Here are my questions: What does the operator think of the woman trying to place all these phone calls? Does the woman feel a sense of guilt abandoning her literal brother -- or is it "brother" in the figurative or political sense. Does placing the line "this is where her brother lives" between "the lake where her vision ends" and "At such height there's nothing" give more or less meaning to those of us trying to locate the brother in actuality. Or is the sandwiching of this line between the others a means to inspire a larger interpretation on a figurative level. Sorry for the two-part-ers. It might be useful to know other poems by Philip Levine such as "What Work Is" or "Starlight" and to understand the context here. The name Gary is a double entendre here, a brother's name possibly, but it's Gary, Indiana, a place of factory towns and industrial work. Levine has written many poems about work and "What Work Is" shows this same facility of the multiple levels of meaning when he addresses "brother" in the specific familial sense and "brother" as in co-worker. Thanks for wonderful poem. I love this thread.
Maureen Robins Literacy Coach, NYC - _______________________________________________ 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.
