As an insider Holub is not always using language that is externally scientific, but there is a shadow of his scientific knowledge in the words he does use. In Vanishing Lung Syndrome, even when he writes about the raven Nevermore or a disconnected phone, with knowledge about the behavior of the syndrome these words make sense, they describe the science without being scientific.
In Heart Transplant his familiarity with the science changes the nature of the wonder that comes through in the poem. Having less wonder about the concepts or images themselves allows more space for wonder about the beauty in their execution. The drums of extracorporeal circulation / introduce / an inaudible / New World Symphony. and it makes sense.
In Cadaver, Speak there is more of a theme of making things personal in reaction to the structure of a cadaver lab. In 1 the passage about the lab coat, ending: "a refrain, months, weeks of / white lab coat bleached over and over to / human, faint stain at the cuff." and 15 when "My breath's still there, a breathing. / The last poor racket I made probably, dreadful / middle of the night." As a not-scientist Boruch is giving humanity to death.
These Cadaver poems are an interesting contrast with Hemophilia/Los Angles, the shadow of scientific knowledge takes the disease from individual level to a larger organism, the city. The structure of scientific patterns of vastly different magnitudes are often similar. This poem plays with that idea in a striking way.
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reading your blog posts because I feel they always point out details that I repetitively miss! For some reason, I also agree that the Cadaver poem was very different in the way it was presented due to the use of verbs in positions not expected such as "heart cracking". Maybe this is a play on words from the word "Heartbreak" but I again am making a pretty general inference. Moreover, I took this poem as the rush of someone who was dead being subjected to their body cut open. While the doctors may view her as dead, her consciousness is still alive which makes this poem ever so scary and amazing at the same time.