Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

William S. Burroughs' "My Legs Señor" is a disjointed and eerie poem that exists at the crossroads of sensory fragmentation, bodily discomfort, and a surreal, almost nightmarish atmosphere. The text pulses with a feverish intensity, flickering between elements of a clinical setting, a memory of youth, and a spectral vision of decay. The language is slippery, constantly shifting in tone and perspective, making the poem feel like a series of half-remembered images resurfacing in a disturbed dream.

The poem opens with a setting that feels both intimate and unsettling: "attic room and window my ice skates on the wall." The attic—a space associated with forgotten objects and secrets—immediately suggests a personal but detached environment, something stored away or abandoned. The ice skates on the wall add to this sense of nostalgia, yet they also introduce an ominous element: an object of movement and control now hanging lifelessly, perhaps a relic of past freedom.

Burroughs then pivots to a voyeuristic and clinical scene: "the Priest could see the bathroom pale yellow wood panels / toilet young legs shiny black leg hairs." The presence of a Priest in such an intimate space raises immediate tension. The bathroom, often a private and vulnerable setting, becomes a site of observation, and the description of young legs and shiny black leg hairs makes the body an object of scrutiny. The religious figure, coupled with the vulnerability of the young subject, hints at something unsettling—perhaps an abuse of power, a hidden shame, or a moment of painful self-awareness.

Then comes the phrase that gives the poem its title:
"It is my legs señor."

This statement, stark and declarative, reads as an assertion of identity, a plea, or even a resigned confession. The Spanish honorific señor adds an extra layer of ambiguity—does the speaker address a doctor, a superior, or someone else entirely? The phrase suggests that the legs are a focal point, possibly a site of injury, transformation, or possession.

Burroughs follows with a surreal image:
"lustre of stumps rinses his lavender horizon."

This line distorts bodily imagery into something almost painterly. Lustre of stumps could refer to amputated limbs, yet it also suggests light reflecting off broken remnants—perhaps a visual metaphor for loss or decay. The lavender horizon introduces a strangely tranquil and dreamlike backdrop, but its serenity is immediately undercut by the next moment:

"feeling the boy groan and what it meant / face of a lousy kid on the doctor’s table."

Here, the poem becomes even more intimate and bodily. The groan implies pain, discomfort, or a kind of reluctant submission. The phrase "what it meant" lingers ominously—does it refer to physical suffering, an emotional weight, or something deeper and unspoken? The doctor’s table places the scene in a medical context, heightening the sense of examination, but also hinting at a potential violation of bodily autonomy. The lousy kid suggests an unwanted, disregarded presence—a boy who is both physically present and existentially diminished.

The next lines plunge into even more abstract and spectral imagery:
"I was the shadow of the waxing evening and strange window panes. / I was the smudge and whine of missed times in the reflected sky."

These lines introduce a shift in perspective—I was signals a movement toward dissociation or self-reflection. The speaker aligns themselves with shadows, window panes, and missed times, suggesting an identity that is more ephemeral than solid. There is a sense of regret or loss embedded in missed times in the reflected sky, as if the speaker is both present and removed, watching their own past dissolve.

Burroughs continues to mix bodily and atmospheric elements:
"points of polluted water under his lavender horizon window pane / smudge scrawled by some boy cold lost marbles in the room."

The repetition of lavender horizon anchors the imagery in a dreamlike haze, but polluted water disrupts this with a sense of corruption or contamination. The smudge scrawled by some boy suggests a child’s mark left on glass—a trace of existence, easily erased. The phrase cold lost marbles in the room carries multiple meanings: literal marbles (a child's game), lost sanity (losing one's marbles), or small round objects symbolizing scattered memories.

Then, the focus returns to the doctor’s table and bodily transformation:
"the doctor’s shabby table…his face… / boy skin spreads to something else."

This line implies a metamorphosis—the boy’s skin becoming something else. Is this a physical change, a dissolution of identity, or a transition into a new, unrecognizable form? The ellipsis after his face leaves a deliberate gap, a moment of uncertainty, making the reader fill in the blank.

A moment of horror breaks through:
"CHRIST WHAT’S INSIDE?” HE screams / flesh and bones rose tornado / “THAT HURTS.”

This is the most visceral and alarming moment in the poem. The HE—possibly the doctor, priest, or another figure—screams in shock at something unseen. The phrase flesh and bones rose tornado merges anatomical reality with chaotic, natural imagery, as if the body itself is unraveling in a violent spiral. The following THAT HURTS grounds the scene in physical pain, bringing the reader back to a raw and immediate sensation.

Burroughs closes with a return to the poem’s earlier motifs:
"I was the smudge and whine of shiny black leg hairs / silver paper in the wind frayed sounds of distant city."

The repetition of I was reinforces the speaker’s ghostly or dissociative state. The shiny black leg hairs recall the earlier image of the young legs, but now they are whining, suggesting an eerie, almost sentient quality. The final lines—silver paper in the wind frayed sounds of distant city—end the poem on an unresolved note, dispersing the scene into fragmented, transient impressions.

"My Legs Señor" operates in a liminal space between bodily horror, memory, and surrealism. The poem suggests a moment of vulnerability, possibly within a medical or religious setting, where the body is both examined and transformed. The recurring image of legs could symbolize movement, identity, or subjugation. The reference to stumps and something else hints at bodily change or loss, while the scream—"CHRIST WHAT’S INSIDE?"—suggests a discovery too grotesque to comprehend.

The cut-up technique enhances the poem’s disjointed and hallucinatory quality, making it feel like a fever dream or a repressed memory surfacing in fragments. The presence of the Priest, the doctor’s table, and the repeated references to observation and bodily exposure hint at themes of authority, power dynamics, and perhaps even trauma. At the same time, Burroughs’ language resists direct interpretation, forcing the reader to navigate shifting perspectives and incomplete narratives.

Ultimately, "My Legs Señor" is an unsettling meditation on transformation, identity, and the body as a site of both pain and mystery. The poem never fully resolves its tension, leaving the reader in the same state of eerie suspension that defines Burroughs' most haunting works.

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