"This Shore" by Tom Milsom

A Theme Over-Analysis - Writing Response to Literature

A poem that is as smart as it is catchy, Tom Milsom's This Shore, aims to convey that each stench, phoneme, light, and concrete matter that is related to the shore, surrounding New York, captures the true essence of the city's beguiling, seductive, and shadowy complexion. This free verse reflects an emotion many poets alongside Milsom share, even the great William Shakespeare himself when he says, in Romeo and Juliet, “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”³ By describing the sea as boundless, deep, and infinite, its significance is demonstrated. So, when our modern day heartthrob of a poet brings up this emotion of cherishment and respect regarding the ocean and the shore, without it being too obvious, he succeeds in delivering a unique message, and 100% hits home. 

In a style that's modest and straightforward, we have the first stanza, as if the shore is a symbol of the lives of the New Yorkers, Tom says that it has a rhythm, a systematic arrangement of sounds, a sequence, a broken pulse, which rests with the waves that reach the sand. The sequence of sounds is the repeated stories of the people, and the broken pulse is caused by the monotonous sulk and sumptuousness of history. After that, a full image of the setting begins forming in the minds of the readers, as now they can hear the waves, the dings, and hum, which are imitations that mimic usual phonemes and sounds heard throughout a usual day in NYC. The last half of the first stanza carries a superb meaning of hope. The untold secrets, and suffocation hidden deep within the lungs of the men and women, as crude and difficult to handle as they might be, "will pass"⁴, because "shore is forever"⁴, the people are forever lasting, and no matter what, they will eventually win. We will always hear the waves.

Wanting to complete the sketch he began drawing  in the first stanza, our poet begins to depict an image of a boatyard. He mentions the rustiness of the ships in the light. He even mentions its color, "orange"⁴, a color with healing powers that reminds the readers of endurance. In the ninth line, Tom brings up "wet paint"⁴, he says that it's "like brick in this city"⁴, and by that he emphasizes its importance.. Brick is always there, just like the paint on the new structures that are build every day. After that, he mentions that "the sky is made of air"⁴, and "the doors are made of wood"⁴, which might sound as the most useless given facts that can ever be mentioned in any piece of creative writing, but not here, hence he finishes his second stanza by stating that "the heads are made of paint"⁴. Paint, itself, to the readers is still mystic, and enigmatic, a problem that won't last long as they move to the third stanza.

Modesty and straightforwardness slip away further, as Milsom foreshadows more and more as the poem goes on.. He compares the water of East River to paint in the third stanza. It reflects the lights from its neighboring sidewalk every night, and let's it wave, as if it was a huge salty bullet that miraculously shimmers.. He carries on portraying the land through its history, in the fourth stanza, where he tells the readers that it's strongly shaking with angry footsteps that are strong, and that even the rumblings of the city's inhabitants play a role in keeping it going, surviving, no matter what. With all that he said, to this point, he does not seem to describe what he's talking about so much as he seems to simply create it in another medium. For instance, from the stanzas three to five, he's not describing the city. The fifth stanza is the poet's way of representing the strikingly beautiful and peculiar simplicity which everything about this city has. He is capturing its rhythm, visually, in music. Also, he continues stressing on the vivacity that this city has, and how it compresses all races, thousands of millions of people, into a small island, and adds music in the ornamented background just like splendor poetry.

To be frank, everything in New York is a photograph. All the things that are supposed to be dirty or rough or unrefined are the most beautiful things. It's imperfections make it beautiful in a way only New York can be. And because of that, in the last twelve lines, Tom urges the readers to "paint this city black"⁴, and shout loudly amongst the hiss, the hum, and Manhattan's smoke and the hardships. In closing, he states that the suffocation and troubles shall never disturb the peace and harmony of the land for, in Tom's own words, "the city sleeps surrounded by the shore"⁴.

In retrospect, Milsom expresses the life and vivacity of NYC as a giant metaphor of the ocean which surrounds it. Although he anthropomorphizes the city, he perfectly and magnificently depersonalizes it. It is, indeed, indifferent, neither happy nor sad, yet a place constant in its affirmation of aliveness. As E.B. White says “New York provides not only a continuing excitation but also a spectacle that is continuing.”⁵

Bibliography

1.      MacDonald, Ann-Marie. Fall on Your Knees. Simon and Schuster, 1997.

2.      Sandburg, Carl. "Chicago." Poetry Magazine. March, 1914.

3.      Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. United Kingdom. Penguin Classics, 2005.

4.  Tom Milsom, Tom Milsom. "This Shore" July 31, 2010. Hexachordal's Official Website. www.tommilsom.com/this-shore-1538.html 13 May 2013.

5.       White, E.B. Here is New York. Little Bookroom, 2000.