"One Train May Hide Another"

I’ve been meaning to post something about this poem since our last poetry class on Tuesday. The girl who sits on my left (Lauren?) talked about responding positively to certain words in a given poem, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what the poem means. It made me realize that I feel that way about Kenneth Koch’s “One Train May Hide Another,” except that rather than specific words, I was responding to sentences. I’m not sure I completely understand this poem, but I find myself loving it anyway.

Like I said, there were certain lines that just sealed it for me. For example, “One bath / may hide another bath / As when, after bathing, one walks out into the rain.” I just love that. The image is so vivid to me, and I like the contrast of the similar but different; a bath and a rainstorm are certainly not the same thing, but the parallel is there, and I can relate to it. I also like this one: “One dog may conceal another  / On a lawn, so if you escape the first one you're not necessarily safe.” A good life lesson if ever I heard one. And then there’s this too: “So one hitchhiker / May deliberately hide another and one cup of coffee / Another, too, until one is over-excited.” There’s something really subtle about the humor here that I really enjoy. It’s not flamboyant and in-your-face, but if you’re paying attention, it’s definitely funny. The whole poem feels slightly cynical, maybe a bit tongue-in-cheek, but also somewhat serious as well. I also really like this phrase to describe memory: “The eternal reverse succession of contemplated entities.” Something about the word choice there just really works for me, and I’m not really sure that I can explain it.

Also, also, this whole section:

In a family one sister may conceal another,

So, when you are courting, it's best to have them all in view

Otherwise in coming to find one you may love another.

One father or one brother may hide the man,

If you are a woman, whom you have been waiting to love.

So always standing in front of something the other

As words stand in front of objects, feelings, and ideas.

One wish may hide another. And one person's reputation may hide

The reputation of another.

For some reason, everything in it totally makes me think of Jane Austen. (I’ve been reading Pride and Prejudice out to my sister, so her language is especially fresh in my mind.) I can just imagine that first sentence as words of wisdom that Mr. Bennet shares with, say, Mr. Collins as a joke. The reputation bit also reminds me of Darcy and Wickham. That subtle humor I mentioned before seems very Austen-like to me.

Additionally, on a not-related-to-Austen note, I like the line “As words stand in front of objects, feelings, and ideas.” That’s really interesting. It makes me think of linguistics, and words as symbols, and how we’re constantly coming up with new words to try to explain our experiences (at least, some of us are).

When I read this poem as a whole, I kind of feel like it is genuinely advocating caution, but in a subtly humorous way, so as to win you over by making you smile. That’s how it strikes me personally, anyway.

Right. Now back to studying.