Analysis of Listener’s Wooden Heart
He says he built his own heart out of wood, and placed it inside himself (the iron ship), as he sails through the struggles in life (blood red seals and finds his place in life. He’s not letting the struggles in life (waves) destroy his hopes and dreams. He says he believes in both anchors and saviors a line apart, so I’m assuming they are synonymous. His life is falling apart, but he still believes in whatever anchor is in his life, while he’s “sinking”. When he says he is pulling the rotten wood out of his heart, he means he’s letting go of the emotional baggage in his heart, so he can pursue his reams. We are all made out of shipwrecks, every single aboard washed and bound like crooked teeth on these rocky shores”
That line is saying that we are all the person we are today because of our mistakes, and we’re all barely making it through life by ourselves. At this point in the poem, he starts referring to a community making it through together, rather than sailing through life Just by himself. The line “we only have what we remember”, that repeats several times throughout the poem, states that if we didn’t have what we remember, we would Just repeat the mistakes that we Dade in our past. L am the barely living son of a woman and man who barely made It. ” this line is basically repeating the very first line of the poem: “We’re all born to broken people on their most honest day of living. “
If we hold on tight we’ll hold each other together, and not Just some fools rushing to die in our sleep” they need to go through this together, because they can’t do this alone. “All these machines will rust I promise, but we’ll still be electric, shocking each other back to life. ” Waves can take down a ship, but water can’t destroy electricity. Their ship may sink, but if they’re electric, they can live through the storm. “Because our church is made out of shipwrecks, from every hull these rocks have claimed. ” A church is a congregation. A place where you can find other people to hold on to, and do life with.
