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Back to Subjects - Poetry

Woodchucks

Woodchucks Maxine Kumin’s, Woodchucks provides an interesting and creative perspective into the mind state of those influenced by nazi warfare. What begins as a seemingly humorous cat and mouse hunt, reminiscent of such movie classics as Caddyshack, soon develops into an insatiable lust for blood. Kumin’s descriptive language provides the reader with the insight necessary to understand to the speaker’s psychology as they are driven beyond the boundaries of pacifism. The poem does indeed have a rhyme scheme, yet doesn’t conform to conventional forms of rhyme such as A, B, A, B, etc. Rather, each stanza seems to follow the order of A, B, C, A, C, B, which may not be apparent to the reader at first, but doesn’t hinder the poem’s effectiveness. The first stanza begins with the speaker describing their failed attempt at eliminating the pests. The first attempt was described as merciful: “The knockout bomb from the Feed and Grain Exchange was featured as merciful, quick at the bone”. However, the following lines offer a bit of humor to the chase as it seems the woodchuck has outsmarted the speaker as a result of their overconfidence: “and the case we had against them was airtight, both exits shoehorned shut with puddingstone, but they had a sub-sub-basement out of range.” This first stanza sets the stage for what would appear to be a humorous battle of whits between the speaker and the woodchucks. The following stanza continues in this vein with the cynical statement, “Next morning they turned up again, no worse for the cyanide than we for our cigarettes and state-store Scotch, all of us up to scratch.” However, those that follow are slowly indicative of the speaker’s mental deterioration. The statements of the food being eaten by the woodchucks are filled with bitterness as the language begins to resemble that of a killer. “They brought down the marigolds as a matter of course and then took over the vegetable patch nipping the broccoli shoots, beheading the carrots.” This is especially evident in the reference to the carrots being “beheaded” which provides an appropriate transition into the next stanza. The third stanza is the inevitable “fall from grace” as our speaker has finally “taken off the gloves” and resorts to the vengeance of cold steel. The speaker utters one last phrase of motivation as he/she eerily takes pleasure in holding the tool of his nemesis’ destruction. “The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling to the feel of the .22, the bullets’ neat noses.” The killer now takes a moment to lament on his/her course of action, acknowledging that her pacifism is a thing of the past; that he/she was once comparable to Darwin and his pension for non-violence. However, this does little to dissuade he/she from swiftly taking the life of the pests. “I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace puffed with Darwinian pieties for killing, now drew a bead on the little woodchuck’s face. He died down in the everbearing roses.” This stanza marked the turning point of the narrative as our speaker has been pushed beyond their boundaries into an unfamiliar realm of pleasure. A side of them has been exposed that has remained dormant for what appears to be the duration of their life. It is now a newfound sensation that has thrilled them beyond expectation. This thrill continues to manifest itself in the following stanza as well. “Ten minutes later I dropped the mother. She flipflopped in the air and fell, her needle teeth still hooked in a leaf of early Swiss chard.” Here, another life is taken just minutes after the first. Coincidentally or not, the speaker chose to kill her while eating in irony to his/her very motivation. The blood lust is steadily increasing within the speaker and surprisingly comes natural to them. “Another baby next. 0 one-two-three the murderer inside me rose up hard, the hawkeye killer came on stage forthwith.” It’s obvious that the speaker has taken some sadistic pleasure in killing their adversary, yet what price has been paid for such satisfaction? That question is addressed in the 5th and final stanza. “There’s only one chuck left. Old wily fellow, he keeps me cocked and ready day after day after day. All night I hunt his humped-up form. I dream I sight along the barrel in my sleep.” From this statement we can see that his/her lust for blood has completely consumed them, as it remains with them whether conscious or unconscious. The following statement reveals yet another disturbing element of the killer’s psychology. “If only they’d all consented to die unseen gassed underground the quit Nazi way.” This statement is indicative of many things. One being the speaker’s resentment towards the woodchucks for awakening this side of his/her personality. Another being the tremendous influence of the holocaust. Although the tragedy was thought to have brought about a massive change in the minds of people all over the world, many still believe in it’s prejudice. Finally, I believe that pacifism for many people is a fascade of the post war era and that violence is what many still believe to be the most effective means to an end. Bibliography:

Word Count: 863