Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Mark Strand's "Always" is a fascinating and surreal meditation on memory, erasure, and the fragility of human existence. Dedicated to fellow poet Charles Simic, the poem aligns itself with Simic's affinity for dark, dreamlike, and often absurd imagery. In this piece, Strand conjures a world where "the great forgetters" methodically strip away the elements of reality, leaving behind an empty, undefined space that paradoxically holds both the "zero of perfection" and the "blaze of promise." Through its evocative imagery and philosophical undertones, the poem probes the tension between destruction and creation, memory and oblivion, and the burdensome work of forgetting.

The opening lines situate the poem in a dim, understated setting: "so late in the day / In their rumpled clothes, sitting / Around a table lit by a single bulb." This image evokes a scene of weariness and ordinariness, yet the figures at the table—the "great forgetters"—are engaged in an extraordinary act. The contrast between their unremarkable appearance and the monumental nature of their task introduces a dissonance that runs throughout the poem. These figures, casually positioned, perform an act of cosmic erasure, a feat that feels both profound and absurd.

The process of forgetting unfolds methodically, beginning with a "house" and a "man in his yard / With all his flowers in a row." This initial act of erasure is small, personal, and intimate, drawing attention to the vulnerability of ordinary life. As the forgetters "wrinkled their brows," their task grows in scale, encompassing entire cities: Florida and San Francisco vanish, along with the "tugs and barges" and "harps of beaded lights" in New York. Strand’s choice of cities emphasizes their symbolic weight as places of human activity, culture, and connection. Their disappearance suggests not just physical erasure but also the loss of the memories, lives, and identities tied to them.

The forgetters’ work is marked by its strange, almost bureaucratic efficiency. A match is struck, a glass is filled—ordinary gestures that accompany the extraordinary unraveling of the world. The imagery of "crowds at evening / Under sulfur-yellow streetlamps coming on" is both beautiful and poignant, capturing fleeting moments of communal life before they too are erased. This juxtaposition of the mundane and the monumental underscores the absurdity and inevitability of the forgetters’ task.

As the poem progresses, the scale of forgetting expands further, encompassing entire nations—Bulgaria, Japan, and the Americas—and eventually celestial bodies like the moon. This escalation reflects a growing abstraction, as the act of erasure moves from the tangible to the conceptual, culminating in the ultimate reduction to "the zero of perfection." The phrase suggests an ideal state of nothingness, where all distinctions and imperfections have been obliterated. Yet this perfection is inherently paradoxical: it is both the end of imagination and its ultimate liberation, leaving behind a blank canvas for infinite possibility.

The forgetters themselves seem caught in the tension between their monumental task and its implications. Their exhaustion is palpable—one yawns, another gazes out the window—yet their dialogue reveals a sense of duty, even purpose. When one asks, "Where will it stop?" the question resonates beyond the immediate context, touching on the broader human impulse to control, shape, and redefine the world. The response—"Such difficult work, pursuing the fate / Of everything known"—frames forgetting as a deliberate, even necessary process, a way of confronting the overwhelming totality of existence. The poem suggests that forgetting is as integral to human experience as remembering, shaping our understanding of the world by clearing space for the new.

The final image, of a world devoid of "grass, no trees," offers a vision of absolute erasure. Yet instead of despair, the poem ends with the enigmatic "blaze of promise everywhere." This unexpected conclusion invites multiple interpretations. On one level, it could signify the destructive power of erasure, a burning away of all that is familiar. On another, it suggests the potential for renewal, as the act of forgetting clears the way for something new and undefined. The phrase encapsulates the duality at the heart of the poem: the simultaneous loss and liberation that forgetting entails.

Structurally, "Always" mirrors its thematic concerns with a flowing, free-verse form. The lack of rigid stanza breaks or rhyme scheme reflects the continuous, unstoppable process of erasure, while the understated rhythm lends the poem an air of inevitability. Strand’s language is precise and evocative, balancing surreal imagery with grounded, conversational tones. This interplay between the extraordinary and the ordinary heightens the poem’s dreamlike quality, drawing the reader into its strange and unsettling world.

Ultimately, "Always" is a profound exploration of the fragility of memory and the ways in which forgetting shapes human experience. Strand’s great forgetters serve as both figures of destruction and creators of possibility, embodying the paradoxical nature of their task. The poem invites us to consider the tension between the finite and the infinite, the tangible and the abstract, and to reflect on the fleeting yet luminous quality of existence. In its rich imagery and philosophical depth, Strand offers a meditation that is as unsettling as it is beautiful.

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