In “My Life” by Joe Wenderoth, the speaker of the poem confesses the travails of his existence through an animalistic metaphor that becomes as difficult to pin down as life itself. The poem brushes up with inevitability, laughs, and moves on.
Understanding the Epigraph
The poem begins with an epigraph: “after Henri Michaux”. Michaux was an arguably uncategorizable, Beligian artist and poet. Frederic Sepher pointed out that “Michaux’s poetry is a form of self-analysis: it exorcises the terrible demons that reside within him.” Wenderoth is using the epigraph as a thematic springboard (as he should) to place his poem in the context of a creative continuum. Conceptually, the men do seem to differ because the “demons” in “My Life” seem less demonic because they function as an extended metaphor: “a frightened animal” (line 3). Self-doubt in the form of “a frightened animal” seems less frightening than “demons”. A big, bad wolf is scary, but not a big, scared wolf, right?
Forming an Animal
Formally, the poem tears down the page with jagged lines and jarring fractures, as if the poem itself were “a frightened animal” trying to claw its way off the page. The pace of the poem is lively because of its form and also because of its readability. The diction is accessible and poignant without pretense and melodrama. Readers don’t get bogged down by grandiloquence or poetic ego because the poem is humble and focused. Hardly any of the lines match up in length and the mismatching successfully props up the theme of the piece.
Metaphoric Evolution
The speaker’s “Life” evolves both literally and figuratively as the poem unfolds. Initially, the speaker’s “Life” is just a “trapped / […] frightened animal” (lines 7, 2-3). His “Life” grows after being “fed […] with […] bare hands” and soon it becomes “strong, and capable of many clever tricks” (lines 8, 11). The extended metaphor is slightly comical, but very predictable. In fact, predictability peeks its head in every corner of the metaphor: the animal is “Life”, the animal needs “love”, the animal can “kill”, and the animal will “kill” (lines 10, 15). So what? The poem continues to read quickly, but unless a reader is simply practicing for fluency the poem’s well of success quickly dries up.
Dodging Bullets Just in Time
Obviousness befriends oversimplification and their end product is dodgy. The poem seems to enter into a wholly dualistic mode: life and death or love and hate or this and that. Readers who may want more are left to tend to their own animal that might be getting a little fussy. Is something clawing at the door, again? Frustration maybe? Just before the tipping point, the poem shifts into relativity with irony showing its anxious little head and ruffling readers’ feathers.
Losing Battles, But Winning a War
Soon everything that the speaker tries fails, but his failure becomes his greatest success. The speaker of the poem changes the way he deals with his "Life" and stops “cleaning it”, stops “singing it to sleep”, stops making it “do tricks” (lines 22, 24, 27). The speaker’s “Life” becomes self-actualized. The once “frightened animal” is now on its own although it cannot escape the framework of mortality because with time comes “a silence” (line 32).
Leaving Well Enough Alone
Despite an occasional lapse in originality, “My Life” by Joe Wenderoth, may help readers laugh at their own fate. Yes, everyone is living to die or dying to live, but the poem seeks out balance between the give and take of life and death finally arriving at a compromise: inaction. Even though, the speaker and his “Life” “will not get through this” they will still have been together through everything (line 33). If there is an answer maybe it’s to just let it be? Whatever “it” is...
Sources:
- "Henri Michaux : The Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
- Wenderoth, Joe. "My Life." It Is If I Speak. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan UP, Published by UP of New England, 2000. 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 ...
Join the Conversation