Tabu is strikingly humble and transparent in his poem Crusader. The
last stanza is my favorite.
All I have to offer
is a relentless embrace of right now,
terrified resolve to walk towards fear
because I’m bigger than apprehension…
…even if I don’t know it yet.
Tabu uses an accessible
language. The poem has a realistic fairy tell vibe and provides a human super
hero narrative. It’s intimate, and rolls into a whisper of self- affirmation in
the very last stanza. I like the way Tabu
is able to bring knights in shining armor to the twenty first century.
The
damsel in distress is even present and can be heard in the first line of the third stanza
Asked me if I could replenish her faith in brothers.
The last stanza starts off heavy, yet visually is tiny.
All I have to offer
This is the smallest line on the page and yet holds a lot of
weight. His capabilities, effort, and
will all wrapped up in 5 hard words.
The line relentless embrace also carries on this duplicity
of emotion that the poem has done so well at describing.
He’s persistent and determined to continue his growth as a
man, as a warrior.
The fear we hear about in the last stanza is echoed in three
similar words terrified, fear, and apprehension. This anxiety is shadowed by
resolve, relentless, and bigger. These opposing words in the same small stanza
do an amazing job at reflecting the personal struggle of an individuals self -esteem.
I appreciate the candid journey Tabu takes us on. It is refreshingly different
than what we today see men willing to expose and illuminate. In this poem we
see a desire to please, a desire to succeed and to overcome natural fear by
admitting it exists.
ReplyDeleteHe uses an interesting combination of assertion and question. There is a complexity in the voice and a hope.
"Crusader" is a stunning poem--I love how you refer to the "lines relentless embrace" great description.
ReplyDeleteIt such an unusual love and anti-love poem--full of hard truth and yet still hope. I was struck my the fact that the poem presents an argument in 14 lines, and then there is this extra half line. I think that it is a an interesting play on the sonnet form...