Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

David Lehman’s "Excursion" is a surreal and fragmented meditation on movement, violence, transformation, and memory. The poem unfolds as a series of disjointed yet evocative images that suggest a dreamlike or nightmarish journey, with motifs of nature, destruction, and ghostly presence permeating the lines.

The poem opens with “In the red rain you were paddling downstream”, immediately establishing a sense of motion within an unnatural and ominous landscape. The red rain is striking—it evokes blood, something unnatural and unsettling. Paddling downstream suggests a passive movement, as though the speaker is being carried along by forces beyond their control. The juxtaposition of this image with “In the grass you were chased by knives” intensifies the poem’s sense of threat. The grass, a symbol of nature and stability, becomes the site of pursuit, with knives transforming an otherwise pastoral setting into something violent and hostile. The enjambment here propels the reader from one perilous scene to the next, creating an almost cinematic effect.

The next lines introduce an element of surrealism: “The grass melts every time you kiss it.” This transformation suggests something ephemeral and unstable, as if the act of love or tenderness (kissing the grass) erodes reality itself. The repetition of “The grass melts, and then is covered with snow” reinforces this fleetingness—what was once verdant disappears, giving way to cold sterility. Snow, often associated with silence and concealment, covers what has melted, suggesting cycles of erasure and renewal.

The final two lines, “You kiss it, and a face appears underneath the wreck. / The hand beneath that face is white.” deepen the mystery. The wreck—a word that implies destruction—suggests something ruined or forgotten, buried beneath the surface. The action of kissing reveals a face, as if uncovering something lost or hidden beneath layers of time or memory. The hand beneath that face is white—white could signify purity, death, or emptiness. The presence of a face and hand beneath the wreck suggests that something or someone has been buried, a ghostly remnant waiting to be discovered.

Structurally, the poem’s short lines and sparse punctuation create a sense of urgency and unease. The absence of a clear narrative or syntactical connection between images contributes to its dreamlike quality, where meaning seems just beyond reach, shifting with each line. The poem resists logical interpretation, instead offering an experience—one of unease, revelation, and fleeting transformation.

"Excursion" reads like a fever dream or fragmented memory, where nature, violence, and mystery blur together. Lehman crafts a poem in which time and space collapse, where the act of touching the world (kissing the grass) both destroys and uncovers hidden truths. The final revelation of the buried face and hand suggests themes of loss, discovery, and the inescapability of history—whether personal or collective. The poem’s brevity and haunting imagery linger long after reading, leaving behind an impression of something profound yet elusive, much like a fleeting vision in a dream.

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