Poem 4

Michael

Suinn

Ariel

Evan

Fault

Ron Koertge *

In the airport bar, I tell my mother not to worry.
No one ever tripped and fell into the San Andreas
Fault. But as she dabs at her dry eyes, I remember
those old movies where the earth does open.

There's always one blonde entomologist, four
deceitful explorers, and a pilot who's good-looking
but not smart enough to take off his leather jacket
in the jungle.

Still, he and Dr. Cutie Bug are the only ones
who survive the spectacular quake because
they spent their time making plans to go back
to the Mid-West and live near his parents

while the others wanted to steal the gold and ivory
then move to Los Angeles where they would rarely
call their mothers and almost never fly home
and when they did for only a few days at a time.

This poem is about a mother worrying too much about her son. I can tell the author is going on a flight somewhere because he says “In the airport bar, I tell my mother not to worry.” The boy then goes on a tangent talking about movies and how boys would never visit home and never call home. This makes me think that the boy is not going to do as he knows his mother wants him to do and not call or make other arrangements to communicate with his mom.

The meaning of this poem is that a boy from the mid west is moving to California, right by the San Andreas fault and his mother is worried about it. The poet compares this to a movie. In the movie there are explorers and a pilot and a doctor and an entomologist. The pilot and the doctor want to go home in the mid west, but the others who are vain want to go to California where they will never call home and if they do it will rarely happen. This is how the poet shows the feelings of the mother. The mother thinks that because her son is going to California that he will never talk to her or visit. The boy on the other hand tries to assure her that he will call and visit, and he knows what she is thinking about and he knows how she is feeling.