They Make It Look Easy

So many good poems this week…..but for my discussion I will focus on Corso’s “Marriage” and Koch’s “To My Twenties.” I enjoyed the humor in each of them, and their related themes of “freedom” in one’s early years.

My first reaction upon reading “Marriage” was, wow, this is a manifesto. It’s quite lengthy and is the only one by Corso in this anthology, so I thought to myself, this must be his “magnum opus.” It’s quite funny in so many ways, and addresses the terror many people feel about the commitment of marriage. I liked that he went back and forth on the issue of getting married and not wanting to live life alone, while weighing in on the pros and cons. When I first read it I got the sense that it was a rant, sort of Richard Lewis style (one of my favorites). A few of the chosen phrases threw me a little, but the poem is so fun to read that you just go with it. “Radio belly! Cat Shovel!”…."Christmas teeth! Radiant Brains! Apple Deaf!”……(hmmm….okay….). Not quite sure of the intended message there, but it does give a sense of spontaneity, of a stream of consciousness as the speaker works out his neuroses.

And, as usual, I fell totally in love with the poetry of someone “new” this week….Kenneth Koch. The three selections we read had me online, looking to buy his collected poetry. “To My Twenties” reminded me a bit of Corso’s poem, sort of a self-analysis of being young, with all of life ahead, all the choices before you. Although in this poem, as he “speaks” to his twenties, he does say “in you I marry.” So, at this point he’s already far ahead of Corso’s mental limbo of “should I? shouldn’t I?” I also love his sarcasm and point that, hey twenties, you sure didn’t give me a hell of a lot of direction! I was completely taken with his simple language, with a few “haughty” phrases thrown in for fun: “Whither, / Midst falling decades, have you gone?”

In a sense, "Marriage" was about the fear of the future, where "To My Twenties" was about the fear of a future lost.

I love the casual style of the Beats and NY School, but I’m not fooling myself. I know there is technique there. They just make it look easy. And fun.