Insanity
By Calvin Thomas Jr.
Title
• Something is insane and maybe will be
addressed in the poem.
The quick-sliding cape of mind
Drags wrinkled on a dusty floor,
A party dress,
Sagging from those shoulders
of a smile
that stalks through crooked time
followed by a goat
nipping the petticoat.
Scape-goat, grin out loud.
Make the cloak a shroud.
He whinnys through the nose,
paws the trailing hem
and strikes a fawning pose.
Tight-clamped, the clasp of tin
Tears cloth it won’t undo.
Before the gown slips down.
A rent . . . which lets the darkness through.
The quick-sliding cape of mind
Drags wrinkled on a dusty floor,
A party dress,
Sagging from those shoulders
of a smile
that stalks through crooked time
followed by a goat
nipping the petticoat.
Paraphrase: someone wearing a dress or formal party gown is being followed by a goat,
closely.
Attitude: diction describes characters: subject may be a little out of consciousness when
mentions “quick-sliding,” their dragging the dress on the dusty floor. The goat character is
developed by the “nipping” and is considered derogatory by “crooked.” At this part of the
poem, the author may be personifying a goat as the problem of his Insanity.
Connotation: the indentation throughout the poem mirrors the progress of events.
Scape-goat, grin out loud.
Make the cloak a shroud.
He whinnys through the nose,
paws the trailing hem
and strikes a fawning pose.
Shift: the goat goes from a pestering problem to a cute affectionate animal.
Paraphrase: the problem temporarily solved through by discovering the
goat. The goat seems innocent by looking affectionate.
Connotation: “scape-goat” is a pun for how it is being blamed for the
subjects problem and the fact that it is a goat.
attitude: attitude of the speaker of the goat changes and now is set by
tone: “paws” “whinnys” and “fawning”
Tight-clamped, the clasp of tin
Tears cloth it won’t undo.
Before the gown slips down.
A rent . . . which lets the darkness through.
Shift: the author shifts the goat back to aggressiveness.
Paraphrase: the goat gets aggressive and tears the dress, the dress falls off.
The darkness falls.
Attitude: shift is set off by startling diction: ‘tight clamped” (as in a bite) “the
clasp of tin” “tears” finality is met when the dress slips off and darkness falls.
“Darkness” implies that at the end of this chase, the author doesn’t like where
he’s ended up.
Connotation: the major metaphor is the goat nipping, following the dress.
• theme: now we know that the title was the
title of a metaphor created by the author
which uses a deceitful goat to represent
“stalking”, “pawing,” and “nipping” at a dress
until it rips it into darkness.
• Title: given the title, the dress could symbolize
the subjects mind and the goat some other
party, or maybe even himself.