Review of Poem ‘Howl’ by Eileen Myles

 Poem ‘Howl’ by Eileen Myles

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

Myles uses two sounds as metaphors, one is the inanimate one of a fridge and the other is the howl of a dog. The inanimate sound symbolizes the routine exchanges among people. The howl denotes the tone in which you have to make a demand or signal about a panicky situation. Of course, dogs howl to authoritatively tell this is my territory too. But a howl’s purpose is served only when the target second person gets the message. The following lines reveal the poet wanted to learn from the dogs how to demand something for a charitable work:

we started

a fund

and the dogs

are needing

some money &

I don’t know

how to do

it & I’ll

learn from

one of them

So the poet makes it clear your very tone must evoke empathy. Will the very tone suffice? No. Your looks would also matter. You must impress with your looks. The following lines tell us that:

Tom’s blue

shirt & glasses

are perfect.

My teeshirt

is good

But the concluding lines leave the reader to think how outlook based or superficial exchanges between fellow beings impact a right thinking person:

my pen

works

I breathe.

T

he poem’s ending note differentiates between oral exchanges and expression on paper. The latter gives you better scope to express earnestly the poet feels. We infer in oral exchanges there are barriers either within or created by the second person or both. The poem probably tells if you cannot howl impressively the only recourse in an expression on paper. Often it might fail to impress the second person, but it will keep your ingenuity alive.