Friday
Dec042009
The Married Man by Erika Hommel
Erika Hommel December 4, 2009 at 12:12AM Yes,
do break my heart,
hands enough to swallow
last evergreen timber presence
before pulling back his woolen skin
revealed the oaked age of disaster
hair squirming down choked tongue
he’ll tie off silence with a dirt nod
lost our song,
too long ago.
Reader Comments (15)
love 'tie off silence'. sharp stuff.
erika, love this, has real venom in its beauty.... not sure about "yes/do break my heart" .... feels like it's giving too much away... and it's all in "tie off silence", which i agree with pete is an amazing line
k
a dirt nod eh-- i kind-of visualize it i think...
Is "dirt nod" a typo?
not
so, you know my next question then.
nod = sleep
is that it? the mind reading skills with this one are weak
dirt sleep?
Still not getting it, sorry. I thought perhaps you meant "dirty nod", though I still wouldn't understand that either.
dirt nod = sleeping six feet under?
or doing a "face plant" as in passing out ?
he’ll tie off silence with a dirt nod = he will die?
Alright, fine, I'll explain it Brian. Sleep and death, can go hand in hand, so yes the dirt, is kind of pushing the idea of a grave and a nod/nap, is expanding that idea, its just a clever way of saying he will eventually die; as implied in the poem with 'revealed oaked age', the 'married man' is older, so there's a whole wrapped up fear of the older man dieing, him being married, you can't attend the funneral, what if he dies with the adultress, etc. etc.
That's why I don't like glosses. I read the poem from the viewpoint of the third woman, who had who been cast off by the cowardly husband - and 'dirt nod' being the finality of gesture that (with its strong hint of curt) affirms all those golden words as dross... I like it, especially that line and the pulling back the woolen skin - makes me think of appearances being constructed, false, tissue-of-lies, etc.
p.s. Third woman? I meant second I suppose. Or third party.
The line I have some trouble with (although I like the language) is 'hair squirming down choked tongue' - can think of various (passionate or dispassionate) moments when hair (of all types) does get inadvertently breathed in etc but it seems slightly incongruent where it sits.
Thanks, yea I don't like explaining things either-