Rodeo Heart
Wisened smirks in tan and spur
on drifting plains where gauchos ride
with measured words of old-world burr
in parchment air the cow-punch calls
to stars and satellites .
Weather shirks and tin men blur,
on nowhere trains in race to find
the long gone herd of ways that were,
descent no more than new-born’s fall
on drifting plains the gauchos ride.
Please, don’t switch your T.V on
tonight.
December 11th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
“Wisened” was not in my American dictionary, but “wizened” certainly is and means “to become dry, shrunken, and wrinkled often as a result of aging or of failing vitality.” One could take from this, then, that the smirk of this cowboy represents ideas (or attitudes) that are fading away. There is a sense of nostalgia in the refrain, “on drifting plains where gauchos ride.” The plains may drift, but the satellites above them drift too. After the refrain is repeated, the poet asks, “Please don’t switch your T.V. on tonight.” The line seems haunting. What is it about T.V. that the poet fears? Here is my interpretation:
The T.V. and the satellite are devices that represent progress, just as the gauchos and their drifting plains represent the past; the plains are a container for the “long gone herd of ways that were.” The trains and “tin men” are more symbols of progress; they rush around, making vain efforts to recover these ways of the past, but are unable to do so. The only solution, then, is for the people of the nation to halt the progress together — to “not switch on” their T.V.s. The choice is ours, according to the poet.
December 11th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Thank you for this and thrilling to see you return old friend.
Wizened or wisened? One is wise and one is weary I suppose. Perhaps they are one and the same. Darn those made-up words!
As for the rest of the poem, your interpretation is astute, illuminating and clear. It’s not the poem it should have been though. These are not the words of an imagined ‘old hand’ thinking poetically (as I’d intended), they are the words of a confused poet failing to speak outside his own very European mindset.
I envy the Gauchos and cowboys, but don’t have the cultural ammo to represent them or do them justice. That’s the core of it.
Still, it’s written now and that’s that.
December 11th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Thanks, Stone. I think my interpretation may not be what it should be either. I reread the poem and am having second thoughts about who the “tin men” are. When many interpretations are possible, it only leads me to believe that I’m reading good poetry.