This week I’m looking at Only Child by Adam Clay. I like getting these daily poetry emails, because there’s a nice variety of contemporary poems. It’s cool to be able to get a sliver of the poetry scene every day and familiarize myself with some of today’s poets. And of course, I never feel like I have enough poetry.

I’ve had a really good day today, and my brain is buzzing in that way where it feels inspired, even though I haven’t actually done any creative writing today. The possibility of creation is there, if that makes sense. Hopefully it will linger for a few days.

Once again, I’m going to start my analysis by looking at the form. This one is quite different from the short couplet format of last week’s analysis. Though the individual lines are clipped, the poem is without stanza breaks and it gives the poem an anxious, claustrophobic feel to it, a cycle of thoughts that cannot be broken out of. The individual sentences spill over for several lines, like the speaker’s thoughts cannot be curtailed.

This feeling of entrapment is emphasized in several ways. Firstly, the opening line “Breakfast rained on again” sets the tone of the poem. I mean, just imagine a soggy breakfast! Not only does it conjure a feeling of discomfort and grossness, a rained on breakfast would understandably ruin the speaker’s whole day.

Secondly, Clay makes use of juxtaposition, pairing up opposite words to demonstrate the speaker’s lack of control over the situation. Some examples are “dark of the day,” “humid February,” and “I am/ drawing a self-portrait/ and trying to remove the self.” I really like how these images clash, but in a way that my mind is still able to understand what Clay means. The mismatch is jarring, but not incomprehensible. It’s sort of a consciousness of the randomness and unpredictability of life that we’re all subject to.

There is also an instance of repetition that I really like “I had always/ imagined a different type/ of fatherhood before/ fatherhood found me.” Repetition always intrigues me, because it has the potential to morph the connotation of the word in a minimal way. In this case, perhaps Clay’s idealist version of fatherhood has not been fulfilled in reality, or that he finds it impossible to achieve the caliber of fatherhood that he desires.

Because Only Child hinges on the concept of fatherhood, I really appreciate Clay’s attention to adhere to a domestic and internal perspective. The first third of the poem focuses on light/ dark and the way it morphs in the daughter’s bedroom. The darkness again creates a sense of pressurized closeness, but also a lack of certainty, as the speaker is unable to see ahead of him: I’m still/ trying to see in the room/ that’s gone power out. The weeds in the yard also overwhelm the speaker, and the pressure and responsibilities of fatherhood crowd out the speaker’s sense of identity.

Yet, despite all of this uncertainty, the speaker remains hopeful. He notes that looking back feels like looking forward, and he registers his effect on the world around him. Towards the end of the poem, the sentences become less relentless. They are shorter and more peaceful, and create a sense of calm and light that is still able to stem out of his doubt and anxiety.

Rules for a poem

1. Create the tone of the poem in the opening line of the poem with a strong, sensory image.
2. Play with opposites and juxtaposition, light/ dark, smooth/ rough, etc, and try to ground the poem with this central conflict.
3. Use repetition to reorient an idea or concept.
4. Vary sentence length and see what effect this has on the poem.