Sometimes You've Gotta Give In
...ce "The Fish "is simply a look at the ocean from the fish's point of view, an invitation to swim along, to see the movements of clams, crabs, jellyfish, sea urchins and starfish. To see the" sun/ spilt like spun/ glass" reaching into every place were it seems possible to hide. However, submerged within the lines are the struggles of a lifetime. The tone of the poem is immediately related in the first six words, which happen to include the title: "The Fish / wade/ through black jade." She chooses to make the fish wade not swim; wading is not a fish type of movement, which indicates awkwardness. Also, the fish are not simply swimming through water but through "black jade” or stone, a task, which is not possible. The water is the dark and salty water of the ocean, rather than the clear, cool, sweet water of a brook or stream. The next few lines reveal the pain that is hinted at in the first six lines: the mussel is opening and shutting "like an injured fan." The next few stanzas refer to the fact that as humans we all will experience pain and though it is natural to suppress the pain or to hide it in "crevices" it is not possible to escape. "The barnacles which encrust the side of the wave, cannot hide there for the submerged shafts of the sun, split like spun glass, move themselves with spotlight swiftness into the crevices--" "The water drives a wedge/ of iron through the iron edge"; this image of the sea meeting a cliff, which it, the sea, continually erodes, is a picture of a mutually defeating, yet mutually edifying relationship. This could be representative of intimate relationships but is most likely a metaphor for all relationships, since friendship requires sacrifice but also helps us to build character. It is possible that this is also represents some dream which she wishes to behold but feels is impossible to grasp, an idea that also relates to total human experience. She continues with the allusion to the ocean in the next couple of stanzas: "ink-/besplattered jellyfish", "pink/rice grains" and crabs, the animals seem to be in a chaotic environment as they "slide on each other." At this point the violent images began again: "marks of abuse are present", "dynamite grooves, burns, and/ hatchet strokes,” The "marks" are created by nature and by humanity and seem to indicate pain that we inflict upon ourselves and pain that is caused by the actions of others. The ending seems to resign itself to be devoured in this manner. To let go of the vision of whom one is, to become what you and others have made you and to "grow old in it". I believe that the individual grows old because they have allowed them self to lose sight of what they had hoped for and is a definite indicator of bitterness at the world and ones self. It is similar in meaning to "Harlem", by Langston Hughes and speaks to the oppressed. The poem is not merely representative of the author's life but of all those who have ever lived, are living, and will live. Although it is not possible to fathom all those who have come before or to glimpse the pain of infinite lifetimes, Ms. Moore puts into perspective the endlessness of time by making the vastness and the power of the sea a metaphor for this. As in her poem "Nevertheless" she chooses to examine the strength of human nature and admit that whatever is happenin...