Packrat – Naomi Long Madgett

Definition of packrat - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pack_rat

Definition of packrat in context to the poem - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pack+rat

The following poem, Packrat, written by Naomi Long Madgett is a seemingly simple poem. At a second glance, a certain technical complexity that pervades through the poem can be noticed. Considering how each of the stanzas can just be written as a sentence, but the idea of removing punctuations all together to isolate certain words or pieces is interesting. This kind of increases the speed of reading as the brain does not have to process these punctuations. As Cormac McCarthy employs the same technique in his writing where he completely ditches apostrophes and writes the conversations without them.

(For more on his writing style http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/cormac-mccarthys-punctuation-rules.html)

Following is a stanza by stanza explication of the poem:

My trouble is

I always try to save

everything

Similar to the packrat, which builds nests and saves everything there. The writer also does the same. Instead of letting go and moving on she holds on to everything close to her heart and never let’s go. By saying ‘I’ she has introduced herself into this piece and is rather also giving us an insight into her mind. Through this we can also conclude that she has come to terms with her own feelings and weaknesses as she is accepting what she is subconsciously doing.

Old clocks and calendars

expired words buried

in open graves

Using metaphors to create images and to simplify the explanation is a really good concept and a very good tactic of efficient writing. Analogies are prevalent in this poem and are spread-out throughout this piece. Old clocks and calendars represent memoirs in the writer’s mind; those of old times and dates that she had spent and should have been forgotten, as they are dead memories (‘in open graves’) which aren’t meant to be revisited.

But hoarding grains of sand

keep shifting as rivers

redefine boundaries and seasons

In contrast, as everything moves on naturally, it is just the human mind that lingers on to past. These natural metaphors have been introduced to dictate the difference between man and nature and how degrading to one’s life it is to not follow the most crucial path of nature i.e. to move on.

Lengths of old string

rolled into neat balls

neither measure nor bind

Love as a whole is not measured when it is obtained. No unit can measure it but faith and feelings.

Nor do shelves laden with rancid sweets preserve

what ants continually nibble away

Love again is compared to sweets here. Something sweet that rots but is too hard to leave as it is one of the most precious things in the world and even ants tend to nibble away on it.

Love should be eaten

while it is ripe

and then the pits discarded

Here love has been objectified and quantified in contrast to the previous stanzas. Here we can sense a hopelessness that circles the writers mind as she drastically changes her opinion from how love cannot be measured to how love should be experienced when at peak and throwing away its remains.

Lord give meat last

one cracked bowl holding

absolutely nothing

Asking for an illusion that would give peace to her mind is what she prays for. The bowl describes a certainty that she asks for but then she wants it to be cracked as she wants to experience the feeling of achievement every time she gets something. Considering the bowl is cracked, anything that she gets would fall or drop out of it. So she would want to get more of it and as she keeps getting it, the feeling of continual achievement would keep her happy. But that is just an illusion again.

Prevalent themes: Hopelessness, Lost love, Unforgettable memories, Illusions

Tow Path - Imtiaz Dharker

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1.

Every step we take

Could have been a step

In another direction.

This time we choose

To go to the canal.

By the time we reach it

The day decides to stop

Following us around.

·         First Line. Here, we refers to women in general. Women of the Indian tradition and culture to be specific.

·         Second, Third Lines. These lines clearly suggest the lack of independence given to women considering the path they are allowed to follow. Even these paths they are allowed to choose from are laid down by the society.

·         Fourth, Fifth Lines. The women finally have to make a choice similar to the other choices given unto them by the society. Generalizing the kind of choices that are given to them, it becomes very clear that most of these are based on serving the men of the world and carrying out the traditional household duties. In this line the woman chooses the path to the canal to fetch water for the household.

·         Sixth, Seventh, Eighth Lines. It takes long for the women to bring back water from the canal. By the time they arrive its sundown already. And usually in villages women leave their homes in the morning and they have to travel by foot to reach the canal which is the closest source of drinkable water. By the time they reach there its afternoon and by the time they come back, its sunset. Much of the water either evaporates or spills as they carry it back to their homes.

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2.

While we are picking

Our way down, watching our feet

The parks pack up, the city

Moves a few miles away.

Children’s voices are balloons

Released to open sky.

Behind us footsteps fade,

Streets turn into water.

·         First, Second Lines. As the women are going back to their villages through the cities which they have to pass as they go back home, the look down in shame to the ground as they are looked down upon by the society. There is a fear which has evolved within the females as they have been brought up in a certain congested way giving rise to narrow-mindedness, discouragement to move forward in life.

·         Third- Eighth Lines. In these lines one can see as how everything is moving away from women. As they continue travelling on their pre-laden path, they experience a gradual increase in loneliness. Here, the city moves away from them as they don’t serve any purpose there. Children abandon them as they get married and move on with their lives. Footsteps here symbolise the history of the women which isn’t preserved in any form. Like footsteps on the beach their impressions in the sand are ignored and these impressions fade away.  The line ‘Streets turn to water’ suggests that all the roads they have travelled throughout their lives are as plain as water. They cannot be distinguished anymore like the Atlantic which sunk to the sea and no one can tell if such a feat was really accomplished or was it just a story.

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3.

Leaf by leaf, the day grows smaller.

Whoever we are now,

This has been bequeathed to us.

Every other claimant has stepped aside.

Our steps the only steps.

The last finger of light points out

Landmarks we do not recognise.

·         First Line. This line tells us that it is autumn and winter is close suggesting death and how is moving near to them.

·         Second, Third Lines. The will of women is not given to women by themselves. It’s a will of society forged by men under selfish circumstances. This will has become so common that women also feel that they should follow the tradition which has been bequeathed to them by the society without and prejudice or reasoning of any kind.

·         Fourth, Fifth Lines. Here claimant refers to man who accepts women for an arranged marriage. Widows here haven’t been accepted by any man for marriages. Unmarried women in India and women who cannot bear children are deemed as cursed women by the society. The line ‘Our steps the only steps’, tells us that these widows move along this beach of life alone without anyone beside them. When death strikes their existence seems much useless as they have no material existence nor are they remembered by anyone rendering their lives almost non-existent.

·         Sixth, Seventh Lines. In the end when women get hope and direction it is hard for them to understand how exactly they get on with their lives after living in such a monotonous and suppressive society. Here, ‘Finger of light’ symbolises direction which gives the women hope and ‘landmarks’ here show the destination of arrival where women might find a new life to start. But what is the use when one does not know how to use the boat when he/she has to travel by the river even if they have the boat of the best kind.

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4.

Still, between the cobbled banks,

Cradled by bare branches.

We know we will be safe.

Now, even the unknown path

Will tow us home.

·         In this stanza, ‘home’ refers to the old life that they followed. This stanza tells us that, whatever path these women take, in the end, they would always end up going home. Change is something that is very uncommon and they do not expect it to happen anytime soon suggesting that they have lost hope in hope itself.

·         The word ‘Tow’ over here has been used very intelligently. This can be taken in a very aggressive sense as ‘tow’ is a strong word. The poetess is trying to tell us that whatever happens in the lives of these women, in the end they are dragged back to their normal lives of service and solidarity.

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Core themes:-

.Freedom

.Gender politics

.Communal Conflict

.Violence, Oppression

.Injustice

.Feminism

.Journeys