The Skunk

Up, black, striped and damasked like the chasubleAt a funeral mass, the skunk’s tailParaded the skunk. Night after nightI expected her like a visitor.The refrigerator whinnied into silence.My desk light softened beyond the verandah.Small oranges loomed in the orange tree.I began to be tense as a voyeur.After eleven years i was composingLove-letters again, broaching the ‘wife’Like a stored cask, as if its slender vowelHad mutated into the night earth and airOf California. The beautiful, uselessTang of eucalyptus spelt your absense.The aftermath of a mouthful of wineWas like inhaling you off a cold pillow.And there she was, the intent and glamorous,Ordinary, mysterious skunk,Mythologized, demythologized,Snuffing the boards five feet beyond me.It all came back to me last night, stirredBy the sootfall of your things at bedtime,Your head-down, tail-up hunt in a bottom drawerFor the black plunge-line nightdress.

DAILY HABIT OF LOVE

The fact that he can hear the fridge means the he's alone.

orange trees - California

tense - negative energy (contrast to inital atmosphere)Voyeur - sudden sexual element

like a stored cask - simile

Nervousness towards the word wife because he hasn't seen her in so long.

useless - although California is beautiful, it is useless because it strengthens the sense of seperation from his wife.

Appeal to the senses

beautiful, useless - paradoxical language

ordinary, mysterious - paradoxical languageordinary - common animalmysterious - connection on a deeper level

Skunk is both a skunk and not a skunk, both in his garden and not in his garden

sound, sight - sensualSynesthetic imagery

five feet beyond me - distance between him and his wife

sootfall - neologism (coined word)head-down, tail-up (connection to wife)

THE SKUNKHARVEST BOWMOSSBAWNmemory, feelings about a person or a place. Intensive use of simileGreat importance in verbsSymbols

Evidence of being alone'The refrigerator whinnied into silence.My desk light softened beyond the verandah.'

Evidence of being al

Imagery'Up, black, striped and damasked like the chausableAt a funeral mass, the skunk's tailParaded the skunk.''My desk light softened beyond the verandahSmall oranges loomed in the orange tree''Your head-down, tail-up hunt in a bottom drawer'

Sexual element'I began to be tense as a voyeur''black plunge-line nightdress'

Sense of seperation from his wife'...broaching the word 'wife'Like a stored cask, as if its slender vowelHad mutated into the night earth and airOf California.''The aftermath of a mouthful of wineWas like inhaling you off a cold pillow'

Appeal to the senses --> synesthetic imagery (2 senses at once)'Tang of eucalyptus spelt your absenceThe aftermath of a mouthful of wineWas like inhaling you off a cold pillow.''Snuffing the boards five feet beyond me'

Paradoxical language'beautiful, useless''ordinary, mysterious'

Neologism - coined word'sootfall'

Comparison between his wife and the skunk'Your head-up, tail-down hunt in a bottom drawerFor the black plunge-line night dress.''Up, black, striped..... the skunk's tail Paraded the skunk'

Love'stored cask'

Mystery'ordinary, mysterious skunk,mythologized, demythologized'

The skunk

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