Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Undue Blather" by Clark Coolidge is a meditation on the tensions between expression and silence, the allure of mediocrity, and the inevitable decay of communication into noise. The poem navigates through a landscape filled with abstract images and metaphors, confronting the reader with the paradoxes inherent in the act of creation and the search for meaning.

The opening line, "The opportunity to be dull / makes cowards of us all," plays with the notion that the potential for banality is a universal human experience, one that paradoxically drives us away from mediocrity towards a desire for significance in our expressions. Yet, Coolidge suggests that there is "no way I know to get by with it," acknowledging the difficulty in transcending the commonplace, in finding a voice that is both unique and authentic.

"Blood in the glass down below" introduces a sense of violence or rupture, perhaps a symbol of the sacrifices required in the pursuit of art or truth. This image of blood contrasts with the "mellotron fixed on futurity," a reference to a musical instrument associated with the production of synthesized sounds. The mellotron here could symbolize the artificiality of attempts to project or predict the future, highlighting the tension between organic experience and manufactured representation.

The phrase "where they like to see a bone twist before it falls" evokes a macabre fascination with destruction or failure, suggesting that there is a voyeuristic aspect to witnessing the downfall or breaking point of others, a theme that resonates with the poem's exploration of the darker aspects of human nature.

"Basket of a man named Thomas caused all the problems" introduces a character or figure whose actions or existence have led to unspecified "problems," implying that the origins of conflict or difficulty are often mundane or overlooked. The subsequent lines, "there are pupils in all eyes growing darker / more familiar as incipient papyrus lessons," suggest a deepening of understanding or insight, yet this insight is framed as something ancient and decaying, like papyrus.

The imagery of "the bark on the civil council gone scratchy / browbeaten and loaded with scaffolding" portrays a society or system that is both worn down and artificially supported, a civilization that is perhaps on the brink of collapse or in need of repair.

The poem closes with the lines "blizzard coming okay? nothing but a bullet's whizzes / and a brightness whittles sympathy from the dimness," which conjure a sense of impending disaster or conflict, where the only responses are aggression ("a bullet's whizzes") or a desperate search for clarity and compassion ("a brightness whittles sympathy from the dimness"). This conclusion leaves the reader with a sense of unease, reflecting the poem's engagement with the challenges of communication, the inevitability of change, and the quest for meaning in a world that often seems indifferent or hostile.

"Undue Blather" is a complex and layered work that challenges the reader to grapple with the uncertainties of expression, the weight of history, and the struggle to find coherence in a fragmented and chaotic reality. Through his distinctive use of language and imagery, Coolidge crafts a poem that is both a critique and a celebration of the human condition, inviting reflection on the ways we understand and misunderstand ourselves and each other.

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