Peer Rev I Like How

Peer Rev

I like how you related Simic's "The Melon" to your childhood and personal life, which I imagine is what Charles Simic would have wanted you to do. When I read this poem, I thought that it was rare for Simic to seem very direct and not as obscure as in some of the other poems. This is a sentimental poem, and there is no attempt to cloak the feeling that Simic is nostalgic. You reacted with nostalgia, which parallels the poem, and I appreciate that. Because I do not have the same childhood memories, my reaction to "The Melon" was completely different. This is the reason why I gained more from reading the poem after reading your entry.

However, I thought it was interesting that you did not understand Simic's inclusion of the memory of the mother dying. The poet is known for his bittersweet imagery, and indeed, all poetry is bittersweet on some level or else it would be just schmaltzy or saccharine lyrics to a pop song. Poetry is about the gamut of human emotions. Pleasure and happiness are always punctuated by pain in the human experience. The person who has not experienced pain and suffering has not yet lived long enough. Poetry has the potential to bring out emotions in people, and in you, the poem brought out positive emotions and happy memories. For others, the poem might remind them of the loss of a loved one, comingled with the events that take place in daily life. The thing is, Simic might be showing us how memories are processed. The death of a loved one always lingers in our thoughts even when we are doing random things. We cannot escape death and loss, any more than we can escape the reality of insects. It is impossible to have fruits without insects, because insects are responsible for pollinating fruits. With the sweetness of the fruit comes the nuisance of the insect, whether we like it or not. You almost seem to suggest that poems should be fully happy, or fully sad, with no room for a middle ground where human life actually dwells. Regardless of your own immaturity, however, I value your application of personal experience to the poem. Imagery of melons and wasps is not something that rings a personal bell with me, but the underlying emotions of the Simic poem do conjure up a lot of emotions for me, as if a hornet's nest has been attacked.

2. You have selected two of my favorite Simic poems to comment on, and I appreciate that. "Stone" had a huge impact on me when I first read it, too. The contemplation of the inner life of a stone is something I have done because in animist format I have ascribed life to inanimate objects like stones. On a symbolic level, the stone is something that is considered cold, lifeless, and even useless. As Simic puts it, children toss stones into the river for play. Animals shit on stones. They are considered much like dirt or soil. Yet have you ever considered the fact that no one would ever put a stone in a garbage can? A stone is considered something that is part of life and nature, even though we simultaneously believe stones have no life. Stones are obviously containing some life, just not in the way we are biased to believe -- meaning breath, talking, thinking, feeling, and judging.