Review of Louise Gluck's poem ‘Love poem’

 Review of Louise Gluck's poem ‘Love poem’

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

The poet makes it clear to the reader to look for love in this poem. Poetry is the most powerful vehicle amongst all genres. The vehicle ferries not only the expression of the poet to the readers but carries them to the world of the poet also. ’Widowed heart’ is the most poetic expression in the poem. The readers appreciate the narrator’s plight, an enforced loneliness due to the power of this expression. The question still is whether the poem is about a woman and her loneliness? The poem in the ending line ‘your women like one brick wall after another’ makes it clear that the second person is not a man, rather men in general. The metaphor of a brick wall drives home the countless feelings, expressions, needs and sensitivities of a woman always ignored by her man. Brick by brick his rejection has created a wall of silence and disillusionment in her. Nonetheless, the tone of the poem is not feminist. Still it highlights an irony. Men avoid facing or dealing with pain. A woman has an innate perception to identify the fiber of pain and to internalize it. Men are resigned in handling pain. They are happy with any escape. The color red in this poem symbolizes two things. One is the color of blood figurative of pain and the other is the ‘stop’ signal in red. Where men stop, resign and look for escape routes, a woman feels abandoned and uncared for. This is probably a rare insight. A poet does not sell an idea but shares a visualization. The angle in which she has analyzed the male female partnership in facing pain will open many doors and provoke a whole new thought process. 'Love poem' gives us one of the crucial junctures where love gets a red signal.