Stretching for Allusion
I wonder how some lines in a poem by Tim Dlugos play out if you don't connect with an allusion to Raymond Burr's character, Perry Mason, in Ironside. The gestural quality transcends the allusion:
Like wheelchair detectivesThe reader gets to participate in that "we" that denotes the speaking voice and the intended recipient of "Note to J.A." and to experience a sympathetic response to the poem's ending:
we reach for the sky
Like wheelchair detectivesOne small detail that makes the allusion recede and allows those challenged by popular culture references to enjoy the poem is that "detectives" appears in the plural. It's a species not a specimen.
we reach for the sky
and come back with hands
full of energy. It
dissipates faster than
our eyes can record.
And so for day 754
05.01.2009
