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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained | |||
"They Say It's New" by Clark Coolidge is a meditative and abstract exploration of the passage of time, the nature of creation, and the liminal spaces between perception and reality. Coolidge employs a densely packed and imagistic style to evoke a sense of the intangible and the ineffable, navigating through the complexities of consciousness and temporal transition. The opening lines, "He crackles the air in big fist / because it is turning, the night’s spine / and the fast floor of last year is now the wall of this," immediately immerse the reader in a world where physical and temporal dimensions are fluid and interchangeable. The "crackles" and the transformation of the "fast floor of last year" into "the wall of this" year suggest a dynamic, almost violent process of change, where the past is not left behind but becomes a structural component of the present. The imagery of "cracks" that "should be flowers but there is no light" evokes a sense of potential and unrealized beauty, a motif that resonates with the theme of creation and its inherent challenges. The absence of light and "lights in the windless binnacle strewn" further reinforces the idea of navigation and exploration in a realm devoid of clear markers or illumination. Coolidge's reference to "a slow rate of thought in the broad attention" captures the paradox of intense focus and the expansive nature of contemplation, where the mind is both sharply concentrated and widely open to the myriad possibilities of thought and expression. The poem delves into the act of creation and communication with phrases like "What is shorn to say and then to leave / awake in the sleep, the pen without its cap." This reflects on the ephemeral nature of ideas and the struggle to capture and convey them before they dissipate. The mention of "the numbers that will harm if not arrayed" hints at the underlying structures and patterns that govern existence and the potential chaos or harm that can arise from their disruption. Coolidge creates a vivid contrast between the visible and the invisible, the known and the unknown, with lines like "The windows are not blank, the dark not empty / but solid as the mask held loose before / the eyeless active ridden hive." Here, darkness is portrayed not as an absence but as a presence, full of unseen activity and potential, much like the unconscious mind or the unseen forces that shape our reality. The poem closes with an invitation to "Turn out the lights and think invisibly / stain the turn of time / and hear the year before it’s there." This suggests a deliberate engagement with the invisible, the yet-to-come, and the act of perception and creation that transcends the sensory and the temporal. Coolidge calls on the reader to actively participate in the shaping of time and experience, to listen for the future in the present, and to find the tangible within the intangible. "They Say It's New" is a complex and layered poem that challenges conventional understandings of time, perception, and creation. Through his use of striking imagery and abstract thought, Coolidge invites the reader into a contemplative space where the boundaries of the known are expanded, and the act of creation is both a navigation and a transformation of the darkness into light. POEM TEXT: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55440/they-say-its-new
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