Poem Response "The Lost Pilot": wk 8; M, 10/7

When I first read this poem, I was stupefied. I kept drifting, trying to find the meaning. It wasn't until we went over the title and dates that something seemed to click. I stared at the pages, my mouth agape. I was reading about James Tate's father; the man who died when he was only a baby. He included the years he lived alongside his fathers to show the timeline. "The Lost Pilot" refers to his father, a soldier lost at war. When he addresses him, he addresses a dead man who is lost somewhere to be found. He pretends he is still alive...orbiting somewhere we can't fathom. He pleads, "If I could cajole you to come back for an evening, down from your compulsive orbiting, I would touch you..." He yearns to touch his father, to meet the man who is in constant orbiting. Even though he has a curious, pleading nature, he also has a guilting nature: blaming his father for his death. I really loved how this poem made me imagine the fictional- a man orbiting in space while his son begs him to come back down to earth. It is a beautiful take on something miserable.