Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Robert Creeley’s poem "Erotica" offers a raw and unflinching reflection on desire, adolescence, and the passage of time, framed through the lens of discarded pornography scattered along a path to the sea. The poem uses fragmented imagery and a conversational tone to explore themes of sexual awakening, the lingering influence of adolescent fantasies, and the intersection of innocence and corruption. Through vivid and often unsettling language, Creeley meditates on the ways in which youthful sexual curiosity intertwines with both the physical and emotional environment.

The opening line, "On the path down here, to the sea, there are bits / of pages from a magazine, scattered," introduces a casual, almost observational tone, as if the speaker is narrating a simple walk. However, the imagery of "bits of pages from a magazine, scattered" quickly hints at something more charged and intimate—pages from an adult magazine that have been discarded along the path. The use of "bits" suggests fragmentation, not just of the physical pages but of the memories and desires associated with them. The path "down here, to the sea" evokes a sense of transition or descent, perhaps symbolizing a journey into deeper, more personal territory.

"...the big tits / of my adolescence caught on bushes, stepped on, faces / of the women, naked, still smiling out at me from the grass." This vivid image captures the lingering influence of adolescent sexual fantasies, embodied in the exaggerated depictions of women from the speaker’s past. The "big tits" of adolescence are now "caught on bushes, stepped on"—symbolizing the deterioration of these once-idealized images as they collide with the real world. The phrase "still smiling out at me from the grass" juxtaposes the artificial, posed smiles of the women in the magazine with the natural environment, creating a jarring contrast between fantasy and reality. The scene evokes a sense of decay and abandonment, as if these images are relics of a lost innocence, now weathered and discarded.

The setting of the poem shifts to an abandoned factory: "In the factory, beside which this path goes, / there is / no one. The windows are broken out." This desolate industrial landscape mirrors the sense of emptiness and disillusionment that permeates the poem. The broken windows and the absence of people suggest abandonment, both physical and emotional. The factory, once a place of production, now lies in ruins, much like the shattered remnants of the speaker';s adolescent fantasies. The imagery of the broken factory hints at the ways in which youthful desires are shaped, manufactured, and ultimately discarded.

The speaker then observes a dump in front of the factory and "Two piles of dirt / beyond that." These mundane elements of the landscape take on a strange and symbolic significance when the speaker muses, "Do these look like tits / too, some primordial woman sunk underground / breaking out, up, / to get me—" Here, the speaker conflates the piles of dirt with the sexual imagery of his adolescence, imagining them as the breasts of a "primordial woman" rising from the earth. This surreal image reflects the speaker’s lingering preoccupation with sexual desire, suggesting that even in the most mundane or decayed environments, echoes of these fantasies persist.

"...shall I throw myself down upon it, / this ground rolls and twists, these pictures / I want still / to see." This line captures the speaker';s continued attraction to these images, despite their degradation. The speaker is torn between the allure of these fantasies and the recognition of their emptiness. The act of wanting "still to see" the pictures suggests a yearning to recapture something lost, a desire to revisit the innocence and excitement of youthful discovery, even though the images are now blurred and dirty.

The second part of the poem introduces a group of children: "Coming back a day later, / kids were stopped at that spot / to look / as I would / and had—" This scene reinforces the cyclical nature of sexual curiosity. The speaker observes the children engaging with the same material that once fascinated him, implying that the experiences of curiosity, desire, and discovery are universal and repetitive. The phrase "as I would and had" emphasizes the continuity between the speaker';s past and the present moment, suggesting that while the specifics of the imagery may change, the fundamental human experience of desire remains the same.

"...there the fact of the mystery / at last— / ';what they look like underneath';—" introduces a moment of revelation, as the children, like the speaker before them, grapple with the mystery of the female body and the allure of the forbidden. The quotation "what they look like underneath" evokes a sense of both curiosity and objectification, as the children seek to uncover a truth that has been hidden from them. The "mystery" of the female body is presented as something that is simultaneously alluring and elusive, something that can never be fully understood or possessed.

The poem concludes with the image of "paper shreds, blurred pages, dirty pictures," reinforcing the degradation of these once-idealized images. The "paper shreds" and "blurred pages" suggest the passage of time and the inevitable disintegration of the fantasies that once held such power over the speaker. The "dirty pictures" are no longer the pristine, alluring images they once were; they have been sullied by both the physical environment and the weight of experience.

Robert Creeley';s "Erotica" is a meditation on the intersection of sexual desire, memory, and decay. The poem uses the imagery of discarded pornography to explore the lingering influence of adolescent fantasies and the ways in which they are shaped by both time and environment. The abandoned factory and the piles of dirt serve as metaphors for the speaker';s internal landscape, reflecting the emptiness and disillusionment that accompany the passage from youthful curiosity to adult disillusionment. The presence of the children at the end of the poem reinforces the cyclical nature of desire and the ways in which each generation grapples with the same mysteries and fantasies. Ultimately, "Erotica" captures the tension between the allure of sexual imagery and the recognition of its ultimate emptiness, exploring the ways in which desire persists even as the objects of that desire deteriorate.

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