Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "The Penalty for Bigamy is Two Wives," William Matthews explores the complexities of artistic expression, desire, and the burdens of creativity through a blend of personal reflection and cultural references. The prose poem opens with a musing on Janis Joplin's ability to channel intense emotion through her voice, described vividly as "breaking out like that in hives of feeling." This comparison suggests an uncontrollable, visceral outpouring of emotion, capturing the raw power and vulnerability in Joplin's performances.

The speaker then shifts to discuss a friend who writes poems but aspires to be a rock star. The friend is drawn to the glamour and physicality of music, including the visceral experiences of performing and being seen, encapsulated in the "high-heeled boots, the hand-held mike, the glare of underpants in the front row." He appreciates how music can ground one in the physical body, likening it to the effects of "organic food or heroin." However, despite this attraction to music's corporeal nature, when the friend sings, his expression remains "sleek and abstract," lacking the gritty authenticity he admires in Joplin.

The friend's life, though seemingly exciting, is portrayed as potentially confused, blurring the lines between "salvation and death." This suggests a dangerous allure in the artistic pursuit of intense experiences, where the boundary between creative fulfillment and self-destruction becomes indistinct. The speaker relates to this confusion, admitting to a drunken conversation where they expressed a fear that artists might experience more intense joys and sorrows, a dichotomy of "more fun and more death."

This conversation reveals a shared sense of emotional depth and frustration, with the friend responding metaphorically by suggesting he would trade his "onion collection for a good cry." This statement, while cryptic, implies a longing for genuine emotional release, contrasting with the speaker's feelings of having strong emotions but "nothing to do with them." The speaker finds solace in listening to Joplin's music, which evokes a physical and emotional reaction, likened to a "fire that has learned to live on itself." This imagery captures the self-sustaining, consuming nature of grief and passion.

The poem delves into more provocative imagery, contemplating the anecdote of a painter who allegedly painted with his penis. This shocking image serves as a metaphor for the ultimate personal investment in one's art, a blend of creation and self-expression that becomes both literal and figurative. The idea of a portrait letting down "a local rain of hair around his penis now too stiff to paint with" evokes the end of creative potency, a meditation on the temporal nature of both art and life.

In the final lines, the speaker expresses a desire to hold life as effortlessly as one might embrace silence. This longing is juxtaposed with the raw expression found in Joplin's music, creating a contrast between the physical, often chaotic reality of artistic life and the serene acceptance of life's inevitable silence. The speaker reflects on the friend's potential inauthenticity, comparing it to a "planetarium ceiling," a beautiful but artificial representation of the stars. This metaphor captures the tension between genuine expression and constructed appearances.

Ultimately, the poem grapples with the authenticity of artistic expression, the allure of living intensely, and the inescapable realities of mortality and silence. Through rich and often provocative imagery, Matthews explores the complicated relationship between desire, creativity, and the human condition. The poem's title, "The Penalty for Bigamy is Two Wives," serves as a metaphorical comment on the duality of life choices and their consequences, suggesting that pursuing multiple desires or identities can lead to compounded challenges and existential dilemmas.

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