[714] Night of the Scorpion
Guest poem sent in by Gaurav Khanna <gaurav@>
"I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours
of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice.
Parting with his poison -- flash of diabolic tail in the dark room --
he risked the rain again. The peasants came like swarms of flies
and buzzed the Name of God a hundred times to paralyse the Evil One.
With candles and with lanterns throwing giant scorpion shadows
on the sun-baked walls they searched for him; he was not found.
They clicked their tongues. With every movement the scorpion made
his poison moved in Mother's blood, they said. May he sit still,
they said. May the sum of evil balanced in this unreal world
against the sum of good become diminished by your pain.
May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition,
they said, and they sat around on the floor with my mother in the centre.
the peace of understanding on each face. More candles, more lanterns,
more neighbours, more insects and the endless rain.
My mother twisted through and through groaning on a mat.
My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing,
powder, mixture, herb, and hybrid. He even poured a little paraffin
upon the bitten toes and put a match to it.
I watched the flame feeding on my mother. I watched the holy man
perform his rites to tame the poison with incantation.
After twenty hours it lost its sting."
"My mother only said:
Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children."
-- Nissim Ezekiel
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This is a pretty stark poem; albeit relieved to an extent by the display of
maternal emotion at the end. Doesn't rhyme at all, unlike most of Ezekiel's
poems I have read, but it does have a beauty when read with the right
inflection. I studied this for my 10th grade exams and along with Frost's
"Stopping by Woods" and Wordsworth's "Daffodils", it'll stay with me for a
long time. I'd love to hear what you guys think of it and any bio info you
have on Ezekiel.
regards,
gaurav
Links:
We've run two of Ezekiel's 'Indian English' poems on Minstrels:
Poem #516, 'The Patriot'
Poem #579, 'The Professor'
Between the two of them they cover Ezekiel's biography and some background
on his poetry.
From: David Wright <David.Wright@>
I just loved that poem! I found it riveting. I appreciate the poet's role
as interpreter and guide to unfamiliar territory, and this was much less
strange to me than, say, if the poem were written as though from the
standpoint of the suppliants themselves, a primal and direct incantation.
I am finding that I especially enjoy poems like this one that draw the
reader along with a narrative pull akin to fiction, or poems at the other
extreme - the reflective stillness of haiku, for example. Perhaps it is
owing to the diffuseness and distractedness of my own mind, but I find
poetry especially accessable when it either sits me down to tell me a story,
or sits me down to observe one small thing, and to let that momentary
awareness sink in. The common denominator, I suppose, is the poet's
attention to observation and reflection over cerebration (a word?) - poets
who keep at least two tires on the solid asphalt of described reality.
Maybe I'm saying nothing here. la la.
David
From: "99a-scott" <99a-scott@>
this poem is crap it should'nt have been made. poetry is shit
From: "simon.wyatt1" <simon.wyatt1@>
I hate this shit poem i had to study it for f**king ages!
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?R?= <first_halcyon@>
The great thing about this poem is that it is so stereotypical of old values: Mother, stung by an alusive scorpion, writhes in pain, while Father pours paraffin over her toe and sets it alight ... he clearly believes in the more pragmatic solutions to the difficulties in life - but she still comments, 'Thank God the scorpion picked on me'. Isn't that so true of the older generation?
Justa small question - this poem is actually set out in 48 lines; has it been published on this website as a prose piece intentionally?
Great poem, though!
B
From: "Harold Enrico" <sargent@>
From: "rachel rickard" <bobbycornish65@>
It was totally crap I have to do a whole project on the stupid peom and
i cant find any informaton on her or the poem what a loadf of poo!
From: "Tina" <cuzinns302@>
first off, ezekiel is a man.
admittedly, this poem doesn't seem to astounding, but you should try
some of his other stuff before you judge.
'the patriot' is a good start, simple and sweet and 'after reading a
prediction' too.
the oxford india anthology of 12 modern indian poets has a good
collection too. with an introduction to ezekiel, it doesn't leave you so
quite in the dark.
From: "Sam Warley" <samuel_warley@>
I have to study this poem for GSCE. It would be very helpful if some one
could give me a background for the poem and author so that I can understand
it better, because right now it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Thanks Sam
From: Williams Samuel <06.Samuel.Williams@>
I think you are missing a semi-colon in the middle of your sentence!
Did your studies pay off?
From: "Richard Kirsch" <richard.kirsch@>
Somebody please explain this poem to me. I do like it, and I think I get
it, but what I really want to know is: is there actually a scorpian who
stings his mother; are the townspeople the true evil ones; Whats the 2nd
stanza (the mother's quote) about?
From: ArchDall <ArchDall@>
Just in case he tries to read this. Stop cheating Richard Kirsh and do some work for a change.
All my love
Archie
From: "Lee Preston" <lee.preston1@>
shite
From: 00wpop@ Thu Mar 3 03:44:47 2005
It was completely shit it is as good as a fucking like some one licking
shit off the floor
From: 00shal@ Thu Mar 3 03:44:47 2005
This poem sucks balls its like shit on a stick
From: "Barry Mair" <bazm@>
From: pallavi paul <puchipaul@>
this poem by Ezekiel was written in about ten minutes ,it is interesting in many ways if one notices it is him revisiting a past experience. The complex play of memory is used by combining the innocent fear of a child with an adult's understanding of a situation.the narration of the event is extremely dispassionate and objective.humour and irony have been used to show how the scorpion who actually is the victim turns into the aggressor and then back to a victim when he is forced to brave the rain ,the peasant's blind superstition is placed against the father's rational and reasoning tendencies by Ezekiel to critique some superstitions in society.
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