Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Not Reptiles" by Clark Coolidge is a kaleidoscopic journey through a landscape of disjointed images and ideas, echoing themes of dislocation, absurdity, and the surreal nature of modern life. Coolidge crafts a narrative that resists linear interpretation, instead inviting readers into a space where logic is supplanted by the associative play of language and imagery.

The poem opens with "This one is about clean rooms / a clear light full of brain damage," immediately setting a tone of contradiction and unease. The juxtaposition of "clean rooms" with "brain damage" evokes a sense of clinical sterility marred by internal chaos, suggesting a tension between outward appearances and internal realities.

"A bit too clubby at times / get that chocolate off the dolomite" further exemplifies Coolidge’s ability to blend the mundane with the absurd. The mention of "chocolate" on "dolomite," a type of mineral rock, introduces an element of the unexpected, undermining conventional associations and expectations.

The line "Coffin? just a handful of microbes" minimizes the concept of death to its biological essence, contrasting the solemnity traditionally associated with coffins with the microscopic reality of decomposition. This reduction to "microbes" reflects a broader theme of the poem: the stripping away of significance from the objects and concepts we hold dear.

Coolidge’s imagery, "cornice of tomatoes 'never let me go' / no farm not to play catch up," plays with the idea of longing and the impossibility of recapture or return, embodied in the personification of tomatoes. The agricultural metaphor of "no farm not to play catch up" suggests a futile pursuit, perhaps of time or lost opportunities.

"A moisture of comets to blame / deep in the zone's suffering collection" evokes a cosmic scale of causality and suffering, further distancing the poem from the tangible and familiar. The reference to "a bogus Getz" could allude to a counterfeit or misleading guide through this bewildering landscape, emphasizing themes of deception and disillusionment.

Coolidge's mention of "the way blue jeans correct things" stands out as a strikingly mundane counterpoint to the poem's more abstract elements, grounding the surreal narrative in the everyday. This line could be interpreted as a commentary on the normalizing force of common objects or experiences in a world that otherwise feels alien and disorienting.

"Sob story Toronto tattered tape of / try not to slobber over the Woman in Black" introduces a narrative fragment that suggests voyeurism, desire, and restraint, tangled in a tapestry of personal and cultural references that resist easy unpacking.

The poem concludes with an exploration of identity and perception, "sweating and grey being taken as people / that's PEOPLE." This affirmation of humanity amidst the surreal and the abstract serves as a reminder of the underlying subjectivity that defines our experience of the world.

"Not Reptiles" is emblematic of Coolidge’s experimental approach to poetry, characterized by its dense layering of images, its playful manipulation of language, and its resistance to straightforward interpretation. The poem invites readers to navigate a landscape where the familiar is made strange, and meaning is constantly in flux, reflecting the fragmented and often bewildering nature of contemporary existence.

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