Invitation to Ground Zero
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:28 am
I need some help interpreting this poem. Can someone tell me who "she" is? I would say that "she" is the mannequin, but the second stanza seems to suggest that "she" and the mannequin are separate things. To make matters worse, "mannequin" can be spelled as "manikin" and "mannikin". A "mannikin" is also a type of bird. Are there layers in this poem I'm not quite grasping?
Invitation To Ground Zero
Into the smouldering ruin now go down:
And walk where once she walked and breathe the air
She breathed that final day on the burning stair
And follow her, beyond the fleeing crowds,
Into the fire, and through the climbing clouds.
Into the smouldering ruin now go down:
And find, in ashes bright as hammered tin,
A buried bone-white naked mannikin
That flung from some shop window serves to bind
Her body, and its beauty, to your mind.
William Jay Smith
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In my opinion, the punctuation of this poem is very poor. If I had written it, here is the punctuation and capitalization that I would have used:
Into the smouldering ruin now go down,
and walk where once she walked, and breathe the air
she breathed that final day on the burning stair,
and follow her beyond the fleeing crowds,
into the fire and through the climbing clouds.
Into the smouldering ruin now go down,
and find, in ashes bright as hammered tin,
a buried bone-white naked mannikin
that, flung from some shop window, serves to bind
her body and its beauty to your mind.
Invitation To Ground Zero
Into the smouldering ruin now go down:
And walk where once she walked and breathe the air
She breathed that final day on the burning stair
And follow her, beyond the fleeing crowds,
Into the fire, and through the climbing clouds.
Into the smouldering ruin now go down:
And find, in ashes bright as hammered tin,
A buried bone-white naked mannikin
That flung from some shop window serves to bind
Her body, and its beauty, to your mind.
William Jay Smith
================================================
In my opinion, the punctuation of this poem is very poor. If I had written it, here is the punctuation and capitalization that I would have used:
Into the smouldering ruin now go down,
and walk where once she walked, and breathe the air
she breathed that final day on the burning stair,
and follow her beyond the fleeing crowds,
into the fire and through the climbing clouds.
Into the smouldering ruin now go down,
and find, in ashes bright as hammered tin,
a buried bone-white naked mannikin
that, flung from some shop window, serves to bind
her body and its beauty to your mind.