Three Persons
The narrator of this poem describes two of his acquaintances. He serves as the third person—a mediator and observer between the two. The narrator reveals that his two acquaintances chose very different paths in life. One, always weighted down by the other, found a life of great success and happiness. The other now lives in poverty, homeless and without companionship. Despite the second man’s unfortunate circumstances, he still admires the first man—the more successful man—and he asks the narrator to look after his interests. In this way, this is a poem about companionship, friendship, and the divergent paths of life.
Bright Copper Kettles
The narrator of this poem shares with his readers how he is attempting to deal with the grief of lost loved ones. The man is visited in his sleep and in his dreams by those he has lost. He finds these dream-like visions oddly comforting and, as such, spends much of his time sleeping. The narrator finds that he likes the dream versions of his loved ones; they are more polite and more gentle than their once-living counterparts. Though this poem is light in atmosphere, it captures the more sorrowful aspects of the grieving process. While the narrator finds comfort in his dreams, he now spends all of his time sleeping and, as such, is losing touch with the real world.
Sequence
Seshadri uses this poem to isolate the chain of events in which every human and create, alike can be found. He begins with Hell. As is expected, Hell is a gruesome place to exist. Seshadri suggests that, once we witness Hell or co-exist within it, we experience all the sadness, darkness, and sorrow of the earth. From here, we are able to propel ourselves and our consciousness forward. The second step of the sequence is Purgatory, The Film. It is during this step of the sequence that Seshadri describes the relationship of an unnamed man and woman. The man was chronically unable to hold a job, while the woman was the second-born of a set of twins. The man and the woman move in together, but the man’s thoughts and ponderings are consumed with thoughts of the other twin—the evil twin. In this way, the man and the woman are trapped in purgatory—an inescapable trap. The third step is Purgatory, The Sequel. In this part, we do not learn what happened to the woman, but discover that the man is now in jail—trapped in a physical purgatory. The concluding step in the sequence—Heaven—describes a mammal who is living on a mountain that has been struck by drought. Like a blessing from God, the mammal discovers a stream of water. It drinks its fill, while coming to the profound realization that thinking, itself is mystery, longing, and thirst.
