Daughter of the Ring of Fire » Blog Archive » One Poem Review: quiet as it’s kept by Evie Shockley

Jul

2009

One Poem Review: quiet as it’s kept by Evie Shockley

Posted on 19:46, July 15th, 2009 by EKSwitaj

Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

The first time I read through Evie Shockley‘s socially and geographically aware love poem, quiet as it’s kept, I found myself searching for evidence that the description of “these boys” was ironic or for some sort of sinister presence behind their surfaces. This probably says more about my own experiences (up until the past couple years anyway) than it does about the poem, but two specific phrases contributed to this reaction and ultimately provided me with a way to grasp the poem’s non-ironic content.

The first of these is the second part of the first line: “their quiet feminism”. My initial response to this was to wonder what good their feminism was if they didn’t speak out. This is answered later on: the good is in their actions, in their being

the boys who open doors for men
and
women

A loud feminist man or boy who doesn’t treat people kindly and equally is just “feminist”.

The second phrase that led me to doubt “these boys” comes in the second line: “in their mothers’ gardens”. I thought of young men sheltered and protected by their mothers, who may even remain good and caring so long as they are in that context, who either cannot handle life without a mother-figure serving their needs or who turn cruel when denied that. The phrase around this one, however, make it clear that this garden is only a starting point:

no one tells you about these boys : their quiet feminism
grows like wildflowers : in their mothers’ gardens

If your neighbor has ever planted a patch of wildflowers by your well-manicured landscape, then you know that such plants never stay where they begin.

While my initial assumption that there must be irony proved incorrect, there is a sinister presence in the poem. It is not part of boys but, rather, the external world, the winter chill responsible for

oooooooooooooooooothe ice freezing silently
over your private spring

It is the potentially deadly chill of a profoundly anti-feminist—anti-woman—society.

This interpretation is supported by the repetition of “no one tells you”. A society frozen against egalitarian loves isn’t about to tell you about the existence of boys who can engage in such relationships or about how to build these relationships. Relationships that do not fit the social norms require learning a whole new way to be together. It isn’t just that no one does tell you: it’s that no one can.

By contrast, a second repeating element emphasizes the possibility of an egalitarian connection. The colon connects clauses in a way that allows one to elucidate or flow from the other without being subordinated.