tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6345889130053053070.post1627860980603843379..comments2023-08-20T21:14:43.398-07:00Comments on Before Nine: Annual Reprint: Long, Strange TripMongo, At The Momenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00973606827337262084noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6345889130053053070.post-81637796046683577512014-09-11T12:33:19.258-07:002014-09-11T12:33:19.258-07:00one reason to try to live a long time might be the...one reason to try to live a long time might be the hope that collapse of current structures of oppression might allow the truth to come out about all this eventually<br /><br />although there's an argument to be made that dragging the past around can be counerproductive - james tate has a poem about this<br /><br /><b>I Left My Couch in Tatamagouche<br /><br />I desired lemonade-- it was hot and I had been walking for hours--<br />but after much wrestling, pushing and shoving, I simply could not get my<br />couch through the restaurant door. Several customers and the owner and<br />the owner's son were kinder than they should have been, but finally<br />it was time to close and I urged them to return to their homes, their<br />families needed them (the question of who needs what was hardly my field<br />of expertise). That night, while sleeping peacefully outside the train<br />station on my little green couch, I met a giantess by the name of Anna<br />Swan. She knelt beside my couch and stroked my brow with tenderness. She<br />was like a mother to me for a few moments there under the night sky. In<br />the morning, I left my couch in Tatamagouche, and that has made a big<br />difference.<br /><br />-----James Tate</b><br /><br /><br />the last sentence here is, i think, intended to remind us of the last line of robert frost's 'the road not taken' - tate could have called this poem 'the couch not taken' - it is humorous, yes, but also thought-provoking - in what ways would we be liberated if we left behind 'stuff' we no longer need?<br /><br />the giantess anna swan (about whom there is a wikipedia article) grew up in tatamagouche, nova scotia - the train station is still there although the tracks are not - it is now a bed and breakfast - i called the b&b up this morning to ask if tatamagouche rhymes with "couch" - no, it is "goosh" - and to let them know they appeared in this poem - they thanked me, and i sent them this poem (and also tate's 'the promotion' and my analysis of it) by emailmistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.com