Analysis of "Vocabulary Lesson" by Don Hogle

 Poem Found Here: "Vocabular Lesson" by Don Hogle

This poem is a timepiece where someone else's definition and usage of the word changes the dynamic of a father son relationship.

In the beginning of the poem the poem sets up the scene, "My father was driving. I was in / the passenger seat of the Rambler."  The rambler is important to note here because it places the poem in a different time frame than now.  From a cursory search, a Rambler was a car in the 1960's.

In the second stanza, there's already foreshadowing of perspective, "He watched the road. I looked / straight ahead at the palm trees."  In my notes I wrote how the enjambment works here.  The drop off of "straight ahead at the palm trees" focuses the reader to the first word, "straight."  I feel this is another foreshadowing of the upcoming conversation.

However, the poem continues with the narrative by giving context of past conversations.  "Mysteries of sex" and "quitting the boy scouts" are all related to by roads "Forest Hills Boulevard" and "Parker Avenue."

This pattern of discussion and road comes together when the speaker just says a single word, "I said something was exquisite."  The usage of the word makes the father angle "away from me"

"Boys don't use that word." With this phrase there is a tension between usage.  I wonder if this father figure is uncomfortable with the thought of his son not being a "boy."  What does "exquisite" mean and how did it change the relationship to be so tense.  For me, I assume the usage of "exquisite" is a high vocabular word for a boy.  But also I get this sense that "exquisite" in this context refers to sexuality.  The father perceives the son to be gay in that instant, even though the son hasn't given any hints about his sexuality.

It's this moment of the unsure that builds the tension.  "We sat in silence at the stop light / on Lake Worth Road."  None of the usage of the word "exquisite" is pursued, rather meaning ends at a red light for now.  The last stanza also uses the idea of red with the last image "a hedge of red hibiscus in full bloom beside us."  Stop, there's nothing more to discuss, to explore between the father and son for now.