The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me
BY DELMORE SCHWARTZ “the withness of the body”
The heavy bear who goes with me,
A manifold honey to smear his face,
Clumsy and lumbering here and there,
The central ton of every place,
The hungry beating brutish one
In love with candy, anger, and sleep,
Crazy factotum, disheveling all,
Climbs the building, kicks the football,
Boxes his brother in the hate-ridden city.
Breathing at my side, that heavy animal,
That heavy bear who sleeps with me,
Howls in his sleep for a world of sugar,
A sweetness intimate as the water’s clasp,
Howls in his sleep because the tight-rope
Trembles and shows the darkness beneath.
—The strutting show-off is terrified,
Dressed in his dress-suit, bulging his pants,
Trembles to think that his quivering meat
Must finally wince to nothing at all.
That inescapable animal walks with me,
Has followed me since the black womb held,
Moves where I move, distorting my gesture,
A caricature, a swollen shadow,
A stupid clown of the spirit’s motive,
Perplexes and affronts with his own darkness,
The secret life of belly and bone,
Opaque, too near, my private, yet unknown,
Stretches to embrace the very dear
With whom I would walk without him near,
Touches her grossly, although a word
Would bare my heart and make me clear,
Stumbles, flounders, and strives to be fed
Dragging me with him in his mouthing care,
Amid the hundred million of his kind,
The scrimmage of appetite everywhere.
I was flipping through the poetry book, home sick, wondering which poem I should choose, when I came across this one. The title was what struck me as odd, and at first I thought maybe the narrator was referring to a teddy bear a child would carry around; however, this was not the case. Upon reading it once, I thought maybe the narrator was talking about an addiction to sugar or sweets because of the talk of honey and candy. Upon reading it the second time, I noticed that the bear was seen as a bad character. After reading, "In love with candy, anger, and sleep, crazy factotum, disheveling all, climbs the building, kicks the football, boxes his brother in the hate-ridden city" I noticed that these were all impulsive actions, and seem to be spoken as somewhat annoying or a burden to the character. I could be completely off, but to me this poem was about the narrators other side to himself. I feel like the underlying metaphorical meaning was that the narrator disliked a part of himself, and expressed through the poem, referring to himself as a "Heavy Bear".
One thing that confused me was that the last stanza rhymes. It struck me as odd because the other two weren't. I'm not sure if that was just for dramatic affect or the summing up of the poem. I'm not sure.However, I liked this poem because, I felt like I could empathize with the narrator when he talks of stumbling and floundering, trying to be fed, and the temptation of his appetite everywhere.
BY DELMORE SCHWARTZ “the withness of the body”
The heavy bear who goes with me,
A manifold honey to smear his face,
Clumsy and lumbering here and there,
The central ton of every place,
The hungry beating brutish one
In love with candy, anger, and sleep,
Crazy factotum, disheveling all,
Climbs the building, kicks the football,
Boxes his brother in the hate-ridden city.
Breathing at my side, that heavy animal,
That heavy bear who sleeps with me,
Howls in his sleep for a world of sugar,
A sweetness intimate as the water’s clasp,
Howls in his sleep because the tight-rope
Trembles and shows the darkness beneath.
—The strutting show-off is terrified,
Dressed in his dress-suit, bulging his pants,
Trembles to think that his quivering meat
Must finally wince to nothing at all.
That inescapable animal walks with me,
Has followed me since the black womb held,
Moves where I move, distorting my gesture,
A caricature, a swollen shadow,
A stupid clown of the spirit’s motive,
Perplexes and affronts with his own darkness,
The secret life of belly and bone,
Opaque, too near, my private, yet unknown,
Stretches to embrace the very dear
With whom I would walk without him near,
Touches her grossly, although a word
Would bare my heart and make me clear,
Stumbles, flounders, and strives to be fed
Dragging me with him in his mouthing care,
Amid the hundred million of his kind,
The scrimmage of appetite everywhere.
I was flipping through the poetry book, home sick, wondering which poem I should choose, when I came across this one. The title was what struck me as odd, and at first I thought maybe the narrator was referring to a teddy bear a child would carry around; however, this was not the case. Upon reading it once, I thought maybe the narrator was talking about an addiction to sugar or sweets because of the talk of honey and candy. Upon reading it the second time, I noticed that the bear was seen as a bad character. After reading, "In love with candy, anger, and sleep, crazy factotum, disheveling all, climbs the building, kicks the football, boxes his brother in the hate-ridden city" I noticed that these were all impulsive actions, and seem to be spoken as somewhat annoying or a burden to the character. I could be completely off, but to me this poem was about the narrators other side to himself. I feel like the underlying metaphorical meaning was that the narrator disliked a part of himself, and expressed through the poem, referring to himself as a "Heavy Bear".
One thing that confused me was that the last stanza rhymes. It struck me as odd because the other two weren't. I'm not sure if that was just for dramatic affect or the summing up of the poem. I'm not sure.However, I liked this poem because, I felt like I could empathize with the narrator when he talks of stumbling and floundering, trying to be fed, and the temptation of his appetite everywhere.