who is he? i love him!

You used to call me on my cellphone 🥺🥺😔😔💃🏻💃
Someone i used to know adores Elizabeth Bishop, this was their favourite poem, don't really know what to make of it.

At six o'clock we were waiting for coffee,
waiting for coffee and the charitable crumb
that was going to be served from a certain balcony
—like kings of old, or like a miracle.
It was still dark. One foot of the sun
steadied itself on a long ripple in the river.

The first ferry of the day had just crossed the river.
It was so cold we hoped that the coffee
would be very hot, seeing that the sun
was not going to warm us; and that the crumb
would be a loaf each, buttered, by a miracle.
At seven a man stepped out on the balcony.

He stood for a minute alone on the balcony
looking over our heads toward the river.
A servant handed him the makings of a miracle,
consisting of one lone cup of coffee
and one roll, which he proceeded to crumb,
his head, so to speak, in the clouds—along with the sun.

Was the man crazy? What under the sun
was he trying to do, up there on his balcony!
Each man received one rather hard crumb,
which some flicked scornfully into the river,
and, in a cup, one drop of the coffee.
Some of us stood around, waiting for the miracle.

I can tell what I saw next; it was not a miracle.
A beautiful villa stood in the sun
and from its doors came the smell of hot coffee.
In front, a baroque white plaster balcony
added by birds, who nest along the river,
—I saw it with one eye close to the crumb—

and galleries and marble chambers. My crumb
my mansion, made for me by a miracle,
through ages, by insects, birds, and the river
working the stone. Every day, in the sun,
at breakfast time I sit on my balcony
with my feet up, and drink gallons of coffee.

We licked up the crumb and swallowed the coffee.
A window across the river caught the sun
as if the miracle were working, on the wrong balcony.
 

luka

Well-known member
what do you mean by make of it? did you enjoy reading it or were you going, eh? wtf? this don't even make any sense?
 

who is he? i love him!

You used to call me on my cellphone 🥺🥺😔😔💃🏻💃
what do you mean by make of it? did you enjoy reading it or were you going, eh? wtf? this don't even make any sense?
I don't think i got it, or maybe i did but the other person didn't agree with it, they read it as day labourers fantasising about a better life, they described it as un-embittered yearning, the unattainability of it, conflating excess with divine favour, they liked how the poem had no sharp edges, the last stanza was their favourite part. I guess i just didn't like that they thought it was about un-embittered yearning, a poem about people who are obviously dissatisfied with their station but being really graceful with their yearning for a better life, i didn't like that, that sort of accepting dissatisfaction.
 

luka

Well-known member
i'd probably say that it would be a mistake to try and pin down a definitive meaning when the poem is so opiated and dreamlike. 'about' doesn't seem like a useful word to me. but the image of day-labourers waiting to see if they get hired that day probably is part of what it's constructed from. or at least, i don't think it's stupid to see that image in there.
 

who is he? i love him!

You used to call me on my cellphone 🥺🥺😔😔💃🏻💃
i'd probably say that it would be a mistake to try and pin down a definitive meaning when the poem is so opiated and dreamlike. 'about' doesn't seem like a useful word to me. but the image of day-labourers waiting to see if they get hired that day probably is part of what it's constructed from. or at least, i don't think it's stupid to see that image in there.
I might be wrong but maybe then it's less about the poem and really the un-embittered yearning i take issue with, the fact they found that to be the beautiful part about it, i personally don't see the value in that or really anything beautiful about it, modest standards is only as effective as ones ability to lie to themselves about what they want and expect from life. I personally don't like it and honestly see it as a cope. If it really is derived from an image of day-labourers waiting to see if they get hired then i would like to see passion and honestly some bitterness about it instead of this really passive acceptance of it.
 

luka

Well-known member
do you enjoy the atmosphere of it? the lack of hard edges you mentioned? the opiod blur. the dream morphosis? the langour and detatchment of the language performance? the fairy-tale echoes? the ghost of jesus?
 

who is he? i love him!

You used to call me on my cellphone 🥺🥺😔😔💃🏻💃
do you enjoy the atmosphere of it? the lack of hard edges you mentioned? the opiod blur. the dream morphosis? the langour and detatchment of the language performance? the fairy-tale echoes? the ghost of jesus?
I don't think i could ever enjoy actually enjoy this poem since i now associate it with someone but regardless i don't think i did or would like it, it's very pretty but for it's subject i would prefer it to have hard edges, dreaming is fine but i don't think anyone actually dreams about peaceful yearning unless they're religious or something.
 

jenks

thread death
Oh no! I don’t do explaining outside of the classroom. I liked the poem’s fuzziness, the way it gestures towards without being firmly anchored. An early morning bleary feeling mixed with a certain joy in small things like the smell of coffee. I’m currently in Catania airport having spent a week in Sicily so I’m probably highly suggestible to coffee and crumbs on a sunny balcony at the moment.
 

luka

Well-known member
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luka

Well-known member
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