Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.
The metaphor, 'Green Buddhas,' may seems to have religious connotations, but perhaps it is more the associaton with peace that is the meaning behind this description. As we apparently 'eat the smile,' and then 'spit out the teeth,' which is a monosyllabic phrase, emulating the motion o pitting out watermelon seeds in a row, it is indicated that in life, we take what is good and throw away the rest, or that we take what is pleasurable and discard the rest. If this poem were to be read as a religious poem, it may create a sense of picking and choosing what to accept and what to practice in a religion.
Remove all periods
They are scars made by words
I couldn't bring myself to say
In a poem filled with substitutions and re-writings of the speaker's thoughts and feelings, as if what has already written is not adequate enough or expressively accurate, this quotation is so very poignant. The 'periods,' are represented metaphorically as 'scars,' the left over wouds when a word has been erased and repaced with nothing. These scars personify the 'words,' on the page, showing their true potential and meaning, as if people in their own right. The speaker could not make themselves speak aloud these certain words, and so all that is left of them are wounds. This may represent the power of words in leaving scars on people emotionally, but it is more likely a picture of the effects suppressing expression and true feeling has on a person and those around them, when perhaps those words are the key to helping another. The imperative language and advice throughout this poem, shown here in, 'Remove all periods,' lets the speaker attempt to edit and fix their expression to better fit what they are trying to say.
Interestingly, there are no 'periods,' within this poem either, and the lack of pauses or interruptions creates a flow, almost a stream of consciousness, indicating the need to let emotion and feeling flow untethered and unhindered.
A world's disappearing.
Little street,
You were too narrow,
Too much in the shade already.
The fate of a tiny segment of a bigger city may seem insignificant, yet it is of the utmost importance on the grand scheme of things. A world that is home to a single child and a dog is destroyed because it was, 'too narrow,' and 'too much in the shade.' The small breadth and size of a street affects its viability and worth within this world, yet it is a part of it in itself. This stanza portrays the little things as worthwhile nd significant in their own right, and warns the reader indirectly of the cruelty of thinking otherwise. The street is representative metaphorically of the boy and the dog who are removed later in the poem. The street is their home, and the fact it is 'disappearing,' an adjectival verb creating a mysterious and devastating tone should be a major issue for all those involved.
I was a blind child, a wind-up toy...
I was one of death's juggling red balls
On a certain street corner
Where they peddle things out of suitcases.
The tone created by this quotation is one of hopelessness, sadness and sorrow. The purpose may be to create empathy in the reader's heart, as the self-presentation by this poor child evokes emotion in the first person perspective.The metaphor, 'a wind-up toy,' presents the child as being for entertainment and under the control of whoever owns him and winds him up for the show. The subsequent metaphor, 'one of death's juggling red balls,' provokes a response from the reader, as it refers to the use of disabled or dying kids with no worth, value or future, to earn money for those that, 'peddle things out of suitcases.' This description of the company and area the child frequents shows a decline in standards and reputation. As it is referred to generically as 'a certain street corner,' it is obviously known for its dodgy dealings and underhand services and merchandise. The child is used for profit like an animal in this poem, which is a comment on both the sellers and their morals, but also the people who purchase from these dealers and their consciences.
The use of the past tense verb, 'I was,' repeated twice denotes a sense of flashback or retrospective narration, allowing the reader to quetion in the opening stages of the poem, where this child is now, and whether they are still alive, being used the same way, or living a life free from such things and of good quality. The message brought home here may be one of responsibilty and the need to respond to situations like the one this child finds themselves in immediately, because we can't go back and change our minds or actions with hindsight.
'So many blurred faces in a complicated plot.'
This quotation sums up life in a city full of people, each playing a different role and presenting different characteristics. The quantitative measure, 'so many,' generalises the people presented, rather than referring to individuals or specific groups of people, or even everyone. 'Blurred,' as an adjective denotes lack of clarity concerning the identification of these faces, and again generalises people in general, as they all become one society in a blur of faces. The adjective 'complicated' combined with the literary and theatrical term, 'plot,' a noun, suggests a narrative of confusing proportions, branching in every direction and containing characters that are so 'blurred,' they can be inditiguishable from one another. This may be a critque on the generalised façade worn by society in order for each person to fit in, the general going-with-the-flow and laissez-faire attitude within modern day people groups, and the tendency to keep up an act or follow and expected route in life as one feels that is the only way it could pan out.
This quotation also says a lot about social responsability and identity, as no one here stands out as individualistic, or willing to take a stand for those, such as the 'blind child,' that are forgotten and erased from this plot altogether, or are cast as extras, simply there to make the protagonists and main players look good and succeed in their paths.
