A Polar Explorer Poem by Joseph Brodsky

A Polar Explorer

Rating: 3.3


All the huskies are eaten. There is no space
left in the diary, And the beads of quick
words scatter over his spouse's sepia-shaded face
adding the date in question like a mole to her lovely cheek.
Next, the snapshot of his sister. He doesn't spare his kin:
what's been reached is the highest possible latitude!
And, like the silk stocking of a burlesque half-nude
queen, it climbs up his thigh: gangrene.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Kevin Patrick 12 December 2014

This was a harrowing nightmare, reminds me of all those tales of polar explorers that met their untimely demises trying to reach the passage, which no doubt this was inspired by. Brodsky does an admirable job of going through the inner psyche of a man who is on the edge of death, and all the images and dreams he sees, then it all comes crashing down, with the scintillating detail of a pleasurable image of a burlesque queen turns into the repulsive image of gangrene. The mans fate is written, in horrifying detail. The imagery and mores ending are enough to leave an impact on this reader. This is a must read.

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