Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Fanny Howe’s "Everything" meditates on the paradox of existence, where infinite connections and absences coexist in a universe that simultaneously expands and empties itself. The poem’s opening—"Infinite nesting / pushes all matter / towards emptiness"—suggests a recursive pattern in which everything is contained within something else, yet this very structure leads to a void. The reference to "child-nodes" and "tree-droppings / with a root element of null" borrows from computational language, likening life’s organization to data structures where even origins (roots) may be "null." The implication is that everything we perceive as structured, as part of an expanding system, ultimately holds within it the possibility of absence.

The assertion—"None is always included / in every cluster / of children."—further reinforces this paradox. The concept of "none" being an inherent part of all things suggests that negation, absence, or emptiness is woven into the fabric of existence. In this way, Howe implies that nothingness is not an endpoint but an embedded component of being.

The next turn—"Nothing in nothing / prepares us."—acknowledges the impossibility of fully grasping or being ready for the void that underlies all things. This line operates as both a philosophical reflection and a lament: we are surrounded by emptiness, yet we are never fully equipped to face it. The repetition of "nothing" underscores this recursive quality, where even within emptiness, there is a deeper absence.

However, the poem shifts toward a moment of revelation: "Yet a fresh light was shed / on immortality / for me climbing the stairs / firm foot first." The act of ascending a staircase—simple, habitual—becomes a moment of clarity. The "fresh light" hints at an epiphany, a new perspective on continuity and existence. The phrase "firm foot first" suggests not just physical stability but a deliberate, grounded movement through life, an insistence on presence despite existential uncertainty.

The closing lines—"Everything was in the banister: / crows on branches, crickets, / architects, handsaws and democrats. / Red moon at 3 am."—present a striking juxtaposition of the mundane, the natural, the political, and the cosmic. The "banister," a seemingly trivial object, holds within it a microcosm of existence: birds, insects, human creations, ideologies, and celestial events. This moment suggests that within even the smallest, most ordinary details of life, there is everything.

By ending with "Red moon at 3 am," Howe invokes both the surreal and the prophetic. The red moon, often associated with omens or transformation, emerges in the quiet solitude of night, reinforcing the theme of vastness contained within the immediate. The poem, which began with existential recursion and negation, ends on a note of recognition—that within the smallest observation, the entirety of existence can be found.

"Everything" thus functions as a meditation on presence and absence, order and void, and the way meaning can be glimpsed in the most unexpected moments. It acknowledges the recursive emptiness at the core of existence while also asserting that, paradoxically, everything remains present, even in the most unassuming places.

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