Original Poem Reprinted Online Here: "Catch & Release" by William D. Waltz
More Information about the Poet: William D. Waltz
Addressing the subject from a distance. I think this is what I think of when I read an epistle. Letters are meant to communicate but there's no sense of urgency. Yes, there might be a sense of urgency within the context, but the epistle itself awaits for a response, so, at least for a while, everything is one-sided.
Dear Reluctant Sportsman,
maybe you'll release one
into the watery teeth of the wilds
a tiny capillary
of our great circulatory system
The address to the "reluctant sportsman" is further defined by how the sportsman is reluctant, "you'll release one." "One" is an ambiguous term in the poem which can be assumed to be a fish or something else. In either case, the usage of "one" opens up the poem to a higher metaphor of the "tiny capillary / of our great circulatory system." There's a sense of the grandiose here with the first stanza -- some personal to something more.
Dear Familiar Face
in the Passenger Seat,
I saw you undressing
that comely cornfield.
I agree. Maybe
we're more alike than
our combustible engines
suggest, and if we are,
you hope that next truckstop
has a wedge of rhubarb
pie to die for, too.
So why am I quoting entire stanzas? Every stanza seems episodic with no connection; however, it is the voice that continues to grow and observer. For example in this stanza note how the capitulations occur with the subject "Familar Face" and "Passenger Seat" and further down how surreal the actions that the speaker observes, "undressing / that comely cornfield." yes, I feel these lines are supposed to be comedic, but also note how this surreal opens up the persona speaker "I agree" and how the speaker expands the poem in order for the thought to come through of being alike and "you hope the next truckstop / has a wedge of rhubarb" innocuous enough, "pie to die for, too." The shift of the cliche which brings the play of the technique into question but doesn't damper it.
Dear Cell Phone Radiation,
we arrive almost invisibly
on the threshold of distant
relatives like a secret cold front,
but our departure demands
much horn honking and
happy hands waving
all he way
to the end
of the on-ramp.
Our relief,
an algorithm
of how lonely
company makes us.
The beginning has a sense of deep metaphor and seriousness with it based on the lines, "We arrive almost invisibly / on the threshold of distant / relatives" which has a bit of the grandiose and the divine instilled, but this sentiment is compared to the (cynical) humor of, our departure demands / much horn honking and / happy hands waving" I'm not sure how deeply the cynicism cuts into the seriousness, I feel that is what the poem is struggling with -- wanting to be either or but not committing (the last stanza secures this though). At the end of this stanza there's a allusion to "an algorithm" -- the set rules that is the overarching style of the poem -- the epistle which is distance to the loneliness.
Dear Rainbow Trout,
you're a pretty fish
and I wish we lived
near the shivering brook
and the sunken tree.
Then maybe
we'd finally learn
how to leave
without regret.
Here the reference to the Rainbow trout does go along with the title of catch and release, but the question is who is being caught and what is release. What's being caught is the overthought of wanting one thing or the other. Yes, there's that life in the shivering brook and the sunken tree, something physically calm. But the disconnect happens with the admission of "how to leave / without regret"
The release has more meaning to it because it's not the speaker who is released or staying -- there's a fear of committing to one or the other based on emotion "regret."
More Information about the Poet: William D. Waltz
Addressing the subject from a distance. I think this is what I think of when I read an epistle. Letters are meant to communicate but there's no sense of urgency. Yes, there might be a sense of urgency within the context, but the epistle itself awaits for a response, so, at least for a while, everything is one-sided.
Dear Reluctant Sportsman,
maybe you'll release one
into the watery teeth of the wilds
a tiny capillary
of our great circulatory system
The address to the "reluctant sportsman" is further defined by how the sportsman is reluctant, "you'll release one." "One" is an ambiguous term in the poem which can be assumed to be a fish or something else. In either case, the usage of "one" opens up the poem to a higher metaphor of the "tiny capillary / of our great circulatory system." There's a sense of the grandiose here with the first stanza -- some personal to something more.
Dear Familiar Face
in the Passenger Seat,
I saw you undressing
that comely cornfield.
I agree. Maybe
we're more alike than
our combustible engines
suggest, and if we are,
you hope that next truckstop
has a wedge of rhubarb
pie to die for, too.
So why am I quoting entire stanzas? Every stanza seems episodic with no connection; however, it is the voice that continues to grow and observer. For example in this stanza note how the capitulations occur with the subject "Familar Face" and "Passenger Seat" and further down how surreal the actions that the speaker observes, "undressing / that comely cornfield." yes, I feel these lines are supposed to be comedic, but also note how this surreal opens up the persona speaker "I agree" and how the speaker expands the poem in order for the thought to come through of being alike and "you hope the next truckstop / has a wedge of rhubarb" innocuous enough, "pie to die for, too." The shift of the cliche which brings the play of the technique into question but doesn't damper it.
Dear Cell Phone Radiation,
we arrive almost invisibly
on the threshold of distant
relatives like a secret cold front,
but our departure demands
much horn honking and
happy hands waving
all he way
to the end
of the on-ramp.
Our relief,
an algorithm
of how lonely
company makes us.
The beginning has a sense of deep metaphor and seriousness with it based on the lines, "We arrive almost invisibly / on the threshold of distant / relatives" which has a bit of the grandiose and the divine instilled, but this sentiment is compared to the (cynical) humor of, our departure demands / much horn honking and / happy hands waving" I'm not sure how deeply the cynicism cuts into the seriousness, I feel that is what the poem is struggling with -- wanting to be either or but not committing (the last stanza secures this though). At the end of this stanza there's a allusion to "an algorithm" -- the set rules that is the overarching style of the poem -- the epistle which is distance to the loneliness.
Dear Rainbow Trout,
you're a pretty fish
and I wish we lived
near the shivering brook
and the sunken tree.
Then maybe
we'd finally learn
how to leave
without regret.
Here the reference to the Rainbow trout does go along with the title of catch and release, but the question is who is being caught and what is release. What's being caught is the overthought of wanting one thing or the other. Yes, there's that life in the shivering brook and the sunken tree, something physically calm. But the disconnect happens with the admission of "how to leave / without regret"
The release has more meaning to it because it's not the speaker who is released or staying -- there's a fear of committing to one or the other based on emotion "regret."
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