Thesis 75 — Summary

Jim LeftwichCheerful

be very everything at times mildly solipsistic nervous thinking ennui of information is the right thing to do

something wise and diplomatic like a diploma deserts the kitchen

cakewalk when the cat thinks school of evil steak-machines feeding on the doorway that grimaces

curious toes to touch the quick soprano

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Don't go looking for a plot here. The poem works more like a chain of free associations, where one word tugs the next into place by sound or by odd logic. It opens with a mock-serious tone: be "very everything," a little "solipsistic," nervous, bored by too much information. Then it slides into a joke on words, as "diplomatic" turns into "diploma," and the diploma "deserts the kitchen," as if wisdom had walked out of the room.

After that the images get stranger and more playful: a cat that thinks, "steak-machines" feeding, a doorway that grimaces. Ordinary household things come alive and slightly menacing, though never quite frightening. The ending, with its "curious toes" touching "the quick soprano," feels light and sensory, like a tiptoe toward something high and bright.

The mood is jumpy, comic and a bit anxious. The speaker seems to be thinking too fast to settle on one meaning, and the poem invites you to enjoy that rush rather than solve it.

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