But the formula always depends upon the absence of a choice- these people are dramatic because fate has placed them where they are and they could not, whether they wish to or not, be anywhere else. It is the formula, arguably, of any powerful dramatic song or poem- the speaker in pain. The speaker is pinned, unable to leave their grief, but attempts to transcend it in a song. What is present is the pain- and the understatement of the pain and the ability through an embrace of the nostalgia of love to transcend it for a moment in a reach for remembered happiness, and recalled warmth despite the present cold. As in that genre the speaker stands alone and sings of a love, an overwhelming passion, almost always in the past. In its tone and perfection this poem reminds one of the torch-song as perfected by Billy Holiday. She loves him because he is the ONLY thing that ever came along that loved her or that she could love. The speaker is stationary, in the restaurant where she works- the man in the blue hat is already a thing of the past when the poem opens. My personal favourite 'Something Crazy' illustrates the necessary conditions of the form:īefore I got married. Sandra Cisneros, in her first collection of poems 'My Wicked Wicked Ways' was able to evoke this sense of drama repeatedly in her monologues of fictional characters and in songs which seemed to be sung by the poet herself about her life.

The tragic are those figures who face devestation with a certain unblinking acceptance- not stoicism, not heroism- but the ability to look at themselves clearly.

My wicked wicked ways book