Steel and Air
Steel and Air - meaning Summary
Arrival and Quiet Acceptance
The poem describes arriving at a liminal place where movement and an old order meet a new ending. The speaker accepts stopping, finding that halting can feel like being placed where you always wanted to be. Crossing has lost its promise; the scene’s industrial and atmospheric elements — steel and air — register a mottled, modest consolation. The closing coolness signals emotional distance and a settled, tempered resolution.
Read Complete AnalysesAnd now I cannot remember how I would have had it. It is not a conduit (confluence?) but a place. The place, of movement and an order. The place of old order. But the tail end of the movement is new. Driving us to say what we are thinking. It is so much like a beach after all, where you stand and think of going no further. And it is good when you get to no further. It is like a reason that picks you up and places you where you always wanted to be. This far, it is fair to be crossing, to have crossed. Then there is no promise in the other. Here it is. Steel and air, a mottled presence, small panacea and lucky for us. And then it got very cool.
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