“Gin” by Jacqueline Berger is a poem that helps readers cope with the stress of the day-to-day. The speaker of the poem outlines a method for coping with marital conflicts, mood swings, and stress: “Gin”.
Formal Stemware
Formally, the poem rests on the page as one slender stanza mirroring a martini glass, and its contents pour out slowly like chilled alcohol. The stanza is full of short lines that spill into one another flowing towards an ocean of post-inebriation empathy. Occasionally, the poem seems constricted by the speaker’s “moods”, but after readers have "been submerged” in the potency of the piece, they will tipsily tumble towards the end seeing “the way the gin / loosens the rope” (lines 14, 3, 23-24).
Taking the Good with the Bad
The beginning to the poem is steeped in positivity, but after the initial saturation a burning negativity surfaces as mood swings flare between the speaker and her husband. The speaker admits that she likes
a green olive
stuffed with a pimento
after it has been submerged
for some time in a martini. (lines 1-4)
The honesty is uninhibited. The word “like” appears again on line 5 in reference to the speaker and her husband traveling “downtown” to “sit in a booth at the Grand” (lines 5, 6). Like it or not, the poem’s exposition is happily drowning in its own sorrows because the reason for traveling “downtown” is to escape the “fight [they] had” over the decency, or lack thereof, of a “furniture salesman” (line 8, 9). The poem’s efficacy is a little wobbly, but sometimes losing track of gravity is a great way to cope with the perceived weightiness of a squabble.
Uninhibited Honesty
Honesty is a theme that motivates the worth of the poem because it speaks for the ongoing consumption and shaky assumption that sometimes people are more human than they ought to be. Bad days are as common as good ones. The speaker clearly understands this while simultaneously being cognizant of its own lack of emotional intelligence after carrying “the weight of anger / […] all day through [their] lives” (lines 16-17). Some days the anger effects conflict, and some days the anger effects a buzz—one way or the other the anger must get out. The speaker has her hand on the trigger, but she hasn’t cocked the hammer yet.
Stress Relief
Sex and gin are both stress relievers for the speaker of the poem and their juxtaposition engenders the audiences’ release. After the cocktails, the couples’ arguments about “the salesman” have fizzled out leaving a strengthened sense of “the calm / plainness of intimacy” (lines 38-39). The poem’s atmosphere is fresh and unburdened like one’s head after a well-made “martini”. Honesty peers out at the reader, but it is “Nothing / profound” (lines 39-40). The starkness of the speaker’s realization is just enough to be believable. Also, the speaker’s self-doubt has just enough kick to stave off the reader’s doubt that the poem wasn’t a worthwhile investment.
A Toast to Clear-headedness
Maybe, possibly, sometimes life’s most burdensome issues and tasking emotions have the simplest answers: sex and/or alcohol. The poem wavers between annoying obviousness and refreshing honesty, but in the end after “the bells have stopped their ringing” the melody of the piece continues towards a cadence that was initially “stuffed with a pimento” at the beginning. Cheers!
Source:
- Berger, Jacqueline. "Gin." The Gift That Arrives Broken: Poems. Pittsburgh, PA: Autumn House, 2010. Print.
Matthew Birdsall - Matt is a reader, writer, teacher, lover, and liver, not necessarily in that order. He is eager to read your comments and hopes you enjoy ...
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