I really liked this poem for two reasons: one, distance the reader experiences while reading this piece; and two, the emotions that come with the ending.
The first reason is the distance I felt as the reader, literally and figuratively. I haven't been in a situation like this before and the piece puts us front and center on the scene. We are the driver whose truck has just been hit. We are the driver who is yelling at the woman for backing into the tire.
The other distance is obviously from the setting. Boston is much different from Bemidji, Minnesota. I have a feeling that if this were to happen to someone here, it might not be the same situation.
Another thing I noticed that may have put the reader back a ways is the fact that I personally felt it was a male narrator, and I assumed that it was a personal experience from the writer's past. However the writer is female which put the piece in a different perspective for me.
Another thing I liked about the piece was the ending and how the two drivers come together and forgive each other. Through the piece we get the argument between the two, and there is some distance between them and then they forgive each other and we get this different emotion from the piece. there's a hostile feeling throughout the piece and then we get this happier feeling. The two women hug and they laugh about the whole situation.
Yeah, I'm not sure a poem about a traffic "accident" in Bemidji would unfold the way this poem unfolded.
ReplyDeleteI think many people read in order to learn about lives they can't live -- it's a way of being other people. Perhaps that's why you were drawn to pieces that weren't about the familiar?