Friday, December 27, 2019
The Power Room By Clayton Eshleman - 1157 Words
Clayton Eshlemanââ¬â¢s poem, ââ¬Å"The Power Roomâ⬠, in his book, Juniper Fuse, is a walking poem travelling in and out of nature, and in and out of the mind, suspending itself in a moment (a moment Eshleman discusses within the introduction of Juniper Fuse) of elevated consciousness or the act of becoming more self-conscious (xvii). The poem begins with acknowledging the ââ¬Å"spiritumâ⬠of the path. This is a reference made to the spirits of those whom inhabited the land prior to the speakerââ¬â¢s arrival. In Gary Snyderââ¬â¢s essay, ââ¬Å"The Place, The Region, And The Commonsâ⬠, he wrote, ââ¬Å"The sum of a fieldââ¬â¢s forces becomes what we call very loosely the ââ¬Å"spirit of the placeâ⬠(38). In Eshlemanââ¬â¢s poem, these ââ¬Å"forcesâ⬠include, the sum of ââ¬Å"the rockfaceâ⬠and theâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦This image of a hybrid saturates the walls of the Cro-Magnon caves, an image that would inevitably reveal its se lf in Eshlemanââ¬â¢s poetry. The hybrid imagery within Eshlemanââ¬â¢s poem is a representation of the bizarre and distorted image. Eshleman, when discussing Rimbaudââ¬â¢s, ââ¬Å"I is anotherâ⬠within his book, Archaic Design, states, ââ¬Å"whoever wants to be an artist, in Rimbaudââ¬â¢s formula, must make material in his subconscious available to his consciousness, and let the consciousness become distorted and bizarre with this new materialâ⬠(48). The introduction of the images in the caves to Eshlemanââ¬â¢s subconscious allows access for his conscious to create with the distorted bizarreness seen in the creation of ââ¬Å"Wrights corpseâ⬠and ââ¬Å"Wrightââ¬â¢s warm liver.â⬠Kenneth Warren makes the claim that Eshlemanââ¬â¢s, ââ¬Å"engagementâ⬠¦ generates an underworld poetics that activates conscious understandingâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ (176). It is through his physical interactions with the caves that Eshleman gains his conscious in conne ction with the ââ¬Å"spiritumâ⬠and produces the poetic language of Juniper Fuse. After a highly descriptive perspective of a swarm of flies, algae, and bees, the speaker mentions the scent of sewage in the nearby river. The application of this sensory imagery draws the reader deeper into the poem where we then enter into the power room. In here, it is the exhibition space, which Eshleman tells us, he favors and where he would often, ââ¬Å"observe and writeâ⬠(261). In his book, Archaic Design, Eshleman writes,
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