Skip to main content Help Control Panel

Shakespeare's Monkeys

Infinite Monkeys. Infinite Typewriters.

More in At Least Babies Don't Grow Out Of Condoms

At Least Babies Don't Grow Out Of Condoms

This is a fine example of writing a piece from the perspective of the inanimate object. Although, having said that, the "I" of the poem and the condom remain distinct while metaphorically fusing. I think that's one of the main strengths in the piece, that sustained dualism. The discarded condom is the discarded body/heart of the "I", both not knowing what they've "got themselves into", both being branded as "trash". It's very clever; not least in the way it fuses humour and a sense of "poignancy". I like the final subtle ironies in the sense that the sperm not dying is a "tragedy" - the possibilty of birth rather than death. Though, perhaps despite itself, there's almost an ironic inversion, a reluctant sense of the positive in the phrase "they've found mine" ...An urbane and well crafted piece...Rgds.,Alan.

by U668857 on Jan. 10 2009