In a poem posted at the end of May, she took a break from
the fear and loathing to apparently address her frustration at not advancing fast
enough in her chosen career.
The poem basically depicts a superior of some sort lecturing
a novice and denying the novice the advancement the novice apparently believes
she deserves.
In this, the poet takes on the persona of this superior and
the poem is essentially a lecture on how the novice does not deserve yet what
she seeks.
The speaker is portrayed as selfish, possessive, territorial,
arrogant, perhaps more than a little pompous, self-congratulatory, but also
powerful, or in a position to keep the novice from achieving what she wants.
The novice wants to advance and the speaker, arrogantly,
says she ‘s not ready, and can’t get what she wants until she had earned her
stripes, working up through the ranks the way the speaker had.
The person spoken to is a novice, or as she portrayed
herself in the office to me and others, a cub, who came on originally seeking
to learn, but at this point thinks she is ready to advance, needing to climb
the next rung of ladder of power.
While the novice never speaks directly in this poem, you get
a reflection of her ambition from how severely the speaker puts her in her
place.
The speaker is entrenched and clearly sees the novice as a
threat to his or her power, someone who the speaker thinks wants to usurp her
authority.
From the opening word “Nope,” the poem sets the tone of
negative and threatened authority seeking to protect its turf. The speaker clearly
has power over the novice and has passed judgement on her as to her abilities.
Possessing the position of power, the speaker is lecturing
the novice, telling her to work her way up through the ranks the way the
speaker did, and in the process learning how to handle the power the novice so
obviously craves.
But the speaker clearly has no intention of sharing his or her
power with the novice, and if the novice wants power, she is going to have earn
it herself without help from the speaker.
The poem is structured using two sets of triplets, the first
half using parallel line structure with the first three lines ending parallel phrases:
have it, want it, touch it.
The second triplet is more conventional rhyme scheme with
lines ending with own, groan and alone.
These phrases and rhymes create a pounding rhythm, which one
could easily picture caused by the pounding of a judge’s gavel.
The basic judgement is that the novice isn’t ready for the
power she seeks, and even then, the speaker isn’t about to give her any of his
or hers.
There are a lot of words in this poem denoting possession:
have, want, touch, get your own, wielding, and the tone of the power denotes a
struggle for power in which the novice is clearly at a disadvantage.
The tone of the speaker suggests fear of being challenged or
overthrown or replaced by the novice, a loss of status or authority if the
speaker allows the novice access in any way.
Rather than share power or nurture the novice, the speaker
clearly wants to keep the novice as arm’s distance, forcing the novice to claw
her way up the power grid.
The poem clearly reflects the slow pace of advancement she
(poet and person) feels. She has always been ambitious in every job, always
coming in as a cub and then expecting to advance quickly until she might rule
the roost, pushing herself and petitioning those above her to make room for her
at the top – trickling up as she put it in one of her other poems.
While it is possible the speaker of the poem is supposed to
be me, it is not likely (or a misperception of my position in the company by
her).
The poem comes at a time when the original boss returned
from maternity leave, and the temporary boss returned to less prestigious duties,
largely voiding the mentor relationship she had with him when he was in charge.
The poem is not about the temporary boss since he did his best to help and
guide her.
She had some issues with the original boss, adding evidence
to the idea the boss is the speaker, but that’s pure speculation.
The novice in the poem is clearly frustrated by still being
a novice and appears to believe she has already proven herself. The poem shows from
the speaker’s reaction a novice who is clearly frustrated by lack of access to power
and who is seeking to rise up and spread her wings.
How she expects to advance passed through roadblock remains
one of the unanswered questions in this poem.
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