The American on His First Honeymoon

BY RITA MAE REESE

What we can say has already been said

about each painting in the gallery—

about the quality of light, the way she holds her head.

So we are silent in the subway, silent in bed.

Our bodies too are mute; we fall asleep knowing

what we could say has already been said.

Over toast and coffee and the newspaper soundly read

the day unfolds between us. I am too weak to carry

this quality of light, the way she holds her head.

I would vow to leave if love had left

if this were the wedding of two gypsies.

But what should I say? It has been said

the dead would properly bury the dead

and here I am, alive at last and buried

by the quality of light, and the way she holds her head.

Perhaps women, sex, love are all over-rated.

Which of us is the artist and which the light? You see,

the words I might say have been better said—

words concerning the quality of light, the way you hold your head.

Interpretation:

The poem “The American on His First Honeymoon” is written my Rita Mae Reese. I think the main topic of this poem is the sense of love and the sense of cohabit and marriage. Although the poem is written by a women it seems that a man wrote the poem what you can see when the author talks about women in line 16. The poem has six stanzas and 19 verses. Each stanza has 3 verses only the last one has for. The author writes the sentence, “it has been said” repeatedly.

In the poem you can read about the artist and the light. I think these two things express a women and a men in a relationship and the in the poem the try to find their role. Whether they are an artist or the light. In my opinion the artist is dependent of the light because you can’t do art in the darkness. The artist also needs the light to let his work look good.  The light also needs to artist. I thinks nobody wants to be the artist who is kind of dependent of the light. The author also talks about weeding and honeymoon which support my guess of a relationship.