Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

David Wagoner’s “Extraordinary Production of Eggs from the Mouth” is a dazzling exploration of performance, expectation, and the artifice of entertainment. With a blend of humor, spectacle, and introspection, the poem invites readers to consider the nature of creativity and the tension between appearance and reality. The central figure—the Professor—functions as both a magician and a metaphorical stand-in for the artist, offering a commentary on the precarious balance between illusion and truth.

The poem opens with a classic magician’s trope: the assurance of honesty and transparency. The Professor begins by showing that he has “nothing / Up his sleeve or under his coattails,” a gesture designed to disarm the audience and establish trust. This pretense of openness is immediately undercut by the absurd and miraculous act that follows, as the Professor produces an egg “from between his lips.” The surreal image of an egg emerging “as softly as a hen” juxtaposes the mundanity of eggs with the marvel of human ingenuity, creating a sense of wonder tinged with comedic absurdity.

The Professor’s actions escalate in both scale and absurdity, as he produces egg after egg, seemingly without limit. Wagoner’s description of the act—“Another. He eggs us on / To laugh and gag for him, to cluck and crow / For the last things we expected or hoped for”—captures the audience’s complicit delight in the performance. The pun on “eggs us on” underscores the playful tone, while the animalistic verbs “cluck and crow” highlight the primal, almost childlike joy elicited by the spectacle. The scene is both grotesque and mesmerizing, as the Professor’s relentless production of eggs transforms from a marvel into a slightly unsettling excess.

The turning point of the poem arrives when the Professor “puts one into his mouth, and another,” reversing the earlier process. This act of reabsorbing the eggs disrupts the sense of linear progression, suggesting a cyclical or self-contained nature to the performance. The “wobbly bonewhite offspring” vanish “back where [they] came from,” emphasizing the ephemeral quality of the spectacle. The audience is left to grapple with the transience of the performance, as the eggs—symbols of creation and potential—are undone as quickly as they appeared.

As the Professor steps forward “to the footlights,” the poem shifts its focus from the act itself to the performer’s relationship with the audience. His “gaping for applause” is a poignant moment, revealing the vulnerability beneath the bravado. The description of his “pink, withdrawn, quivering tongue” is both intimate and unsettling, suggesting a rawness and fragility that contrasts sharply with the earlier display of control and mastery. The final revelation—that “his mouth is absolutely empty”—serves as a metaphor for the illusion of art. The Professor’s mouth, once a source of seemingly endless creation, is now barren, underscoring the ephemeral nature of performance and the hollowness that often follows its conclusion.

Structurally, the poem mirrors the Professor’s act, building from a calm and measured opening to a crescendo of absurdity before returning to a state of stillness. The language is precise and vivid, with Wagoner’s use of humor and wordplay adding layers of meaning. The repeated references to eggs as “bonewhite offspring” and “hatchwork” imbue them with a symbolic weight, suggesting themes of creation, fragility, and the cyclical nature of life and art.

At its core, “Extraordinary Production of Eggs from the Mouth” is a meditation on the nature of performance and the relationship between the artist and the audience. The Professor’s act, with its mix of skill, illusion, and absurdity, reflects the challenges of creating something meaningful in a world that often values spectacle over substance. The final image of his empty mouth serves as a reminder of the fleeting nature of art and the toll it takes on the creator. Wagoner’s poem invites readers to consider what lies beneath the surface of the extraordinary and to reflect on the deeper truths hidden within the acts of creation and performance.

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