Quote of the Day: Never About One Thing

"A poem is never about one thing. .. . You want it to be as complicated as your feelings."

That from an article in the March 29 issue of the "New York Times Magazine," entitled "Galaxies Inside His Head" and subtitled "Race and Identity in the Poems of Terrance Hayes."

What Hayes appears to be suggesting is that he packs his poetry with multiple issues – and perhaps not in a linear fashion.

Like a good wine, complexity is critical.

That's one way of looking at the notion of "more than one thing."

But there is an alternative. Poems, and arguably stories, are chiefly about more than one thing because readers interpret the same work differently and not because of anything the author says.

"Sweetness," by Toni Morrison

The "New Yorker" published an interesting short story by Toni Morrison in its Feb. 9, 2015 edition -- a story that, while easily standing on its own, may be the first few pages of her new novel "God Help the Child," which is due for release in April. The story is called "Sweetness" and like a lot of good fiction, it is both well written and operates on more than one level.

 

There have been numerous calls for a fresh dialog on race in America in the wake of the Trayvon Martin, Ferguson and Eric Garner affairs and on one level, "Sweetness" could be viewed as part of the conversation. Color-based prejudice is not just a black and white problem, but appears to be deeply ingrained in human nature. Is that one reason the laws and regulations implemented, not always properly, in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement appear to have failed in certain important respects?  How then best to address the issue?