I read this poem and subsequently asked myself "what does it mean to be born?" In the most literal sense none of us ask to be here, and come into a whole series of realities that proceed us. We are expected to then add on to the narrative of life (personal, familial, and societal) and that is essentially violent. To be asked to live without knowing what life even is.
On top of the grotesque imagery and existential language that the poem evokes, when reading poetry I always think of its title and what its trying to communicate. Combining both "river" and "flesh" implies that life is both fixed and flowing. Flesh being an encasement of a singular existence, an encasement of lineage that subjects you to the prejudices of the world depending upon the identity the world selects for you, and an encasement of time and histories that you had no involvement in creating. River implies that our existence is a small droplet within the lake of humanity, but still essential to the the movement of humanity (like a river) as a whole. "The creature is my echo and my future," is the best line of the poem. The creature being Death, constantly reverberating to us what is to come (the future) as we go throughout life. Birth is violent, life is cruel, but it still goes on in cyclical fashion. Blood that is recycled, filtrated.
Mia, I totally agree with your sentiments on the grotesque-ness of the poem. Birth is actively violent, and exploring what it means to be be born, is a really interesting thing to hone in on.
ReplyDeleteMia! This sentence, "Flesh being an encasement of a singular existence, an encasement of lineage that subjects you to the prejudices of the world depending upon the identity the world selects for you, and an encasement of time and histories that you had no involvement in creating." First I just want to say WOW. I think you really get deep into the concept of what flesh means in the context of this poem.
ReplyDeleteThroughout my own reading of this piece I also thought about the question of what it means to be born. To be made, to become flesh, to be burdened with an existence you had no hand in creating. What is fairness in birth? To become a thing that exists in a world that may not want you, that may want to destroy you.
You've really gotten me thinking more about this piece! :)
I loved your focus on: what does it mean to be born?...I found that in the poem too. There is a lot that goes with birth, both inside and outside of the poem and I also saw many doubts or even insecure feelings surrounding birth and the life of the person to come.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the river as a metaphor, kind of like a microcosm of a macrocosm and the relationship between the two...
Wow! From your response you really got me thinking super deep now about what it's like to be born and living in a violent world.
ReplyDeleteYour line "In the most literal sense none of us ask to be here, and come into a whole series of realities that proceed us. We are expected to then add on to the narrative of life (personal, familial, and societal) and that is essentially violent."
I found this point to be very interesting especially from the holistic perspective and how we as beings contribute to society especially one that is violent. Were we meant to be who we are today? Are things nothing but a lottery or do we have ancestors from our cultures looking our for us? or perhaps both?
Also it makes me think how do we find balance from living in a world that is inherently violent? Does the beauty of art and poetry balance out a world that can be very violent or do we contribute to the violence? or both? Sorry, you don't have to answer these questions. These are just little epiphanies I'm kind of asking myself as I'm writing.
Mia,
ReplyDeleteI too was really struck on this part of your post, "Combining both "river" and "flesh" implies that life is both fixed and flowing. Flesh being an encasement of a singular existence, an encasement of lineage that subjects you to the prejudices of the world depending upon the identity the world selects for you, and an encasement of time and histories that you had no involvement in creating." That really had me looking at the poem from a broader view as a commentary on humanity and not just the narrator writing from a more personal viewpoint or from his own experience and inspired by an event in his own life. I hadn't really thought about the title that way but the breakdown of the words river and flesh do elicit a feeling of flowing like a river and the temporary fixed state of our flesh while our blood is there to give it life. Our vascular system is its own system of rivers too, I guess. Thanks for your thoughts.
Wow! The analysis of the word "Riverflesh" is so well put. It got me thinking about binaries and how our "flesh" is the physicality that is always being put into binaries. Flesh as in the very first layer that people consume when they interact with us; this includes our color, bodily features and hetero-normative sexual "identifiers". Our "flesh" is what people assume about us to try to place us into binaries that may not be what our "river" selves resides in. In Haitian culture the masassa, or the twin identity, queers the self because it is said to be fluid like the river. The masassa identity transcends, transforms and is never fixed much like the river. This makes me want to reread the poem and dig deeper into how D.S. Marriott defies binaries in this piece.
ReplyDeleteEchoing what other classmates said, I love your analysis of the fixed and fluid nature of the poem's title. Very eloquent and a great, thoughtful observation. I also love how you bring up that none of us asked to be born and are left to make sense of it. To me that really encapsulates the poem. I also find it interesting how the poem implies that the speaker is a very self-aware, very intelligent... baby? Embryo? Interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteYes, nature is messy, the natural world is goopy and so are our bodies and the things they perform and yet, as you note, somewhat layered and beautiful. You did a great job of pulling your readers into your experience. Nicely done Mia e
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