Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Drawings: For John Who Said to Write About True Love" by Lorna Dee Cervantes is an intricate and sprawling poem that traverses the complexities of love, memory, and the passage of time through vivid imagery and deeply personal narrative. Cervantes crafts a tapestry of moments, reflections, and emotions that capture the intensity and multifaceted nature of love, intertwining the profound with the mundane, the symbolic with the literal, in a journey through the heart's labyrinth.

The poem begins with an evocative scene that sets the tone for a meditation on love's complexities and contradictions. Cervantes mentions "the writer" as a cul-de-sac, suggesting that the act of writing, or perhaps love itself, is both a dead-end and a circle—a place of entrapment and endless return. This metaphor lays the groundwork for exploring love as a terrain marked by cycles of hope, despair, understanding, and misunderstanding.

Cervantes navigates through a series of vivid vignettes that illustrate the depth and diversity of love's impact on the self and relationships. From the tragicomic image of cats gassed during a move, to the shared memories of an owl and a pussycat adrift in a sea of domesticity and dreams, the poet conjures a world where love is both a source of enchantment and pain. The narrative shifts between moments of tenderness and loss, highlighting the impermanence and fragility of connections in the face of life's inexorable changes.

The poem delves into the theme of memory and its role in love, with references to shared histories, objects imbued with emotional significance, and the inevitable fading of both. Cervantes asks, "What ever becomes of the heart our common / child fashioned, red silk and golden satin," pointing to the remnants of love that persist in physical and metaphorical forms, even as the relationship itself may dissolve or transform.

Amidst the reflections on shared moments and personal revelations, Cervantes contemplates the nature of communication and misunderstanding within love. The imagery of "signals" and "messages" suggests the ongoing attempt to connect and the frequent failures that ensue. The poem grapples with the desire for closeness and the reality of distance, both emotional and physical, that can emerge between lovers.

Ultimately, "Drawings: For John Who Said to Write About True Love" is an ode to the enduring, albeit often complicated, essence of love. Cervantes' use of rich, evocative language and her ability to weave together disparate threads of thought and feeling create a poignant and multifaceted portrayal of love's landscape. The poem invites readers to reflect on their own experiences of love, loss, and the relentless pursuit of understanding within the bounds of the human heart. Through her exploration of true love, Cervantes captures the beauty and brutality of this most human of emotions, reminding us of its power to transform, sustain, and, at times, wound.

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