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Annotated by:
- Coulehan, Jack
- Date of entry: Aug-09-2001
Summary
What can the poet discover in the rash of pityriasis rosea? "We say the blood rose, meaning it came to the surface / like a bruise . . . " He plays with several meanings, considering the possibilities of the size and shape of the pityriasis lesions; "the sickle, the scythe in the blood," for example, or "the ash after sex," or "the raw rose on the back of my hand." [28 lines]
Primary Source
Boy on the Step
Publisher
Ecco
Place Published
New York
Edition
1989
Commentary
This poem reports the many painful and fanciful things "we say" about the rash. We never say that the rash is simply a rash, or an ordinary virus causes the condition. Rather, we say "this too is the blood burning clean" and "only the wren flower" will heal the wound. The poem is a bravado love affair with language, a rash of words for their own sake, for their beauty and shapeliness.
The poem originally appeared in a collection called Poets Respond to AIDS. Thus, although pityriasis rosea is a common and benign condition, Plumly may be commenting here on a more virulent form of the rash that occurs in people with AIDS.