Poem Responce

 Counting (first stanza)

By Douglas Goetsch

I'd walk close to buildings counting

bricks, run my finger in the grout

till it grew hot and numb. Bricks

in a row, rows on a floor, multiply

floors, buildings, blocks in the city.

I knew there were numbers for everything--

tires piled in mountains at the dump,

cars on the interstate to Maine,

pine needles blanketing the shoulder of the road,

bubbles in my white summer spit.

I dreamed of counting the galaxies

of freckles on Laura MacNally,

touching each one--she loves me,

she loves me not--right on up her leg,

my pulse beating away at the sea

wall of my skin, my breath

inhaling odd, exhaling even.

This part of a poem seems to show some sort of confusion of the senses. It seems as if the poet long for the flesh of another human being but at the same time resents the human race. The writer’s mind seems to be spinning as if on some sort of druggie trip. To be quite honest the way it’s layered it be a sort of dream. Either that or in some way he is dreaming of traveling the beautiful body that is mother earth. Just saying. There are so many meanings to this poem its making my head spin! He might just be comparing the exotic beauty of a woman to the common beauty of his surroundings. One thing is for sure, he is definitely showing some love. He’s also showing a sort of confusion. Perhaps he was confused about the new feeling he has for this person. Then again he might be on his death bed and trying to take in natural beauties in his everyday life if which he may never see again. These are many, many possibilities that could be a meaning to this poem. Who knows, this poem could mean something completely different to someone else. This is just my own opinion; it doesn’t mean it’s the only opinion.