The Globe by Michael Collier;
"For any poem to render meaning, it must first coax its reader into becoming an accomplice" -- from Confessional Poetry by on https://literariness.org/2025/04/26/confessional-poetry/#google_vignette
Nutshell:
The Globe: The first 4 couplets describe a globe, inviting the reader to think of how we "represent the world", how a planet is divided into arbitrary color-coded portions of nations. The alliterative description, "cradled in its caliper", emphasizes the stamp of our human representation/organization of this planet. In the 5th couplet, "obvious and obscure" as adjectives about a globe leap into the inner light that it holds. Two more couplets paint an intimately tender memory of the speaker's children. We admired the rhythm, the clever metaphors and parallels.
Born in 1953, Collier perhaps remembers when times seemed "round" and solid. Graeme remembered "when the world was red", meaning, territories in red belonged to the English Empire and many remarked how names of countries have changed, and many had such a globe although not all had the feature of night light, controlled with a flick of a switch.
The narrative's poignancy of packing it away, signifying the inevitable passing of time, becomes the vehicle for recalling the intimacy the poet feels for his sons, intensified by comparing the light to the size of a child's thumb, the continents the size of their hands, translucent as they "palmed the planet" to make it spin—perhaps an echo of the song "He's got the whole world in his hands". Hands down an excellent poem with everyone a willing accomplice!
Oppposing Easels: Delightful villanelle written in response to Rattle's ekphrastic challenge of the painting, Siblings under the Skin, where the living people (and even some of skeletons) in the image are "holding death at arm's length", with many variations of skeletons in various active poses. Given the form, the repeat of the striking first line (Our hearts were formed before our bones) is not only emotionally but also biologically correct with the 3rd line repeat (I listen to the metronome), marking the passage of time like a heart beating. Judith brought up a personal anecdote of being in a drawing class where the teacher, like a demanding metronome demanding exactitude, forced her to re-do a drawing 4 times. (The drawing did win a prize however!) One does hope practice with a metronome will enable mastery. It doesn't skip beats, but it also puts creativity at risk, which is a second theme in the poem. The short 4-syllable sentences at the end ( I try to paint. The palette's dry. It's getting late.) add an element of urgency.
Creative process, self-judgement (the question, "what else do I really know about myself" ) go hand in hand facing an "empty canvass", with the "groan" of long O's and A's so unlike the relentless sound of the tick-tick of a metronome. Perhaps the "Opposing" in the title refers to the inner heart as metronome, as Richard punned, the inward thinking vs. thinking "outloud". Another poem that engaged us all.
A dead whale can feed an entire ecosystem-- but in this poem nothing dies.
In the spirit of a villanelle, the idea is repeated with a dolphin, trapped in a river who swam a great distance to die only to have the poet refute it by confessing, "I lied". In both cases, the first word in the stanza break after "die" is "alone.
Echoing the opening quote, ("For any poem to render meaning, it must first coax its reader into becoming an accomplice"), the poet in this poem uses the word coax -- as a desperate plea followed by a line and stanza break, for poetry to change things starting with the rescue of whales, dolphins, trapped cats, sea birds from the damage humans have created on this planet. The poet emphasizes the need for bravery, uses her "brave voice" no matter what hurricane, rip current, toxic algal bloom, or other disaster looms ahead. But the bravery comes knowing we can't control what lives or dies. Perhaps the plea, tell me, that appeal to the reader, is to join in, take her hand. Axel pointed out sea creatures don't have hands, and perhaps ours can be put to use to help them.
Oxymorons: Marna pointed out the etymology: oxy: sharp; moron: fool. For a further history of the word see: https://wordhistories.net/2017/09/12/origin-of-oxymoron/
Normally opposing terms, Paul pointed out the poet is not truly using "oxymorons", rather words put together which if separated seem odd bedfellows indeed. We chuckled that "famous" is indeed a rare companion for "poet". But some did not care for this slant attack on firearms, divorce, monetary and political coinages . The poem's apex come in the last line of the 4th stanza: "these phrases want to have it both ways" -- line and stanza break -- "sag at the middle like decrepit beds."
For more of his work, and bio of this poet, born in 1942, sadly deceased after a short 55 years in 1997: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-matthews
Without: An enigmatic poem, both elegy and love poem, as if imagining the end of the world. This site, gives a detailed analysis: https://poemanalysis.com/joy-harjo/without/ Axel shared the term "optimistic nihilist"... and another term, "paleo-anarchist" came up. Will the world keep on trudging through time without us? Some saw a literal attendance at a story contest, ruminating on the power of stories, others a more metaphorical implication of a story contest. One person saw a parallel with the Whale poem, pointing out how we rationalize, but that doesn't let us off the hook for being responsible for our actions. Although there is no punctuation, the poem has clear enjambments which reinforce emotion -- whether or not those looking at the world are seeing real or metaphorical story tellers, they watch from "the edge/of grief and heartbreak". I was intrigued by the interruptive "and... and"
seeing the "design of the two-minded creature/
[and know why half the world... and the other half...]
//through the smoke of cooking fires, lovers' trysts, and endless//
human industry.
[the "interruptive and /and :those who fight righteously, and those who nail it all back together -- both share the cooking fires, trysts and enjambed "endless/human industry".
One feels the words breathing as if in a song circle, "timeless weave of breathing". In the final line, are the hyenas laughing, or the people? Being in the desert, difficult to imagine hyenas have much opportunity to drink rain water. Is this yet another metaphor?
I highly recommend the analysis link.
Archive and Exodus: From Sunlight Press. After contacting Sunlight Press, I received the email of the poet and Kathy was reassured that the procedure of this fine review is first to select a poem, then match it with a visual image. It was sheer coincidence that the photograph of the Konark Sun Temple by Navneet Shanu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konark_Sun_Temple) matched the poem so perfectly!
In my letter to the poet I mentioned our discussion : how we were reminded a bit of Oxymandias (Shelley) perhaps with a twist of Keats' Ode on Melancholy. Another participant was reminded of American Ramble by Neil King which explores memory and renewal.
He didn't elaborate on my mention of his credentials: in "Crack the Spine" (2012): Jimmy Neenan educates the masses of irate seventeen year olds with the likes of comic books, video clips, and a short story here and there. He holds a bachelor’s in English Literature from University of Colorado at Boulder and a secondary language arts teaching license in Colorado. His work has appeared recently in the Piker Press, Pig in a Poke Magazine, The Tomfoolery Review, and the Dog Oil Press, to name a few.
Hello!
Hey Kitty,Thanks so much! I don't see why permission is needed to discuss a poem from our site. I love that the group delved into both the poem and image, and glad you have liked some of our poem/art pairings. Some poems are pretty tricky to illustrate as I'm sure you can imagine! I also am glad for you to spread the word about Sunlight within your group. As I'd shared with Kathy, Jimmy would likely appreciate your choosing his poem for discussion. (I'm not sure we heard from him after publishing now that you mention it. Hope he liked the accompanying art!).
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