Getting Cottonmouth

Cottonmouth Country

by Louise Gluck

Fish bones walked the waves off Hatteras.

And there were other signs

That Death wooed us, by water, wooed us

By land: among the pines

An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss

Reared in the polluted air.

Birth, not death, is the hard loss.

I know. I also left a skin there.

Wow. This poem is extremely hazy. I cannot get it right now but I am going to read it real quick again. Hold on. :) The structure of this poem has som interesting points to it. In line 3 there are some commas that break up the sentence and the author does this because to emphasize how death interacts with us. The author uses the word "wooed," why? To give death a personality I think, maybe the personality of person who cares about us, a person who has interest in us because only those types of people would ever want to woo us. Cottonmouth....lets get to that supject. What happens when one gets cottonmouth? There is a feeling of despair, wanting, or better yet a need for watter or some type of liquid. The death created this type of despair, a longing for life to wash away the cottonmouth that death left behind. But who is the author talking to right now? Is the author in favor of life or death? Lets look at line 7. The author states " Birth, not death, is the hard loss." Why would birth be the hard loss if the author was in favor of life? Maybe he is talking to death. Maybe he is stating that to death the hardest loss is new life, because that means that there is just another person to kill, another soul to be releases, atleast thats the way that I see it. The author then states in line ate that he understands why birth is a greater loss...he left a skin there. This reminds me of a snake shedding its skin. Maybe the author agrees that when a person is born a certain part of yourself must be left behind because one must take on a new role. The role of a parent must be had. Who knows? Maybe all that I am saying is wrong, maybe the person who is reading my interpretation agrees. Who knows? Thats my take on this poem.