Poetry discussion: Everything by Srikanth Reddy
Hi tildizens, the NYC subway often has posters with a poem and artwork on them which provide some relief from the ads that decorate the trains. On my commute today, I found this poem by Srikanth Reddy quite tantalizing.
Everything
by Srikanth Reddy
She was watching the solar eclipse
through a piece of broken bottle
when he left home.
He found a blue kite in the forest
on the day she lay down
with a sailor. When his name changed,
she stitched a cloud to a quilt
made of rags. They did not meet,
so they never could be parted.
So she finished her prayer,
& he folded his map of the sea.
Unfortunately, the single piece of related online discourse I can find is a two-line comment on a 2008 blog post of the poem. So tell me: do you like this poem? What do you make of it? Is it about a couple that splits up due to infidelity (as Google's gemini ai told me) or people that are connected despite having never met (as Mistral's le chat claims)? What of the kite? Why is it blue? Why might his name have changed? To me, it seems he must be a sailor (but different than the one she lays with?) and she relatively poor. We're reading a lament of a missed connection, perhaps.
Reading pronouns by couplet, it's she/she, he/he, she/he, she/they, they/she, he
By sentence clauses it's she-he, he-she, he-she, they-they, she-he
These two are obviously connected, seemingly not via their lives.
I can't make heads or tails of the "symbols," a piece of a broken bottle, blue kite, cloud and quilt of rags, prayer and map.
The part that is really striking to me, especially because I recently went through a breakup, is the end where it seems like the window of opportunity for connection ends. She finishes her prayer (indicating to me her hopes remain unfulfilled) and he folds his map (which I take as his life as a sailor ending). This feeling resonates with me and is largely driving my hunger to understand the rest of the poem better.
Hers is the sky (solar eclipse, blue kite, cloud, prayer), his is the sea (broken bottle, sailor, map of the sea).
Hers is the wandering mind, his is the home-less soul.
In the beginning, she was not seeing him for who he is, for she was looking at the light, the truth, through many layers.
When she fell in love with who she thought he was, he found a reminder of who he really is. Before then, he was lost - a sailor in a forest. The kite, blue as the sea, blue as the sky. A reminder of something closer to the truth. Perhaps the sea is not the only place for him to search.
When his name changed, he changed. From one profession to another. He became true, and of the earth; so she brought her idea of him down to the raggedy earth.
Before this, they never really met. He was a stranger to himself, and to her too. Her mind stopped wandering the skies, and his soul stopped searching for the sea. They became each other’s “Everything”, just as the sea cannot exist without a sky above, or a sky without the sea.
I like it a lot, though I don't have much to add, I'm afraid. I don't think either of your AI are particularly close to the mark, though perhaps le chat is closer. I agree with your reading of a lament for a missed connection. I can't make much of the symbols either, but it's incredibly poignant.
I don't necessarily want to ruin your interpretation or search for meaning because I think that's the best part of connecting with poetry, but here's the author giving his thoughts and then reading it.
Before I decided to do some searching, I was thinking pretty similar to your interpretation. There was an opportunity for connection, but they never crossed paths on their journey/search. As for the symbols, unless you want to contact the author (there is a email available via search as he's a university professor) I think we'll be stuck guessing. I don't have the right word for it, but that kind of feels like kismet to connect with someone over their poem about missed connections.
P.S. my interpretation for the blue kite and cloud stitching are the connections they did make. I'd interpret the blue kite as something with energy, but delicate that stands out amongst the forest. The cloud as the same sailor that can't be held onto, amongst the pieces of her less fortunate life.