Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Incident" by Eamon Grennan is a vivid and visceral poem that captures a moment of shared experience and reflection during an autumn evening in Massachusetts. The poem juxtaposes the natural beauty of the landscape with the brutal reality of preparing and cooking lobsters, weaving together themes of life, death, and the human capacity for empathy and detachment.

The poem opens with a striking description of the autumn landscape: "Mid-October, Massachusetts. We drive / through the livid innards of a beast—dragon / or salamander—whose home is fire." This metaphor likens the vibrant, fiery colors of the autumn hills to the internal organs of a mythical creature, emphasizing the intense, almost otherworldly beauty of the season. The imagery of "goldrust, flushed cinnamon, / wine fever, hectic lemon" creates a tapestry of rich, warm colors, evoking a sense of both wonder and foreboding.

As the scene shifts to the evening, the poem conveys a sense of domestic tranquility: "After dark, / while water ruffles, salted, in a big pot, we four / gather towards the woodfire, exchanging / lazy sentences, waiting dinner." This setting of casual conversation and anticipation contrasts sharply with the tension that will soon arise.

The focus then shifts to the lobsters, awaiting their fate: "Sunk / in the supermarket cardboard box, / the four lobsters tip and coolly stroke each other / with rockblue baton legs and tentative / antennae." Grennan's detailed description of the lobsters' movements and appearance evokes a sense of eerie calm, as if they are unaware of their impending doom. The comparison to "the doped drift of patients / in the padded ward" adds a layer of helplessness and inevitability to their situation.

As the moment of cooking approaches, the tension heightens: "When it’s time, / we turn the music up to nerve us / to it, then take them one by one and drop / in the salty roil and scald, then clamp / the big lid back." The act of turning up the music suggests an attempt to drown out the unpleasantness of the task, highlighting the discomfort and moral ambiguity involved. The speaker's interaction with the lobster—"I plunge mine in headfirst and feel / before I can detach myself the flat slap / of a jackknifed back"—captures a moment of visceral connection and empathy.

The vivid description of the lobster's reaction—"the rigid backward bow-bend of the whole body / as the brain explodes and lidless eyes / sear white"—emphasizes the violence and finality of the act. This moment of intense sensory detail forces the reader to confront the reality of taking a life for sustenance.

After the lobsters are cooked, the poem returns to a quieter, reflective tone: "We two are bound in silence / till the pot-lid planks back and music / floods again, like a tide." This silence signifies a shared moment of contemplation and perhaps guilt, which is then washed away by the return of the music. The act of eating the lobsters—"the four of us bend to brittle pink intricate / shells, drawing white sweet flesh / with our fingers"—is described with a sense of intimacy and ritual, contrasting with the earlier violence.

The poem concludes with the speaker taking out the garbage: "Later, near moonless midnight, / when I scrape the leafbright broken remains / into the garbage can outside, that last / knowing spasm eels up my arm again / and off, like a flash, across the rueful stars." This final moment connects the act of disposal with the lingering impact of the earlier experience. The "knowing spasm" suggests a residual sense of unease and recognition of the weight of their actions, while the "rueful stars" imply a broader, perhaps cosmic sense of regret and contemplation.

"Incident" by Eamon Grennan masterfully explores the complexities of human nature through the lens of a seemingly mundane activity. Through rich imagery and thoughtful reflection, the poem delves into the moral and emotional implications of our interactions with the natural world, highlighting the tension between empathy and necessity, beauty and brutality.

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