Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lynn Emanuel's poem "What Did You Expect?" engages with profound existential questions and human desires concerning destiny, life, and the afterlife. Through vivid imagery and provocative language, the poem dismantles comforting illusions about divine oversight and the nature of existence, offering a stark yet liberating perspective on the human condition.

The opening lines immediately challenge conventional religious expectations: "The Heavenly Father to damn and bless, to dole out, in the parlor of the Everlasting, his kicks and kisses, to say, Come here my wretched brat, my darling?" This rhetorical question confronts the reader with the often contradictory nature of religious teachings about a benevolent yet punitive deity, juxtaposing divine love and damnation in a manner that emphasizes their inherent tensions.

Emanuel's imagery vividly captures the unsettling realization that one's life might not be as divinely orchestrated as hoped. The use of phrases like "enclosed in swaddling of the crypt like a ring in a jewelry chest" conjures a claustrophobic vision of death, not as a restful slumber or a treasured state but as confinement—an entombment that stifles rather than preserves.

The assertion "You will not be saved up, / you will be exhausted, spent, in the raptures of the gnats" further strips away any romanticized notions of posthumous glory or preservation. Instead, Emanuel presents an image of dissolution and decay, where being "spent" aligns more with a natural, ecological process than with any form of celestial salvation. The "raptures of the gnats" ironically inverts the idea of divine ecstasy, suggesting a mundane, even pestilential end.

Emanuel introduces the concept of the "great debauch of possibility," a phrase that bursts with chaotic potential and unlimited transformation. This idea suggests that liberation from life's constraints and the human form allows one to become "unlimited, a multitude as pale as the ears of the fungus listening to the earth go soft." The comparison to fungus—often growing unseen, feeding on decay—evokes a sense of life that is pervasive, quietly transformative, and intimately connected to the processes of the natural world.

The poem concludes with a powerful rejection of the "little black closet of living," a metaphor for the restrictive, often suffocating conditions of human existence. Emanuel's language here reflects a desire for transcendence, not through traditional religious means but through an embrace of the vast, uncharted possibilities of existence beyond human limitations.

"What Did You Expect?" challenges readers to reconsider their expectations about life and the afterlife, pushing against the comfort of traditional religious narratives to embrace a more uncertain, dynamic understanding of existence. Emanuel's use of vivid imagery and provocative ideas invites a deeper reflection on the nature of freedom, the inevitability of decay, and the potential for rebirth in forms far removed from human understanding.

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