Feeding the Pear

"Feeding the Pear" in Waldrep, Disclamor, Rochester, N.Y.: BOA, 2007; page 64.

In high school AP English, the guiding light of our poetry analysis was "stay as literal as you can for as long as you can." That approach is nearly useless here -- no logical person would attempt to feed a pear, which of course means it is the perfect subject for a poem. Similarly, carrot sticks are the first things offered to the pear; even without questioning why the poet has carrot sticks at church, I would have tried countless other things (up to and including Carrot Top) before carrot sticks.

Will we ever know for certain why the poet chose carrots and sugar as foodstuffs? Short of finding G.C. Waldrep on the street in Lewisburg, Pa., quite likely we will not. Will we ever comprehend what the pear represents or why it must remain in the room (or, for that matter, how the poet obtained sugar from the fellowship hall given that constraint)? The same answer above also applies to all three of those.

Of course, that will never stop me from making (slightly-)educated guesses. I think the pear could be an ego, soft and easily bruised; of course, if those had to stay in one place, the world would be much simpler ... and we'd stay out of Alaska. Is it a debate? Those, too, hurt feelings, but similarly are nearly omnipresent.

The identity of the pear hasn't yet come to me. Maybe it will soon. Or maybe it will come in a dream during the next 5 a.m. downpour.

Maybe that's too grandiose . . .

Maybe

. . .

Welcome to PPP!

What is PPP? If you said purchasing power parity, points per possession, or perfect passive participle, you'd be right. Sort of. While all of these would fit the acronym, this PPP stands for Peculiar Poetry Philosophizing. It's a lengthy title, I realize, but that is why I made it alliterate -- therefore, the unofficial abbreviation will be PPP (or P³ if you prefer).

Peculiar Poetry Philosophizing is an offshoot of my English 210 class, Modern and Contemporary Poetry, taught by Ann Hostetler at Goshen College in the Spring 2011 semester. Here I will post various musings as they transpire (or are assigned). Sometimes the posts will even be at odd hours such as this one — although I suppose 2 a.m. is technically even, it would be 1 a.m. if Indiana understood the geographical basis of time zones.

As the previous sentence shows, I make no guarantee that my logic is perceptible to anyone else.

Until next time, keep the creative juices flowing!