire, offering a meditation on the longing for the other that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant. The poem weaves together the visceral and the mystical, the tangible and the imagined, capturing the essence of longing with profound beauty and intensity.

POEM TEXT: https://www.tumblr.com/dreamsister/49232933780/a-un-desconocido

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