This poem is a collection of happenings on a seemingly mundane day, a day that is so mundane in its beginning that the only note-able reference O'hara makes about the day is it is 3 days after Bastille Day. He gets a shoeshine, he buys a poetry magazine, he goes to the bank. Then he buys a newspaper and becomes aware that Billie Holiday has died.
In his memory he is transported to being in a bathroom and hearing her sing from outside, and his breath stops, which symbolically is almost his moment of silence for her passing. I found this poem amazing. It shows how strongly an Artist can effect a person, and how their passing is so noteworthy that it can transport a person back in time to a place where that artist effected them.
I think another point has been made in this poem, simply that life goes on. As cliche as that sentence is, the bank was still open, the tellers were still present, the man was still there to shine his shoes, and yet the world- in his eyes had suffered a very notable loss.
I myself was not a major fan of Michael Jackson, but I would imagine there are many people out there in the world who could write a poem very similar to this for him. Not even being a fan of his, I know exactly what I was doing when I heard of his passing, my recollection of it is actually so vivid, its almost eerie. I also know there are many people who can tell you exactly what was going on around them when John Lennon died. I found this poem to be a beautiful moment of silence for an artist who's passing turned a mundane day in his life to one that he will never forget.
I agree with you about this poem, I especially loved your analogy of his flashback in the bathroom as a a symbolic moment of silence for her passing. That was an amazing point.
ReplyDeleteI liked your comparison to the deaths of Michael Jackson and John Lennon. I had a similar conversation with my father about the day John F. Kennedy died and how he can remember exactly what he was doing when he found out even though he was only six years old at the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%. Despite the loss of Billie Holiday, everyone is still there to do their jobs and go about their normal days, just as he was doing.
See my comments on Erica's and Jannah's blogs. Hint--there is a reason the speaker notes that it is "three days after Bastille day"--why include that information, or why not just the exact date since, for eg, he notes the exact time? Even within what may appear at first to be simply a mundane series of observations, there is selection, composition, pattern...
ReplyDeleteI think that this exactly the point that poet was trying to get across
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