I am an adopted child and I didn't think of adoption. But that would sort of make sense, trying the same name in any number of cities, you could be calling a person without really knowing anyone in that city. I got a real sense of distance between the voice in the poem and her brother, like maybe he held himself above her somehow.
Lori On Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:30 , Nancy Hagerty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> sent: >Why is she imagining standing high above Lake Michigan? >Is her brother at the bottom of Lake Michigan? Or is he up in heaven? >(gray clouds of exhaustion) >Is her brother with her? Are they working together? Is he the one >totally depressed? >Is she trying to get a hold of his (her brother's) significant other? >Someone who would have seen or talked to him more recently than she had? >Could she have been adopted and now searching for whom she believes her >family might be? > > >>> The Phone Call >>> Philip Levine >>> >>> She calls Chicago, but no one >>> is home. The operator asks >>> for another number but still >>> no one answers. Together >>> they try twenty-one numbers, >>> and at each no one is ever home. >>> "Can I call Baltimore?" she asks. >>> She can, but she knows no one >>> in Baltimore, no one in >>> St Louis, Boston, Washington. >>> She imagines herself standing >>> before the glass wall high >>> over Lake Shore Drive, the cars >>> below fanning into the city. >>> East she can see all the way >>> to Gary and the great gray clouds >>> of exhaustion rolling over >>> the lake where her vision ends. >>> This is where her brother lives. >>> At such height there's nothing, >>> no birds, no growing, no noise. >>> She leans her sweating forehead >>> against the cold glass, shudders, >>> and puts down the receiver. >>> >>> >> >> >> >> > >_______________________________________________ >Mosaic mailing list >[email protected] >To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > >Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
