Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Jay Wright?s "What Is Good" navigates the intricate relationship between spirituality, identity, and the corporeal world. With its vivid imagery and layered metaphors, the poem examines the interplay between cultural inheritance, personal transformation, and the struggle to find harmony within oneself and the surrounding world.

The poem opens with a commanding invocation, "Out of the water call / my luminous breath," establishing a connection between the spiritual and the corporeal. The imagery of water and breath suggests a purification or rebirth, a theme that permeates the poem. The reference to the "bird, intending serpent, red" introduces a mythological tone, evoking the dualities of life: creation and destruction, purity and sin, body and spirit. The bird and serpent, both potent symbols in various cultures, serve as metaphors for transformation and the cyclical nature of existence.

The speaker’s exploration of spirituality is deeply tied to physicality. The “red gourd head spirit of the bush” embodies a raw, elemental force, described as both “ordinary” and “pure.” This duality highlights Wright’s engagement with the sacred in the mundane. The speaker claims this spirit from the “blue glass of my sacred windows,” intertwining personal introspection with cultural symbolism. The color blue often signifies transcendence or divinity, suggesting that the speaker’s search for meaning is deeply spiritual yet grounded in the ordinary experiences of life.

The poem’s rhythm and structure mirror the tension between stillness and motion, contemplation and action. The repetition of phrases like “Rhythm of my…” underscores the interconnectedness of the speaker’s body, environment, and cultural heritage. Each rhythm is linked to a material element—"elephant skin," "silkworm web," "cactus? beard"—grounding the spiritual in the physical and emphasizing the importance of the natural world as a source of both identity and transcendence.

Wright’s use of ancestral and parental imagery further enriches the poem. The speaker reflects on their "father?s weights" and "mother?s eyes," tying personal history to a broader cultural and spiritual inheritance. The father’s "prayers" and the mother’s "ecstasy" embody two contrasting approaches to faith: one rooted in tradition and discipline, the other in emotional transcendence. These familial references anchor the speaker’s spiritual journey in a legacy of belief and struggle, suggesting that their quest for meaning is both deeply personal and profoundly collective.

The poem’s central tension lies in the speaker?s grappling with stillness and action. While they acknowledge the "stillness" of their body and the rhythms of their surroundings, they yearn to "go beyond the stillness of my gods? dreams." This aspiration to transcend suggests a desire for growth and evolution, a refusal to remain confined by inherited structures of belief or tradition. The speaker’s plea for "compassion for this / my complex body" underscores the poem’s humanistic core: the recognition of the self as both sacred and flawed, luminous and limited.

Cultural and spiritual dualities are woven throughout the poem, particularly in its exploration of traditional symbols. The "bird of the hard wood" and "figures of a Christian death" juxtapose indigenous and Christian imagery, reflecting the speaker’s negotiation of multiple cultural identities. This interplay suggests a broader commentary on the complexities of postcolonial spirituality, where inherited traditions and imposed beliefs coexist and often conflict.

The closing lines of the poem encapsulate its central themes. The speaker is "saved / by my mother?s reason, / my neighbors? needs," emphasizing the communal and relational aspects of salvation. This salvation is not solely an individual pursuit but a collective responsibility, rooted in compassion and connection. The luminous breath, a recurring motif, symbolizes the speaker’s awakening to their interconnectedness with others and the world, marking a moment of reconciliation between the spiritual and the corporeal.

"What Is Good" is a profound meditation on the search for meaning and the reconciliation of disparate elements within the self. Wright’s intricate imagery and rhythmic cadences invite readers to reflect on their own spiritual journeys, their relationships with their bodies, and their connections to cultural and natural worlds. The poem ultimately affirms the possibility of transcendence through compassion and the acceptance of complexity, offering a vision of spirituality that is both grounded and expansive.

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