Neon Romance on an Ice Floe

Kismet Al-Hussaini

The first line:

Leg of dawn, blue-petaled wheel,

had me thinking opium. It was strange because the only opium pod I’ve ever seen had more of a reddish purple pedaled wheel atop a green pod (Do they come in different colors?). I thought it was interesting because I later found a reference to poppy seeds in the last sentence. I secretly suspect that I read the whole poem subconsciously, and in all actuality, had poppies on my mind before I read “blue petaled wheel. Anyways, opium would explain why the narrator loses contact with the old lover. Perhaps the lover is all strung out and doesn’t care. “Leg of dawn” sounds intrusive. I’ve heard that the sight of the sun is terrifying after an opium binge. Also, petaled is actually spelled pedaled and I wonder what the significance of this could be.

I’m not quite sure of the real meaning behind this poem, but I do know that it made me feel apathetic. In the title, ice floe refers to a piece of ice under six miles at its greatest dimension. This sets up a slow drifting motion in my mind. That, combined with the cold and “poppy” images makes me stare at the “steeple where sparrows scatter into formation”, like someone who witnesses the apocalypse, shrugs his shoulders, and moves on.