Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Summer Song" by Kevin Young is a vivid depiction of emotional intensity, blending the physical and spiritual dimensions of desire. The poem is an emotional landscape that revolves around themes of yearning, transcendence, and the inescapable passage of time. Young employs a rich amalgamation of symbols, references, and tones to encapsulate a complex experience.

The poem commences with a memory of a kiss, setting the tone for the emotional fervor that follows: "I think of your kiss & bite my lip." The act of biting one's lip serves as both a mnemonic device and a symbol of restrained longing, hinting at the tension that runs through the lines.

The subsequent lines "Place / your hands into upon my wounds / Hell & heal me with your blesséd body!" weave the visceral and the spiritual into a single narrative. The invocation to place hands upon wounds is strongly evocative of religious healing rites, and the ambiguity of "Hell & heal" signifies a complicated relationship with the object of desire. The plea to be healed by a "blesséd body" further elevates the relationship into the realm of the sacred. The invocation is not just for physical touch, but for transcendental healing, elevating desire to a near-spiritual experience.

"I shake like a booty, I thieve, and grieve," presents a triptych of actions and emotions. To shake like a booty suggests a surrender to primal, physical feelings, perhaps even to dance or movement as a form of emotional expression. To "thieve" introduces an element of guilt or secrecy, implying that the emotion or relationship may be forbidden or stolen. To "grieve" acknowledges the inherent sorrow in yearning, the realization that desire often comes bundled with its own form of loss or absence.

The poem incorporates a snippet of undecipherable characters, adding a layer of complexity and perhaps implying that some sentiments are too intricate to be captured through language. This also introduces a kind of rupture in the narrative, disrupting the reader's engagement and forcing a reevaluation of what's come before and what follows.

"You are some sort / of September / I look for your red car everywhere," ushers in the concept of time, signified by September-an autumn month indicating the end of summer and the onset of decay. The "red car" serves as a symbol for the object of desire, something vivid and unforgettable, sought after wherever the speaker goes.

"O Summer! O Rider in your blue skirt / greening across the plain!" Here, Summer is personified and celebrated as a Rider, a figure of movement and freedom. The color symbolism of the blue skirt and the greening plain encapsulate the transition from one season to another, from one emotional state to another. The poem concludes with "An autumn inkling," subtly implying that all the vivacity and intensity of the emotions are heading towards an inevitable change.

"Summer Song" is rich in its thematic depth and emotional nuance. It moves through various emotional registers-from raw physicality to spiritual elevation, from joyous celebration to a hint of impending change-effectively capturing the multifaceted nature of desire. The poem serves as an ode to the intensity of feeling, while also acknowledging the transience that defines human experience.

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