“Siren Song”

This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls

the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.

Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?

I don’t enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical

with these two feathery maniacs,
I don’t enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique

at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.

-Margaret Atwood

This poem by Margaret Atwood depicts the Greek mythological Siren using its “Siren Song” to lure someone in to their demise. Upon a first read, the speaker may appear to be innocent and trapped on the island, present in a place they don’t feel that they belong, calling out to the reader to help them. That is until the last stanza of the poem, where it is revealed that the Siren has been using its song since the end of stanza 3 to lure you in to continue reading the poem, stating that “it is a boring song but it works every time” as it appears to have worked on you. The title of “Siren Song” would then be extremely fitting as the poem itself would be an example of what a song from the Siren could be, appealing to the listener, getting the listener to feel like they’re special and unique and like the Siren could do no harm and that the Siren is different from the other Siren’s and couldn’t possibly hurt them, but alas it is just a trick.

The poem conveniently begins by the Siren describing that the mythological “Siren Song” is, so that a reader that does not know the allusion would still understand what it is. According to Greek mythology, a Siren is a female humanlike being with the body of a bird and the head of a human, but other depictions have them be similar to mermaids, with the large body of fish and head of a human. They come from an ancient Greek epic poem written by Homer known as “The Odyssey“, trying to use their alluring voice and “the song that is irresistible” to lure sailors to their doom and “leap overboard in squadrons even though they see the beached skulls” of other sailors who fell for the trick. Odysseus and his crew are able to resist the call of the Siren by stuffing their ears so they cannot hear the song of the Siren and therefore be tricked. Atwood uses the idea of what a Siren is was conveyed well first three stanzas as it mentions that it’s an irresistible song, that even “forces men to leap overboard” and ignore any warning signs that they see, finishing the explanation by saying that “anyone who has heard it is dead”. Although I find it interesting that what follows is “the other’s can’t remember” as that would seemingly contradict the statement that “anyone who has heard it is dead” as then they heard it before but can’t remember yet they aren’t dead. This paradox would then be explained by the different ways one could evade giving in such as plugging your ears so the song isn’t heard or tying yourself up as your ship sails by so you can’t physically approach the Siren while you’re hearing the song, then I suppose those that heard it but survived would be unable to recall it as it would be like a trance.

The stanza’s following the third until the last depict the Siren Song in action, working to attract the listener and have them ignore the warning signs. By reading through it to the end, the reader has fallen to the trap laid by the Siren, despite the Siren having explicitly saying that those that hear it die and give in despite the fact that “they see the beached skulls”. Atwood has the Siren first appeal to the reader by making them say that they’d tell the reader the secret, how they’re not like other Siren’s and won’t hurt them, using stronger manipulation in the beginning. However, by the time it is Stanza 7 and 8, the Siren knows that you’re already invested and are willing to finish reading the poem, so it does not need to use its strongest tactics and instead can switch to simple repetition of asking you to help, boosting your ego by calling you unique, empty compliments.

And so, with the final stanza, Atwood the Siren has gotten you to read through her entire poem, by now you’re past the point of no return and the Siren no longer needs to hide the truth, revealing that it has tricked you. You can’t unread the poem so the Siren has won, and it deals the final blow by saying “it is a boring song but it works every time”, the Siren wasn’t even trying hard to ensnare you.

“Page”

It just sits there, with a mouth
full of entitlement, staring at you
and wondering why it is still
not a masterpiece.

-Rudy Francisco, Helium, Page 9

This poem by Rudy Francisco, while short and not taking up most of the page that it’s on, describes potential and how it could be wasted. The poem compares people to a “Page”, with the possibilites being nearly unlimited. A blank page can be molded into anything, it could become a work of art, taking form in different mediums such as writing or paint. A blank page could be cut into pieces, broken apart and put together again to send a message or for fun as a hobby. A blank page could be folded into different shapes, twisting and turning and adapting and submitting. A blank page could be burned, destroyed, torn without reason, shredded, or it could be preserved, stored, saved for later. Francisco appears to writes about a page when he really writes about a person, a person who could be molded into anything, a person that could be cut, folded, destroyed, or preserved. A person with the potential for anything, and yet “it just sits there”, the potential for what you could become having not come to fruition.

Personification is used to give the paper a mouth of entitlement, sneering at you, waiting for you to do something, anything, go outside and do anything to distinguish yourself from others. The mouth isn’t used for anything within the poem, seemingly being wasted, irrelevant, being able to be cut out without a second thought. However, this mouth represents two things, wasted potential and a human. As the mouth isn’t used for anything, thus having it’s potential wasted, “still not a masterpiece”, it fits with the message of the poem. The poem describes someone who hasn’t found their purpose in life, haven’t achieved their dreams, with the paper “wondering why it is still not a masterpiece” reffering to your potential that hasn’t been obtained. The page is given a mouth but it doesn’t use it before the poem’s end, wasting the potential for what could have been done if a page was given a mouth. Realistically a page does not have a mouth of its own but humans do, humans and animals have mouths but not many animals have a mouth of entitlement. The mouth has been given to the page to make it appear more human, to make you relate yourself to the page, to see what potential you have that is unachieved. By doing this, the mouth is given a purpose and contradicts the idea of “wasted potential”, perhaps if the mouth that never spoke but managed to fulfill a purpose could be used, maybe you could find your fulfill your own dreams?

But what if the page isn’t blank? What if I’ve been wrong the entire time and instead of talking about a page that has yet to be filled, the poem is describing a page that is nearly filled but still thinks that it isn’t good enough. This alternate interpretation would speak about perfectionism, the act of striving to become “perfect” despite complete perfection being impossible, potentially resulting in stress and fatigue. A perfectionist faces themselves and wonders why their “still not a masterpiece” despite already achieving feats that would make others congratulate them as the many people of an audience will not care about tiny mistakes. The flawed perfectionist cannot realize that they can accept not being flawless yet still be a masterpiece, pushing themselves to fill themselves to the point of nearly becoming meaningless noise instead of meaningful sound.

While the “still not a masterpiece” view despite having accomplished many great things is an interpretation you could make from the text alone, the actual physical page of the book could be considered. The poem only takes up a small amount of area on the top left corner of the page, leaving the majority of the page blank apart from the small page number at the bottom. While some people may see the large amount of empty space as wasted potential, thus contributing to my first interpretation with not yet trying anything to distinguish yourself, it could also be said that there is no requirement to be filled to become a masterpiece. This page in the book manages to be a masterpiece, despite not taking up most of the page, having offered contrasting interpretations about not yet trying to accomplish anything and trying to accomplish too much. Regardless if one has a thousand words or just one, the impact of those words could be equal. So write yourself another sentence but accept that you can satisfied with what you write even if it’s small.

“I Bet the Trees Are Thinking”

If they’re willing to pay
three dollars a gallon for gas,
imagine how much we can
charge them for oxygen.

-Rudy Francisco, Helium, Page 76

This poem by Rudy Francisco is making a statement about the increase in the cost for gas and about the use of natural resources. Francisco begins the poem in the title “I Bet the Trees Are Thinking” to provide some context for the content of the poem. The title uses personification by having trees think, suggesting that what follows would be a natural conclusion to what a tree might be thinking if it was able to think like a person. The title is needed in order to find who the “we” in the 3rd line is referring to as trees are not directly mentioned outside of the title.

The 1st and 2nd lines of the poem are describing how humans are still going to pay “three dollars a gallon for gas” even if it is expensive. The “they’re” in the 1st line is implied to be humans as the only living things in a world with trees that buy gas are humans. By implying that humans are being described as separate from the speaker, it means that there would be a relationship between trees and humans, which there is in real life.

In real life, people use trees for many things without giving much to trees in return. Some people chop down trees for their wood, or remove them because the trees are simply in the way so the people could build something not natural where the trees once were. Other people care for trees, planting them, caring for them, or protecting them from the humans that want to remove trees from an area. While humans are mobile and can be destructive or peaceful, trees are just trees. Trees don’t move, they don’t think, they take in nutrients from the ground and their leaves take in carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into oxygen through photosynthesis so they can stay alive. Humans rely on the oxygen produced by trees and other plants to breathe and stay alive and trees need carbon dioxide that humans and other animals produce by breathing to photosynthesize and stay alive. Because of this dynamic, people and trees should be able to coexist.

However, as I mentioned before, people can be selfish. Some of the people who chop down trees do not replant them, instead clearing large areas to have buildings made there, creating pollution in the process and destroying the homes of animals that lived where the trees are. The 2nd line of the poem mentions gas used for vehicles, a natural resource that has been widely used and has the risk of running out before it can be replenished. The gas as used in the poem is a fossil fuel, meaning that it takes a long time to make as it comes from the fossils of living things that died millions of years ago. Because it takes a long time to make fossil fuels, there is theoretically a limited amount of gas that could be made, meaning that the supply is lower which increases the price to “three dollars a gallon”. Trees are also a natural resource, while they do not take as long as making a fossil fuel to grow, they could still be cut down faster than it takes to replenish them.

Trees cannot be selfish as they do not have a brain, meaning they can’t think or feel. They can’t act in ways that would be described as selfish and they don’t need to as they wouldn’t gain anything from doing so. However, this poem entertains the idea that they could be selfish like humans are. The 3rd and 4th lines further personify the trees by having them think about “how much we could charge them for oxygen.” Since humans are already willing to pay 3 dollars a gallon for gas despite the high cost as they rely on it to fuel their vehicles, if the situation was right then perhaps humans could pay for air, like Mr. O’hare in the Lorax. Charging people for air would be incredibly selfish if you produce it naturally and currently there is so much fresh air that paying for air is a silly idea. However there could be a time when like trees and gas, air is a limited resource, and one would have to pay for air, with the quality of that air not even being garunteed to be good.

Francisco’s poem, while having humor from the thought of trees charging for oxygen, also warns about the use of resources and the high costs associated with not managing the use of it.

Rudy Francisco

Rudy Francisco was born and raised in San Diego, California. After completing a B.A. in Psychology, went on the pursue a M.A. in Organizational Studies. He writes poems that show how connected humans are while talking about politics, race, class, gender, religion.

He hopes that his poems promote healthy discussion about his topics. He attends workshops and does performances and lectures… sometimes. His goal is to assist others with finding and using their creativity while developing his own. He has been on stage with many other artists and was nominated for the NAACP Image Award.

https://www.iamrudyfrancisco.com