20190603.0430

Continuing on with the idea of retrospection, I note that 3 June has seen me post in each of the past six years (2013-2018). The posts in 2018, 2017, and 2016 were each poems; that in 2015 was itself a retrospection, noting the 2014 post's attempt at humor and the 2013 post's rumination on the quiet of the morning. Again, the 2018 poem is one that exists as part of a sequence and cannot be understood outside of that context; again, too, the 2017 poem is not terribly good. The 2016 post, despite the typo in its title, offers some good, though; it came from one of my several immensely frustrating bouts of job-searching, and I think that it captures a fair bit of the vexation that came from the process. (There is a reason I've written often that I do not want to have to be back on the job market if I can avoid it.)
Since I seem to have laid out a thesis for a short essay, I suppose I ought to follow up on that form and note that the seven-line poem opens with a comment about an unnamed "she" before moving into the second line's "I," setting up a dichotomy that, given the remaining's lines' discussion of difficulty in opposition to the ease "she" enjoyed, makes the poem a complaint. In combination with the ragged poetic form--the seven lines do not rhyme, and they do not follow any particular rhythmic pattern--the complaint helps to express vexation at job hunts. Being at ease would allow for, if not encourage, the kind of reflection and revision that admits of a more regular verse form; the lack of both implies the opposite.
The second pair of lines also speaks to the vexation of the job-search process. Taken together, they raise the idea that offers of work may well be lies--as is no mystery. Claiming that a "vow is perhaps not the best" is far from a ringing endorsement of the speaker's honesty. Pointing out that any offer might well be a lie implies no small amount of mistrust, and it is not an easy thing to have to interact with people while suspecting them of deceit. That it is a concern raised almost as soon as the prospect of work is, then, highlights the immediacy of such thoughts, and, highlighting them, reinforces the vexation associated with them.
The final three lines, generally shorter than the first four, do not detract from the impression of vexation. The last two, particularly, enhance it. The sixth line, consisting only of the word "Perhaps," serves as a pivot--and, structurally, a pivot so close to the end of a work places it into a position of peculiar stress. Given the brevity of the poem, it stands out, calling attention to itself and implying, if subtly, the stress of job-hunting. It also highlights the final line, which ascribes agency not to the searching narrator but to outside forces rendered not-wholly-human through labeling them "the locals" rather than naming them or even assigning personal pronouns. They are certainly an other group, one that excludes the narrator, and being dependent on the good will of a group of which a person is not part is no easy thing. Throughout the poem, then, the idea that job hunting is not a easy or relaxing thing, that the opposite is true, comes out clearly.
Admittedly, I have an interest in having my own work studied and lauded. Admittedly, too, it is somewhat disingenuous for me to look back at my work and explain why it works well; a similar attempt by Poe in "The Philosophy of Composition" led to some problems for him, and I cannot expect that I will fare much better. But it is also good to look back on what I've done and, when occasion warrants, approve of it; I'm critical enough of myself as it is without allowing myself the occasional bit of pride in my efforts.