1
It will soon be summer-
seamed-with-autumn, & the first
10 years sober—a decade
without the odour
without the taste of cigarettes
or the clogged pipe, to wit,
goodbye
ridiculous dehydration; nights
all out of ratio,
proportion; goodbye,
elastic strangulation
belts, clothing not belonging
on your health.
1.1
It will soon be autumn-
lined-with-summer
afterheat—goodbye
that self
the Nations celebrate
the notions he allowed.
and fostered. and repelled
like water mixed with lotions.
goodbye
remains positioned
in the falsities. Denial is
to Loving what the Seat is
to the Bicycle.
An almost romantic and bittersweet requiem to a former self, like any “good” poem, its aesthetic use of language drew me in, but the mystery of its origins and the piecing together of the narrative keeps me coming back through the musicality of it, which was emphasised well by the employment of assonance.
Also, on a more personal level, a very effective poem, as it triggered olfactory memories of similar vices I have my own previous relationships with. Again, another comment that is longer than the poem itself, but I recently watched an academic analysis of The Waste Land – 45 mins in, and we were still discussing the title haha.