New to poems help me understand a few of these stanzas..

  • cesar
    11 years ago

    HEy everyone..
    I was reading this poem and was wondering what he meant in the 4th stanza... and aslo in the 8th and 9th stanza.. ive started reading poetry and am a little confused when analyzing some of this lol

    I know you're messed up, the cop said,
    pushing his face up close to mine,
    angry because when I blew, the little needle
    of the breathalyzer didn't even move--

    From the bloodless line of his mouth,
    it seemed that I had really disappointed him,
    not just by the crime

    of creativity in driving,
    but by the crime of not
    being drunk enough to justify punishment.

    Yes, I have been to the movies--I understand
    how justice is mainly a reason
    for disproportionate revenge--

    for bodies flung through hotel windows,
    exploding helicopters, speargunned
    drugdealer-terrorist-Russian spies.

    But here in the close-up I did not appreciate
    the cold eye of justice staring into my face.
    I know you're messed up on something,

    he said again,
    and how could I disagree?
    when each day I am blown about

    by wild gusts of jealousy and rage,
    unrequited love, and the vacant panic
    that comes from feeling powerless--

    when every day I shoot and stab
    dozens of my fellow citizens
    for the felony of coexisting.

    And then there are the many other days
    when I simply stay in hiding,
    like a rabbit holding still in the grass,

    trying to avoid detection,
    trying to quiet its own beating heart.

    --Tony Hoagland

  • Mello193
    11 years ago

    Well ill bite, what are you confused about exactly?

  • Amy
    11 years ago

    I don't understand what is wrong with it... The poem itself is nicely written.
    There aren't spelling mistakes and it seems to flow for me... What are you confused about?