A Poem a Day #2

Welcome back, peeps. We're looking at another poem from Ada Limón's Bright Dead Things poetry collection.

During The Impossible Age Of Everyone

By Ada Limón

1.

There are so many people who’ve come before us,

arrows and wagon wheels, obsidian tools, buffalo.

Look out at the meadow, you can almost see them,

generations dissolved in the bluegrass and hay.

I want to try and be terrific. Even for an hour.

2.

If you walk long enough, your crowded head clears,

like how all the cattle run off loudly as you approach.

This fence is a good fence, but I doubt my own haywire

will hold up to all this blank sky, so open and explicit.

I’m like a fence, or a cow, or that word, yonder.

3.

There is a slow tractor traffic hollering outside,

and I’d like not to be traffic, but the window shaking.

Your shoes are piled up with mine, and the heat

comes on, makes a simple noise, a dog-yawn.

People have done this before, but not us.

Thoughts going through my mind:

• Very structured poem with grammar, full sentences, and punctuation. The structured aspect of the poem provides a sense of authority and control.

• The frequent use of 'or' = ambiguity and uncertainty (interesting as this goes against the aforementioned idea of control)

• "like a fence, or a cow, or that word, yonder" = balancing multiple identities; we all have different roles in society but how do we effectively maintain all identities and effectively switch between different (or even contrasting) identities?

• "fence" = an item of inclusion or exclusion? // What determines a "good" fence?

• "I doubt my own haywire will hold up to all this blank sky" = Importance of zooming out and looking at the bigger picture

• "I want to try and be terrific" = not only a desire but a touch of pessimism

• "Even for an hour" & "walk long enough" = role of time (limitations/benefits of depending on time)

• Significance of sections? Adds to structure?

There's so much more to unpack, but I'll leave it for now. If you would like to share anything, feel free to send me a private memo or drop any comments below. I'll see you tomorrow.