¶ … Clerk's tale
Poem Response -- "Etude"
The rhyming scheme of the poem entitled "Etude" takes the form of a tight series of couplets. This creates a quaint, humorous, and artfully constructed tone that reflects the poem's subject and setting. The beginning of the poem is set in a gay bar, where the men "young and old" flirt and the conversation is "short and curt." (Reece, p.34) the atmosphere is intensely sexual, and instead of a heart, "dance music" thumps in the poet's chest. The club is located in Florida, and the entire environment outside the club is artificial. As the poem 'pans out,' the reader learns hat the entire town is decorated in "faux Tuscan," is if it were a room, and even the heterosexual women who populate the town are heavily made up in Channel suits. "Let the moon spread her shampoo all over you," writes Reece, and makes note of the large estates, the sticky humidity, and other aspects that strike all of the senses of the reader as stunningly 'fake,' and typical of Florida. Even the palm trees have "shallow roots." In other words, even the trees have not been in the state very long, and they, just like everyone, are all about show rather than reality.
The poem is apparently set during New Year's Eve, as there is some anticipation about a new event. "A century has ended, a new one has begun." But even the conversation is artfully constructed, as people make references to how the anticipation always is better than the actual event, a common cliche. People are also by and large all on a night out, waiting in the banquettes of fancy restaurants, and making a show of having a good time, as people are supposed to have on New Year's Eve.
Although the poem regards this good time with some humorous distance, the poet also is apparently a willing participant in this silliness, as he sees it all from the vantage point of a reveler, and mirrors the carefully constructed 'good time' in the rhyme and style of his verse.
Works Cited
Reece, Spencer. "The Clerk's Tale." From the Clerk's Tale. New York: Houghton
Mifflin, 2004.
