Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Choke," Eileen Myles captures the tension between action and inaction, the fear of taking risks, and the paradox of presence and absence. The poem operates in the liminal space of forgetting and remembering, doing and not doing, winning and losing. With no strict rhyme or meter, it flows like a stream of consciousness, emphasizing the ephemeral moments and thoughts that constitute life.

The poem begins with a somewhat paradoxical line: "Of all the ways of forgetting / not turning the pilot on is not / the worst." These opening lines act like a riddle, throwing us into a contemplative state. The notion that not acting ("not turning the pilot on") can be a form of forgetting presents inactivity as a potentially deliberate act. The lines "The house is intact / you are floating / in time" suggest a suspended state of being, where the absence of action leaves things as they are-intact yet stagnant.

As the poem progresses, it delves into themes of time, memory, and the fear of making a move, all encapsulated in the phrase "Remembering to do." Here, the tension between memory and action is highlighted. We are sometimes too caught up in the act of remembering that we forget to "do," to live in the present moment. The words "buckets of it streaming through / the windows" provide an image of time as both abundant and ungraspable, something that simply flows by unless one chooses to interact with it.

Then there is the concept of "choke," which in the context of the poem can be understood as a failure to act when action is needed. The word is introduced in the story of a bidding game, where the speaker had a "phenomenal streak of winning" but eventually stopped taking risks: "I could have won; you choked / he said." The "shrink" suggests that this fear of losing, this inability to seize the moment, is akin to choking. To "not choke," then, is to experience life fully, to take risks and embrace the potential for failure as much as for success.

The latter part of the poem is rife with contrasts-heat and skin, presence and absence. It questions what it means to be fully present in a moment or situation. "It's like we sold our skin / & said where did everyone go?" encapsulates the feeling of emptiness and loneliness that can result from an unwillingness to risk one's emotional or metaphorical "skin."

In "Choke," Myles captures the human condition with its complexities, contradictions, and simple truths. The poem is a deep dive into the psychological barriers that hold us back from living fully. It also serves as a reminder of the brevity and unpredictability of life, urging us to seize the moment-risks, failures, and all.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...