Nothing Much
Nothing Much - meaning Summary
Desire Dismissed as Nothing
The speaker recounts a relationship that felt overwhelming—physical, patriotic, and violent in imagery—yet she repeatedly labels it "nothing." Intense bodily and sensory metaphors (rockets, stars, a brand, a tattoo) convey passion and imprinting, while the speaker insists the affair lacked lasting significance. The poem captures ambivalence: vivid memories and bodily traces coexist with dismissal, suggesting self-protection, regret, or denial about what the relationship meant.
Read Complete AnalysesBut of course you were always nothing. No thing. A red-hot rocket, patriotically bursting in my veins. Showers of stars—cascading stars behind closed eyelids. A searing brand across my forehead. Nothing of importance. A four-letter word stenciled on the flesh of my inner thigh. Stomping through my brain's mush valleys. Strewing a halt of new loyalties. My life, so I say nothing much.
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