The Walk

[Truerenigma]

I will confess and tell my friend

This is a pretty common device whose name escapes me as my faculties are not up to par right now, but I'll just pretend that I'm keep the name of the device to myself since it's not easily found on wikipedia. Basically the idea is to leave an important element out of the poem. Somebody said (again, I can't remember who) something along the lines of poetry being about what is left out, and good prose is good because of what it includes. It's always difficult to decide how much needs to be included line to line, unless of course you are deliberately leaving one specific thing out of the poem.

The funny thing is I didn't even worry (still don't) at all about what the confession might be. I figured the confession could be just about anything and it makes no real difference to the poem what it is - or, as billy said below, a simple speech act. I figured it might stir up some controversy since the word confess is so full of connotations and is one of those "big deal" words - I'm happy to let people feel uncomfortable,especially those who might think I write poems just to satisfy some morbid curiosity they might have.

One way to think about is is like this: suppose I said someone went into a confessional, and you asked what they confessed, and maybe i knew or maybe i didn't, but I wasn't going to tell you anyway so i just make up something that is of no consequence. Or suppose I said so and so went into the confessional, and I don't know what they confessed, but I give you a photograph of his face and expression going in and out - which is more interesting?

but I will give to him in song

Here, by "give" I meant to imply the possibility that this is a good friend who would gladly accept the /gift/. The only way I can think of that working and the gift actually being a genuine gift is if the gift is just general honesty. (or perhaps maybe a poem, as testament of appreciation.)

as frogs sing night unto its end.

Here we are moving narrative forward by establishing imagery, sounds, and atmosphere. There is also the possible allusion milo mentioned. TBH though, if there is an allusion on my part it would only be subconscious as I love the books. (Interesting fact, my nephew's first book he was able to read on his own was frog and toad together.)

Frogs sing bass, and crickets blend

This is where I wanted to start establishing mood. He is supposed to be confessing to his friend, but then we hear crickets. It is just creating more space in the poem and saying things but not saying them. I wanted to establish some element of silence or maybe loneliness in the noise, the proverbial pin drop.

their melodies - I'll hum along,
then I'll confess and tell my friend.

stalling on N's part, he's going to just hum along to the crickets. There could be a number of reasons for this, which I'm sure anyone could fill in their own idea here. The poem is developing into a bit by bit expository, and it's in no hurry. My intent was to let the reader think about these thing their own for a bit and form their own conclusions. There are plenty of things to grasp at, I think, and the experience, environment and language are pretty simple and clear.

I've missed my turn, my aimless wend
has led me where I don’t belong

It get's a little tricky here. We start to get what appears to be a sort of confession, but it's just moving the narrative along. It is also quite suggestive of some fairly classical ideas for walk metaphors (which go hand and hand with narrative). I was thinking quite a bit about Petrarch's Sonnet 211, and his allusion to Daedalus' maze and some of the philosophical ideas there, as well as his letter to Dionisio San Sepolcrohttp://Here is a translation: http://his...pet17.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascent_of_Mont_Ventoux, as well as Dante moving away from the beloved Virgil, and ho when Dante looks into Beatrice's eyes on Mt. Purgatory he sees heaven, and when Petrarch looks into Laura's eyes he sees himself. I could go on but I don't think any of it is completely necessary on a surface reading of the poem as the ideas have been simplified over time and I think we are now able to to get a bit of a grasp and understand these idea without even know what it is exactly we are understanding.

as frogs sing night unto its end.

I'll meet him just around this bend,
on nights like this no turn is wrong,

The poem isn't taking any sides, nor does it make any attempt to reconcile the two ideas.

I will confess and tell my friend.

Reinforcing the idea, and reinforcing the allusions for anyone who wants to do further reading.

But for right now I'll just pretend
he’s walking by my side so long

Now we see what's really going on, his friend, possibly his guide, is no longer with him.

as frogs sing night unto its end.

If he’s not in this marsh, well then
I’ll search beyond the wood and on.

underworlds and exc.

I will confess and tell my friend
as frogs sing night unto its end.

while doing some of the reading, and editing through drafts I decided to dedicate it and the spaces and gaps (confession etc.) to milo simply because were it not for him I never would have been able to write this poem, so it is equally if not more so indebted to him as the figures above. The tetrameter and some of the other ideas and words as well as the line-break on "so long" point to him and some of his craft. It is a friendship poem too so I felt it appropriate. So there is a bit of a side-show meta poem in overlay that are my personal favorite parts of the poem.

It might also be worth mentioning also that this poem, like most poems are in my case, started with words and was built with the words, not the ideas, the ideas sprang from the words, which I simply followed from ancient greek and Latin through the renaissance etc. all the way to Robert Frost.

That doesn't mean it isn't genuine, I make every possible effort not to include any emotion, so if there is any in it it would have to be genuine and without pose.

P.s. Explanations of pomes after the fact are kind of silly.

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well hell, i'll throw two more cents into the bucket since i have nothing else to add critique-wise:

for me, the confession aspect is cleared up in the very beginning with the dedication - il miglior fabbro

if you know the history behind it (Eliot to Pound, The Waste Land, etc.) then the rest of the story falls in place, imho

i didn't see this as a romantic confession at all, but rather one of appreciation, a camaraderie in craft, if you will

just my take on it. prolly readin too much into it, but that's how i connected with it.

it's a beautiful poem, btw.

Thank you !

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I must say, that is a very sane assessment^^