Sign Inventory, Week 5

"Corinthians" by Dan Albergotti from one of our course texts

The old shepherd has died on the returrn,
and with him, the news. But the people of Corinth
have not given up hope in waiting for their new king.
They have kept a steadfast vigil at the gates, watching
day and night for the shepard's bald head over the horizon
Polybus is rotting in the ground. And poor Merope
has died of grief in half a year, mourning for a husband,
yearning for a son. But the people are still waiting,
the snake's hiss of wind through dry grass
playing in their ears. They listen and wait.
They will never believe that he is blind, broken,
not coming. They'll wait and hope for any word at all,
maybe a voice from beyond the hills, maybe a letter
full of good news. They'll wait for their savior forever.

• author uses free-style verse
• plays with the idea of waiting, and what it means to wait, and wait, and wait for something so vitally important that it becomes a focal point, the prime focal point of life.
• also plays well with the the idea of listening and watching, and how the two act as channels, even vessels. Both appear to be the only means of communication: "They listen and wait."
• the author seems to find a nice medium/balance in using a, what appears to be, narrative poem. The author is telling a story, very centered on scene, description of the area, and what the people are like within this place.
• what's more, the way the author treats repetition, using the pronoun "they" insinuates a notion of ambiguity, and corresponds well with the overall theme of the poem: a type of ambiguity, an uncertainty full of watching and waiting for someone (who the author has given very little information of) who is not making the expected journey
• finalizing the piece with "They'll wait for their savior forever." adds a nice jab at the people of Corinth, and what waiting means to them. The last sentence also seems to add a nice touch to this idea of desolation, desertion, lonliness, and ambiguity of who exactly they are waiting for. Because their messanger has died on his way to tell them news, thus the news has also died. Therefore, "they" really have no idea of who or what their savior is, nor when or how he will return to them.