It is remarkable to me whenever I find poor poetry in a well known poet, and I find it necessary to counter it with the poet's good work. It makes for a good juxtaposition to point out talent and flaws in the poet, and extensively, the editor.What stands out and what we are to learn from here, mainly, is the poet's choice of subject matter. Two poems, "Why Me?" and "Moon Tiger," are taken from Levertov's Relearning the Alphabet, New Directions 1970. First, the good:
Why Me?
No reason: hyacinthine, ordinary,
extraordinary, creature:
on your two legs, running,
the grey brain above
transmitting its poetry---
just that you are, man, someone,
wings at your heels, the gods sent
to tell me.
Here we see good use of the power of poetry, metaphor: the "wings at your heels" simultaneously accents "on your two legs running," and refers to Talaria, winged sandals which symbolizes the messenger god Hermes. The poet asks herself "Why Me," that is, why am I a poet and in answer we get the poem: a description of the poet's mode but "No reason." And also in answer we get the ethos of modern poetry with its fast-paced thoughts "running." "the grey brain above" has a detached connotation and seems out-of-place and puzzling. The line "transmitting its poetry---" is stating the obvious and could perhaps be tossed. Overall, a short yet meaningful poem.
Second, the poor:
Moon Tiger
The moon tiger.
In the room, here.
It came in, it is
prowling sleekly
under and over
the twin beds.
See its small head,
silver smooth,
hear the pad of its
large feet. Look,
its white stripes
in the light that slid
through the jalousies.
It is sniffing our
clothes, its cold nose
nudges our bodies.
The beds are narrow,
but I'm coming in with you.
There's enough sentimentality here to cry a river and name it the Moon Tigres. The poet is lying in bed at night watching her cat do what cats do. Her appreciation of her cat maybe worth writing a poem but is best kept between her and the cat, or the desktop and her drawer. The best we take from the poem is the poet's craft of successfully convincing the open-minded reader, for at least half the poem, that the moon tiger is actually a tiger. We learn nothing further, and learning is key to good poetry. It is why people keep picking it up again and again.
T.S.
