Do You Want Affidavits?
Do You Want Affidavits? - meaning Summary
A Carnival of Absurd Promises
The poem sketches a playful, surreal litany of extravagant promises and impossible sights — a hole in the sea, a man in the moon, dancing girls — offered as if to satisfy a petitioner. The speaker frames these fantasies against legal ritual, asking whether the listener wants affidavits or sworn testimony for wishful claims. The tone mixes whimsy and mock-formality to question the need for proof when indulging imagination and desire.
Read Complete AnalysesTHERE'S a hole in the bottom of the sea. Do you want affidavits? There's a man in the moon with money for you. Do you want affidavits? There are ten dancing girls in a sea-chamber off Nantucket waiting for you. There are tall candles in Timbuctoo burning penance for you. There are-anything else? Speak now-for now we stand amid the great wishing windows-and the law says we are free to be wishing all this week at the windows. Shall I raise my right hand and swear to you in the monotone of a notary public? this is 'the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.'
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