The “Atomic Pantoum” and Fear of Destruction
The Pantoum’s poetic form is greatly unique in the aspect that it essentially has two differing variations: the original “pre-colonial” Pantun that arose from Malaysia, and the “post-colonial” French Pantoum that became popularized through modern Anglo-American verse. The Malaysian Pantun consists of an introductory couplet (pembayang) and a closing couplet (maksud) that reflect one another within the poem and allow for “cultural and universal truths” to be portrayed (Gotera 254–255). The traditional formulaic rules of the Pantun contain the aspect of it being composed of a quatrain that contains an abab rhyme scheme, with each line having roughly 8–12 syllables (Gotera 254). The “post-colonial” Pantoum, on the other hand, is composed of “…quatrains wherein the second and forth lines of any stanza return as the first and third lines of the subsequent stanza” (Gotera 255). The Pantoum also has an abab bcbc cdcd rhyme scheme, and provides a sense of straying away from and then“circling back” to the original topic of the poem near the end. In recent decades, the Pantoum has also been experimented with by poets in form, as well as had political and personal occurrences inserted into its form and meaning.
In light of the experimental American Pantoums that have arose in the past few decades, Peter Meinke’s work, “Atomic Pantoum,” essentially provides a glimpse into the “post-colonial” aspects of the Pantoum’s form itself, while simultaneously delivering commentary on the political atmosphere of the Cold War. Throughout the entirety of the poem, a tone of fear and warning is greatly prominent in respect to the outlook of America’s political atmosphere of the time. In terms of the form of the “Atomic Pantoum,” the return of the second and forth lines of each stanza provides a sense of circling back to the aspect of the“chain reaction” of violence and destruction that was feared throughout the political reign of the Cold War. This allows for the tone of the Pantoum, being those of fear and warning, to become increasingly more prominent, as the speaker repeats the same phrases of destruction that may occur given the intended escalation of the war. For instance, the repeated phrases of “the fish catch on fire” (Meinke) throughout the fourth and fifth stanzas, as well as “with eyes burned to ashes” (Meinke) within the third and fourth stanzas, emphasizes the speaker’s view of the Cold War’s path, which can be characterized as a fearful warning, as he warns that if the destruction and threats were to continue, the environment and animals would be killed, and the peoples’ eyes will only ever see fire and destruction due to atomic explosions. Continously, the phrase “and choirs will crumble” (Meinke), provides a fearful and warning tone as well, as the alliteration of “choirs” and “crumble” emphasizes the tension of the war itself, as well as the destruction that the new technology and weapons are capable of. Although the tone of the Pantoum remains urgently fearful and provides warning for the political climate of the time throughout its entity, the last stanza that states “Curled and tightened / blind to the end / torching our enemies / we sing to Jesus” provides a somber conclusion, as it can be inferred that while the United States is blindly fighting for power and working to destroy the Soviet Union, its citizens live in fear and have to turn to Jesus for the hope of failed destruction and war.
Gotera, Vince. “The Pantoum’s Postcolonial Pedigree.” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art, Edited by Anne Finch and Kathrine Varnes, U. of Michigan Press, 2002, pp. 254–261.
