a note on a piece from richard price's book cartas de ontem (i only have the book as translated by virna teixeira for lumme editor in brazil).
Cormorants
They did not pass the test. Just past the school for
private girls, in coats of strips of black blazers,
they colonise the flooded pits.
this short prose poem is from a section about birds, but it contains the typical subtle satire that price includes in many of his pieces as well as a little bit of social commentary. price suggests that the "they" are the birds who did not pass the test--presumably because they are not taking tests--, but he repeats the verb in the next sentence in pointing to them as "past" the school. additionally, the ambiguity created by an additional comma after girls makes for an interesting puzzle. without the comma, it would be clear that the girls are in the coats, but with the comma, it seems like the birds (cormorants do have a black coat) are the ones wearing the strips. plus, the birds are colonizing a space. are they taking over the space just next to a private girls' school? and a "school for private girls"? hmmm. . .what happens when we read that literally?
Comments