Question and Answer
from The Last Night of the Earth Poems
Question and Answer - meaning Summary
Self-rescue, Bleakly Comic
The poem presents a weary, solitary figure testing pain and inertia while recalling readers who found solace in his work. Faced with a despairing question—who will save me?—he receives a blunt, solitary answer: you must save yourself. The final small actions (lighting a cigarette, pouring a drink, spinning the knife) register a wry, ambiguous acceptance: survival through private rituals rather than grand redemption.
Read Complete AnalysesHe sat naked and drunk in a room of summer night, running the blade of the knife under his fingernails, smiling, thinking of all the letters he had received telling him that the way he lived and wrote about that— it had kept them going when all seemed truly hopeless. Putting the blade on the table, he flicked it with a finger, and it whirled in a flashing circle under the light. Who the hell is going to save me? He thought. As the knife stopped spinning, the answer came: You're going to have to save yourself. Still smiling, a: He lit a cigarette, b: He poured another drink, c: Gave the blade another spin.
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