‘Caesura’ poem by Erin Rodoni

 ‘Caesura’ poem by Erin Rodoni 

-Montreal International poetry prize -2017 winning poem

-Erin Rodoni has won several awards internationally for her poetry.

I request readers to read the poem first from the above link and then my review. Thanks.

As the title ‘Caesura’ suggests the poem has been written in the format ‘Caesura’, which means there will be a pause in the middle of each sentence. The poem is a monologue and the narrator in the opening lines makes it clear that the grandmother she refers to is a foster grandma. So the former learns from either of the parents, the firsthand account of being an orphan and finding a life in the care of foster parents. Through the grandma’s account of her longing for children lifelong, the narrator, even at a very young age, is able to relate to a woman’s longing for motherhood. Before attempting to understand the poem further, we need to ponder why the poet has referred to her reading ‘The secret garden’, a classic on child abuse written by Frances Hodgson Burnett in early 20th century. As we read the whole poem more than once we find the essence of the poem is ironical coexistence of the child abuse rampant and the longing of scores of women for motherhood. There is a reference to religious beliefs and the narrator’s regret for not being so religious which subtly indicates the poet feels religion has limitations in driving out all the evils from the society or from the followers of the religion as well. The most poetic visualization in the poem is the expression ‘It’s a hard habit to break in the cathedral of my sleeping daughters, that consecrated dark gauzed in white-noise, a halo of nightlight.’ Here we find her adding religious sanctity to the dream world of kids. Typical of a free verse read, we are suddenly made to find her regret about the infant death of one of her brothers. The poem ends with how anyone can relate to a loss and move on, as she explains to her daughter about the death of their pet. ‘Oh, my darlings we are so small. Lie down, back to summer grass. Feel how we are always falling into that star-spread black expanse. And feel too the way the earth holds us and we are held.’ Often even adults get emotional about the events over which they never had any control. Making the children understand things beyond one’s control is the toughest challenge. The poem’s strength in my view is the unique insight of a female poet on human life. Feminine writing itself in my view is a separate genre. The fiction or poem by a female writer on the unique feminine outlook towards life and her side of experience in family or society is beyond the scope of any male writer or male poet to create. Her fond observation of just born kittens and their mother is very poetic and human.