Analysis of "Enough Music" by Dorianne Laux

 Poem found here: "Enough Music" by Dorianne Laux

The title feels aggressive.  "Enough Music"  Is this a command?  Is this a statement?  "Enough" is such a loaded word that the first thing I think of is of someone at a breaking point, like they had enough.

But the poem doesn't go in an aggressive rather a relatable, maybe somewhat mundane scene.

Sometimes, when we're on a

long drive, and we've talked

enough and listened to enough

music and stopped twice, once 

to eat, once to see the view, we

fall into this rhythm of silence [...]

I think it's important to acknowledge this sentence and how much work it's doing.  First, the overall sentence meanders from one point to the next as though to mimic a long drive.  In a short poem, there's specific ways this is achieved: the usage of "Sometimes" in the beginning of the poem detracts a sense of urgency in the sentence, the usage of "and" brings a repetition to a poem that is meant to connect the flow better (and it does, but to where?), the irony of "rhythm of silence," adds to a sense of conditioned normalcy after conversation, music, and eating is enough.  It's a long sentence that feels long that leads to an "it."

What does "it" mean here in the context of the poem?  Yes, the direct answer refers to the "rhythm of silence," but what does the silence mean in the context?  This first person poem reads as distant and observatory when referring back to the previous sentence.  Even the following metaphor of "swings back and forth between / us like a rope over a lake" is absent of a connection.  In my mind, the image is like a metronome, but who is keeping the rhythm?

That's where the epiphany at the end of the poem is really puzzling, but understandable.  "Maybe it's what we don't say / that save us."  The entire time the poem feels avoidant, but the last sentence gives a hint of a reason.  "Save us."  My mind goes to what "us" means, and ultimately "us" falls under any relationship umbrella.

The "rhythm of silence" is saving and extended this relationship, but what relationship is there to save if there isn't enough of a connection?