Tocqueville 1/28/15

In response to this week's reading of Tocqueville, I chose to analyze the poem "Air Porter".
The poem struck me for some reason, the way things are worded not necessarily literally but figuratively in some sense. For example, when he says that the van seats shake their broken bones I do not believe that he means the bones are literally broken but their will and souls are. They've become broken by the mining and shipping lifestyle, they're broken within but not in a literal sense.

Mattawa paints a picture of what Yardley Pennsylvania looks like, he talks about the moon digging itself out of the earth, does it literally? No. But to a worker who works through the night it may seem so. Or from the stand point of those at the airport looking out at Yardley watching the everyday cycle it may seem that the moon comes up, goes down and the sun will follow suit. If you were at the airport you may see the evergreens swaying as you were waiting for your plane.

He mentions a lover, or as he puts it "the woman you don't love" yet she is nice. Maybe she isn't a lover but someone you are seeing that loves you even though you are being separated. Kissing you before you leave. Kissing you with large warm hands, squishing your face. Another interpretation is that you are a child and she is a caregiver watching over you before you get on the plane, you do not love her and she is not your mother but she seems nice,

If this was the perspective of a child, noting the trees and the moon make sense. Children can be very perceptive of details like this though they may not verbalize this.