Richard Greenfield – A Carnage in the Lovetrees (01/25/2010)

I don't quite know how to react to this book, except with sheer frustration. Page after page, poem after poem, I am left wondering what on earth Greenfield is talking about. The poetry seems to me just an accumulation of scenic lines, chopped in half and piled on top of each other. I realize that we are not supposed to try to understand the meaning of every line in this genre of poetry, but I find it troubling that I can read entire chapters, or indeed an entire book, without having an inkling as to the central idea. With Nick Flynn, it was clear– he had a traumatic childhood. What happened to Greenfield? Perhaps I am alone in my bewildered reaction to A Carnage In The Lovetrees. Nevertheless, I've decided to focus my post on a pattern that I picked up on the text.

I almost every poem in the book, there is a reference to light, usually from the sun. These references tend to reflect what seems to be the overall mood of the poem. For example, in "Elegy For The Swing", Greenfield writes,

The leaves black on the light side and yellow underneath where/

unlit...

This picture seems to fit with the theme of an elegy. (Note: elegy = a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead [Oxford American Dictionaries]) The image of the leaves brings to mind a corpse in a coffin– the dark wood of the coffin in the sunlight, the pale yellowing skin of the body within.

Another example is in "Avatar In The Shape Of A Wing". The word 'avatar' comes from Sanskrit and means 'incarnation'. Thus the word presents us with an idea of something that changes form or that is never just one thing. Greenfield uses a line about light to underline this concept in this poem. He writes,

In a field-burning haze, the midriff of the

sky provides neither ascendency nor grounding.

In "The Liar Codes", Greenfield mentions twilight a couple of times. The 'twilight zone' is known in popular culture as a space of ambiguity between two things. 'Twilight' itself refers to the odd times of day between the dawn and the actual full appearance of the sun, and the period of time when the sun is setting before complete darkness ensues. A code, too, is some sort of ambiguous set of symbols, whether sounds, letters, numbers, or anything else, which remains an enigma until deciphered. Following on this, a liar is someone whom it is difficult to trust, who's words are hollow in meaning because there is no guarantee on their validity.

Although I feel like I was not able to understand the basic ideas behind Greenfield's work, I believe that these images of light that showed up throughout his poems helped me find at least some connection between his titles and the text beneath them, if nothing else.

I have listed below some more of the "light lines" from some more of the poems from A Carnage In The Lovetrees:

The Light In Greenfield's Eyes

Vantage –

· the squared jaw of the sun and the hellish visage of the/ melting rooftops where the heat radiates into the sky and the traffic/ fumes.,

· The specific three o’clock in the afternoon light was not bleached/ but was acutely inexact in its yellow: the ball rimming the rim, ball/ which was silent, silent as it spun off and rubber-stung the air it hit/ and combined and came through the window screen, nostalgic.

Vectory –

· the orange peel light,

· an exact shadow on the dawn,

· the haze,

Piece Together –

· Watched the mobile fish turning in the half-light, spotty/ patterns on the walls over the bed. Crested mute in the silent end // of dawn, cruelty hazed the violated text.

Two In A Series Of Encryption –

· We should have screens on the windows, our lighted rooms draw/ them inside at night.,

· …expecting/ success in the quarterlight dawn

The Invention Of Drawing –

· Cornered in the pretty evening, trauma dissolved into the dew/ count and opened the sun.

· The sun was flaring a woman’s shadow upon the rock whose/ terrain had been terror, whose anonymity was traced.

· Daylight poured into the four corners – not seized, not barefooted.

Burn The Family Tree –

· Trance of arcing light

· …rivulets of hardwood over the horizon

· Degrees of evening on my face

· I opened the door to find the limbs in/ the kitchen reaching for daybreak

Device For The Blind –

· …the million liquid glimpses of moonlight floating/ downstream.

· He couldn’t see a thing in there except for the glow of a wristwatch.

Bibemus & –

· Lastlight rushes into these corners, unstoppable . . .

Biblio –

· …a bright stab crackling in the dim