Insanity

By Calvin Thomas Jr.

Title

• Something is insane and maybe will be addressed in the poem.

The quick-sliding cape of mind Drags wrinkled on a dusty floor, A party dress, Sagging from those shoulders of a smile that stalks through crooked time followed by a goat nipping the petticoat. Scape-goat, grin out loud. Make the cloak a shroud. He whinnys through the nose, paws the trailing hem and strikes a fawning pose. Tight-clamped, the clasp of tin Tears cloth it won’t undo. Before the gown slips down. A rent . . . which lets the darkness through.

The quick-sliding cape of mind Drags wrinkled on a dusty floor, A party dress, Sagging from those shoulders of a smile that stalks through crooked time followed by a goat nipping the petticoat.

Paraphrase: someone wearing a dress or formal party gown is being followed by a goat, closely.Attitude: diction describes characters: subject may be a little out of consciousness when mentions “quick-sliding,” their dragging the dress on the dusty floor. The goat character is developed by the “nipping” and is considered derogatory by “crooked.” At this part of the poem, the author may be personifying a goat as the problem of his Insanity.Connotation: the indentation throughout the poem mirrors the progress of events.

Scape-goat, grin out loud. Make the cloak a shroud. He whinnys through the nose, paws the trailing hem and strikes a fawning pose.

Shift: the goat goes from a pestering problem to a cute affectionate animal.Paraphrase: the problem temporarily solved through by discovering the goat. The goat seems innocent by looking affectionate.Connotation: “scape-goat” is a pun for how it is being blamed for the subjects problem and the fact that it is a goat.attitude: attitude of the speaker of the goat changes and now is set by tone: “paws” “whinnys” and “fawning”

Tight-clamped, the clasp of tin Tears cloth it won’t undo. Before the gown slips down. A rent . . . which lets the darkness through.

Shift: the author shifts the goat back to aggressiveness. Paraphrase: the goat gets aggressive and tears the dress, the dress falls off. The darkness falls.Attitude: shift is set off by startling diction: ‘tight clamped” (as in a bite) “the clasp of tin” “tears” finality is met when the dress slips off and darkness falls. “Darkness” implies that at the end of this chase, the author doesn’t like where he’s ended up.Connotation: the major metaphor is the goat nipping, following the dress.

• theme: now we know that the title was the title of a metaphor created by the author which uses a deceitful goat to represent “stalking”, “pawing,” and “nipping” at a dress until it rips it into darkness.

• Title: given the title, the dress could symbolize the subjects mind and the goat some other party, or maybe even himself.