Scott 1 Taylor Scott Professor DiNicola ENG 1102 17 November 2010 Word Count: 1,115 Kim Addonizio s First Poem for You : May be the First, But Hopefully Not the Last First Poem for You I like to touch your tattoos in complete darkness, when I can t see them. I m sure of where they are, know by heart the neat lines of lightning pulsing just above your nipple, can find, as if by instinct, the blue 5 swirls of water on your shoulder where a serpent twists, facing a dragon. When I pull you to me, taking you until we re spent and quiet on the sheets, I love to kiss the pictures in your skin. They ll last until 10 you re seared to ashes; whatever persists or turns to pain between us, they will still be there. Such permanence is terrifying. So I touch them in the dark; but touch them, trying.
Scott 2 In First Poem for You (1994), a poem by Kim Addonizio (b. 1954), we see a person who is in love with, yet terrified by, the representation of the tattoos on his or her lover s skin. There is not very much criticism to be found on First Poem for You ; therefore, I believe my interpretation of the poem is critical to be expressed. It is unclear if the speaker of this poem is male or female, but I perceive the poem being told by a woman because most men I know do not memorize the details or express the thoughtfulness that is being articulated throughout this poem. First Poem for You is a very dense poem; therefore, it is best understood when interpreted sentence by sentence. In the first sentence, I feel the speaker is more comfortable in the dark because in the dark she can hide her fears of losing her tattooed man and still prove her love to him. The proof of her love is shown in the second sentence of the poem by her confidence in knowing every detail of his tattoo designs and where these tattoos are located on his body. She has studied his tattoos to understand the meaning of them, to understand the meaning of him. I view the third sentence as an interpretation of the speaker and the man making love, and after they make love the speaker enjoys expressing her love even further to him by kissing the permanent markings that represent the man, himself. To me, the speaker is telling us in the fourth sentence that she adores the tattoos so much because no matter what happens (good of bad) between her and her lover, the tattoos will forever be there until seared to ashes (11). In the next line the speaker tells us, Such permanence is terrifying (13), because she knows the tattoos will always be with him; however, he may lose his love for her because he cannot promise to be permanently connected to her as he can with his tattoos. Therefore, she touch[es] them in the dark (14) so he will never see her fears when she is comparing his tattoos to their relationship, but she touches them
Scott 3 trying (14) to make their relationship just as permanent as the tattoos. This is why I believe the poem is titled the First Poem : this was the first time she felt secure enough in their relationship to express her want and desire to be with him for as long as his tattoos will be with him. I used the symbolic mode to help me understand Addonizio s dense poem. There is an abundance of symbolism throughout this poem and unless the symbols are known, the poem cannot be fully understood. The dark in the first and last line shows that the speaker is confused about her relationship with this man; she is unsure if he will love her forever. Many symbols are hidden within the tattoo itself. The lines of lightning pulsing just above / [his] nipple (4-5) represents power of her love pulsing in his heart. The tattoo extends into swirls of water (6) which represents the purity of their relationship. I interpret the serpent as evil forces trying to tear the couple apart. These forces are facing a dragon, which I believe symbolizes a warrior. To me, the warrior is the tattooed man himself and the tattoo shows that he is willing to fight against the evil forces to keep his relationship strong. In the eleventh line, the speaker speaks of ashes, which represents the tattoos will be with him until the cremation of his dead body. This is important to the speaker because she is terrified by how permanent the tattoos are and that she may never be that permanent. For that reason, tattoos are the overall symbol in this poem. The entire poem is symbolizing permanence, and in our world today some of the only things considered permanent are tattoos and love, which is the intertwined meaning of this poem.
Scott 4 Part II: Scansion and Analysis First Poem for You consists of fourteen lines primarily written in iambic pentameter, making the poem a sonnet. The poem only has one stanza and there is no pattern in the number of syllables within the lines. When first reading the poem, a regular rhyme scheme is not noticed. The poem seems to be free verse, but after a close reading the reader will notice a pattern of ABAB, CDCD, and so on in this pattern, rhyming every other line. The poem continues in this pattern until the last two lines of the poem, which the rhyme is GG. Also, the lines in the poem are not complete thoughts alone; the reader must read the poem as sentences rather than line by line in order for the poem to sound correct. Addonizio applies this literary way of writing, called enjambment, throughout the entire poem to exclaim the deeper meaning that we must search to find. I believe the structure of this poem is very significant to the interpretation of the poem. The way the poem reads as sentences but there is a hidden rhyme scheme shows that the poem comes across as plain and simply but contains sweet poetry within. This symbolizes that the relationship between the speaker and the tattooed man is first perceived as a plain boring relationship, but once the rhyme scheme is noticed, the readers can see the beautiful and structural love hidden in the couple s hearts. The way the speaker uses enjambment tells the readers to continue reading to complete the sentence, just as a lover must continue loving to reach fulfillment of the heart. The constant tumbling of the sentences could also represent that no matter what the couple s relationship tumbles through, they will strive to be together until the end, just as the tattoos will.
Scott 5 Works Cited Addonizio, Kim. First Poem for You. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 10 th ed. New York: Longman, 2007. 819.