Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Audre Lorde's "Suspension," the ephemerality of moments and the tension between freedom and constraint are expressed through a poetic narrative centered around silence and speech. Written in 1959, the poem unfolds like a momentary still-life, capturing the details that fill a room before a significant utterance changes everything. The room itself becomes a character, inextricably linked to the emotional currents between the speaker and an unnamed other.

The opening lines, "We entered silence / before the clock struck," usher the reader into a paused, almost suspended, state of being. The words convey a moment frozen in time, as if everything is waiting for an impending change or realization. This intense feeling of expectation is heightened by the imagery of "red wine into crystal / not quite / fallen"-indicating a fragile equilibrium, a moment on the edge of becoming something else.

Lorde employs vivid sensory details to convey the room's atmosphere: "the air solidifies / around your mouth," and "wind has sucked the curtains in / like fright against the evening wall." These descriptions contribute to the building tension, with the wind outside acting almost like a mirror of the emotional turbulence within the room. As the room "exhales," this tension seems to reach a turning point, marked by the "sudden opening" of the unnamed person's lips. It is as if the room and the people in it were holding their breath, waiting for a transformative word or action.

Interestingly, the poem offers two contrasting memories of the same space: one before the word is spoken and one after. Before, the room is charged with anticipation, filled with unspoken words and unstated feelings. After, the speaker recalls "how the room felt / when your word was spoken." That word transforms the room into a space that is "Warm / as the center of your palm / and as unfree." The warmth suggests a sense of comfort, even intimacy, yet it comes with a caveat. This new state is "as unfree," hinting that whatever has been said or revealed may have altered the emotional landscape but also imposed a new form of constraint.

By structuring the poem around the pivotal act of speaking, Lorde explores the dual nature of words as both liberating and confining forces. Words have the power to break the silence, to define moments and feelings, but they can also limit and confine, freezing moments into fixed meanings or interpretations. Thus, the room and the relationship it contains are reshaped by this utterance, altered in ways that bring both warmth and a lack of freedom.

In sum, "Suspension" is a contemplative piece that uses the environment as a reflection of internal states and the complexities of human relationships. It presents a snapshot of a moment filled with tension and potential, a moment that is both transformative and restricting, capturing the essence of what it means to be in relation, in silence, and in speech.

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