“Here I Stand”: An Informal Response? by Emily Woodward Brown (Minnesota Literature)
I found that the poem “Here I Stand”? by Anne Simpson really hit close to home. When I first finished reading the poem for the first time, I had this kind of still feeling about myself, as if everything else around me had stopped. Then I read it again. Then again. One reason that I got so much out of this poem is how simple the writing is. The thought of losing someone close to me is so complex that I would never be able to explain it in a few lines of words. However, Anne was able capture the feelings of losing a loved one so simply.
The most moving parts of the poem for me were the first two stanzas: “Recently when we weren’t looking, a door slammed shut on the cluttered room behind us. Strewn across the floor were all our lasts just as we stepped out of them, not knowing.”? About a week or so after I first read the poem, my grandfather passed away. I thought of this poem sometime after it happened, and suddenly the poem meant even more to me. Death is something that people are never completely prepared for. That quote from the poem is exactly how it feels–that unprepared feeling where you are left with all your “lasts.”?
As I think about this poem, I am reminded of another poem I came upon as a teenager. The poem “After Awhile”? by Veronica A. Shoffstall ends with “You learn and grow with every goodbye you learn.”? These two poems are quite different, but they bring me a similar feeling. Both authors use such simple language that creates such a big meaning to someone who has experienced a devastation such as losing a loved one.
The part that made me read the poem over again was the ending. It left me with an somewhat empty feeling, which I’m sure was intended: “Now I stand naked in a stark white room my firsts hanging neatly at the other end, a long cold walk away.”? This is such a vivid mental picture for me. That uncomfortable feeling where one is not ready to let go, yet one is forced to move forward.
This poem meant a lot to me for many personal experiences I’ve had and for many reasons that I don’t even understand. I think that the writing is so beautiful yet so simple and direct. The poem is a short four stanzas of four lines with simple diction. I think that this is a poem that I will keep with me for a long time. That is one thing that I really like about writing. It never gets outdated.