Geri Doran Writes Love Letters to Nature

What are we? What are we not?

Geri Doran inspects the complexity of human existence, our relation and contradictions to nature, and the point where it all converges, like a crashing wave rolling to shore, in her poem All We Are Not.

This is a deep dive into the written craft of this poem.

This poem is dear to me. Doran is a profoundly observant and reflective poet. As a mentor in university, she inspired me to chase the wandering curiosities that arise when you are musing about elaborate scenery. All We Are Not tells the story of a narrator who has chased those curiosities so far that they have finally begun to disentangle the complexities and discover the heart of the scene.

What is it all about? What is it not?

Words like, “depth”, “dense”, and “thicken” in Stanza One engulf us in the weight of the scene as if we, too, are standing knee deep in the tide, trying to understand the vastness of the ocean.

The ocean is alive, muse-like. And it is powerful!

Descriptions like, “dominion”, “movement ceaselessly beating, moon-pulled, savage”, and “will that governs everything,” brings this undeniable power of the sea alive.

And what are we, humans, standing just on the edge? Voice in this poem presents as if a mesmerized admirer writing love letters to nature.

*NOTE - If reading All We Are Not on a mobile device, turn to landscape view for the best visual experience.

If we observe this poem as a whole, what are some noteworthy stylistic patterns? We can see that there are six stanzas. The stanzas can form three consecutive pairs based on stylistic similarities. The first line of Stanza One and Stanza Two each contain two descriptive comma pauses. Stanza Three and Stanza Four each contain the only hyphenated words in the poem. Finally, Stanza Five and Stanza Six both feature an abundance of descriptive comma pauses.

Now, let us consider the shape of each stanza. Do you notice that Stanza One and Stanza Two retain almost an exact shape of each other? The same can be observed for Stanza Five and Stanza Six. And where the stanzas all meet in the center with Stanza Three and Stanza Four, their shapes seem the inverse of each other.

How might these stylistic aspects impact our interpretation of this poem? The poet encourages us to find similarities in the paired stanzas through thoughtfully placed punctuation. Then, the poet asks us to observe how the similar stanzas converge with the inverted shape in the center.

Of course, there are many ways to interpret the impact these stylistic choices could have within the poem. Perhaps one interpretation is that this added layer also urges us to inspect the relation and contradiction between pairs that are both diverging and converging: like the human standing in the tide, watching it drift away before it crashes and creeps over their ankles again.

Would you believe it if I told you there is another layer of Doran’s craft in this poem that enriches the meaning of this scene?

(some, hopefully, helpful definitions)

• end rhyme = words at the end of each line rhyming with words at the end of other lines, usually in an alternating pattern
• middle rhyme = words that rhyme within a single line or internal points of other lines, not found at the end of lines
• close rhyme = words that almost rhyme
• sing-song rhyme = exact rhymes that are so crisp they sound like a nursery rhyme

You may be scratching your head trying to find an obvious pattern in the end rhyming scheme. Stanza Three seems the only that has end rhymes, and there is not a cohesive end rhyming scheme throughout the whole poem. However, if we look internally, we find a variety of middle rhymes.

• One = offshore + breakwater / guiding + the / beyond + pylons
• Two = there + shore / distance + horizon / nearer + farther
• Three = silver + sheared / above + from / curls + surface (close rhyme)
• Four = water + governs / will + will / intensifies + everything (close rhyme)
• Five = water + toward / surges + landmass / toward us + some
• Six = honeycombed + vialed / we + between / pliant + stand

You may notice that I also included the close rhymes in Three and Four. How are these close rhymes? The business of close rhymes is tricky and subjective. For me, “curls” and “surface” turn into close rhymes if you look at just the first syllables (cur) + (sur). “Intensifies” and “everything” are a little more complicated. What if you turned “intensifies” to “intensifying”? Then, it becomes an exact rhyme. (If you’re not sure about this close rhyme business, don’t worry. It’s mostly based on personal interpretation).

What is the significance of using close rhymes in Stanza Three and Stanza Four? Remember these are the stanzas whose shapes were inverted? Close rhymes in these particular stanzas also help to indicate that point of change in the poem. Generally, close rhymes can bring an organic breath of variety to a rhyming scheme that starts to feel a little too sing-song. For this poem in particular, it seems to draw our attention to the anomaly of the stylistic changes in the poem at the center point.

Speaking of drawing our attention, why do you think Doran chose not to use exact end rhymes? That’s right, the layers thicken. By filling the poem with middle rhymes, we may observe the end lines without the distraction of trying to decode a rhyming scheme. So, what is significant about the end lines in this poem?

If we traced a line downward along the end lines, it would resemble something like a waving line, or perhaps crashing waves? More specifically, the waves are larger with more distance between the crests and troughs in Stanza One and Stanza Two. In Stanza Three and Stanza Four, the waves are turbulent. And in Stanza Five and Stanza Six, the waves grow calm. Can you see the story this little squiggly line tells?

Just like the narrator, gazing at the powerful ocean, we can gaze from the end of the line and see its journey; Farther from us at the beginning of the stanzas (or deeper out in sea) the waves are towering. Getting closer but still not onshore (the center point of the stanzas), the waves crash. At the final stanzas (or blanketing the shoreline), the waves roll gently to engulf our feet.

Doran herself enlightened me to this craft technique, and I have delighted in tracing end lines for secret illustrative clues pointing to the heart of the scene ever since.

Are there any other stylistic patterns you noticed in your reading? What about the heart of the scene? What is it for you? Let me know in the comments below!

I first read this poem in Doran’s collection, Epistle, Osprey. If you enjoyed this poem, the others in her collection will certainly interest you.

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Hello, again, wanderer!

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to read my lyrical deep dive of City on a Hill by Mon Rovîa.

And if song lyrics aren't your jam, you may like this little review of poems with captivating vocabulary.

xoxo,

for now,

-your friend, lost in thought