R.D. READING GUIDE #8
HOLE IN THE DAY (p.10)
“Hole-in-the-Day” : prominent Ojibwe chieftain who tried to rally tribal support for the 1862 Dakota uprising in Minnesota. He was assassinated in 1868 near the Crow Wing Agency by a group of Ojibwe men. Here, the raven is represented as a kind of “hole in the day”.
“left the ark” : Noah, on the ark, sent out ravens to look for signs of dry land
“Furnace... against azure” : raven in sky imaged as “anti-matter X-factor”, a metaphysical sign
“Oil-power” : pun on oeuil (French for “eye”). Replays metaphorical changes on the “third eye” etc. of previous poems
“fodder for wretched // prophet” : the prophet Elijah was fed by ravens sent by YHWH
“Hovers / outside” : the spiritual otherness signaled by the raven
“Night’s black... one sphere’s damaged / grey” : the uncanny raven-otherness seems to return to earth through the back door
“One Rahab-hair” : the Biblical Rahab opened the “back door” allowing Joshua to capture Jericho
“In the theater” : poet sees muse-like figure or Dantean “old flame” in the Avon Cinema (Providence)
“Geraldine Fitzgerald” : lead actress in bio-pic (Woodrow) Wilson, and other films. The “circularity” of her name, and its echoes of Ireland and JFK, are marked here
“The hour draws nigh...” : by means of some alchemical movie magic, the cosmopolitan spirit of the film, and the actual presence of “Geraldine” in the theater, evoke this hopeful (Elijah-like) prophecy
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