Something you should know

By: Clint Smith

https://aprweb.org/poems/something-you-should-know

The poem Something you should know is about a kid at a pet store. The kid is fixated on the little garment crab in the glass case. This poem similar to his others I read which were FaceTime and The Drone is placed in a scene at which I can picture myself in. For this reason I have really enjoyed these poems by him.

Qualities/Devices:

The first interesting quality I saw in this poem was that the first word is not capitalized. The first thought seems as if it was a question and I was puzzled. This makes me believe this poem is just a thought due to his lack of proper grammar. The imagery he uses to describe the crab with such detail allows me to be this kid. I see this crab in my mind scurry across the floor. This picture gives me a better sense as the reader to pick up the emotions in this poem. The shell is symbolic of safety, protection and dependency. He says “to have to live its entire life requiring something else to feel safe” in order to say how life can be this way. This fear of dependency can be of perhaps job stability or even of just other people. He also uses this fear metaphorically comparing skin and your true self. The shell blocks all of the skin covering your true self for protection and fear. Shells can even be compared to makeup or photoshop or anything that can alter someone’s true form. The speaker is afraid of meeting ‘you’ so I believe he or she has the shell on and is afraid of this leap of faith.

Connections:

This poem reminds me of the life I live because all of the social media that is out there to allow people to paint themselves as they feel. People can post all happy and fun posts with friends but in reality can be depressed and live a completely opposite life. Also people can smile and laugh all day at school but the go home and still be depressed and show no one this ‘Shelless’ side. That is why when getting in relationships a lot of people say they are scared to show their true selves. This poem has many literal and deeper levels that makes it different than his other two poems or that just may be I understand this one more.

Questions

Why is the first word of the poem not capitalized? Why is the first part of the poem more indented than the second? Was I close to what the shell could symbolize? Who is you and is this all a thought created by being scared of meeting someone?