Tangled -Carl Leggo

Here is a poem I found and just wanted to share...

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Tangled

Carl Lego

(Lines from Edmonton to my father in Newfoundland)

far away

in a city you will never know

I chase words in the cold air

and measure my worth

by the words made mine

and remember you

silent

crouched in the low bow of a dory

rising and falling on blue-gray waves

in the air yellow-orange with the sun

untangling the line I twisted in knots

in my frenzy to tear from the ocean

a cod with a lead jigger hooked in its side

and I remember you

sat

and traced the line through its knots

and said nothing

and untangled my line

that could reach the bottom of the ocean

and lay in swirls as your feet

untangled it

in the morning sun

through the noon sun

into the afternoon sun

and said nothing

and I wouldn't look at you

because I knew you were mad

and I had to look

and you weren't mad

you were smiling

and where I live now

there is no ocean

unless you stand on your head

and pretend the sky in ovean

but it's not

and the line I throw out

never hooks into the sky

but always falls back

and tangles at my feet

and perhaps that's why

you could spend hours untangling

my tangled line

you knew

an untangled line could be thrown

into the ocean's black silence

and

anchor you to the bottom

---

I really like this poem because there is a sense of happiness but also a sense of sadness. The narrator, whom I perceive as an adult talking of their father, is happy while reminiscing of times past with his father, even talking about their relationship. He then takes on a more depressing tone when talking about the city, where he lives, and compares it to the ocean.

The narrator talks as if the he is realizing that his father helped him straighten his life out so he could get what he needed but now knows that he needs to untangle his own life to further it. The line “an untangled line could be thrown into the ocean's black silence and anchor you to the bottom” kind of wraps the whole poem by telling the reader that your life is like a fishing line. You make a mess of your line and then you try to straighten it out again. When it’s tangled you learn and go through the ups and downs as you untangle it. When your line is straight and everything is going well, you are vulnerable to be tangled or become anchored to “the bottom of the ocean”.

I hope I was the least bit insightful. Comments are always encouraged and appreciated!

Caitlyn