Clifford Duffy’s “That’s What I Name”

 

by Corry Shores

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Clifford Duffy

“That’s What I Name”

 

Clifford Duffy wrote a striking poem. I will place it as a screen shot, as I do not think I can replicate it exactly by copying the text.

(From Duffy)

 

Daniel Coffeen discuses the rhythm of punctuation here. What often strikes me about Duffy’s poems is just how much subtle typographical elements “sing” as loud as words, or I should say, they greatly modulate the affective qualities of the text. Here there seems to be a quotation mark coming at the end of “ thats what I call smudged text’ ”. How does that modulate the sonic qualities? Does one take the voice of a narrator or of a speaker? Is it something in between? Or does one start under the first mode and continuously modulate to the other? How does one read “that’s” differently from “thats”? Is is more informal sounding? Do the ‘t’ and ‘s’ sounds blend together slightly more than normal? The “(not serious!!)” seems like a reply. Is it the same speaker? But if they are not serious, why do they keep insisting on their claim? Is the “(not serious!!)” to be read as also between two voices, between a speaker and theirself, somehow? There is exclamation with the “thats what I call smudged text!”, but there is double exclamation with “(not serious!!)” which should thus be read with more emphasis. But it is between parentheses. It is a muffled or concealed and yet increased emphasis. And what of the space added at the beginning of the second line of each stanza? This for me is the most “silent” yet also the most potent of all the affective modulators. It is not enough space to suggest a noticeable pause, but it is enough to hint at a sort of hesitation, and also a suggestion that the second line stands out in its significance or meaning from the entirety of the poem. And finally, what of the dashes and other spacing? How does one read the dashes? If you say we are to ignore them, leave them unread, then why is there highlighting at the bottom one? These elements still have an affective quality, as does the extra spacing between the second and third stanzas. All this together makes for a very musically nuanced reading. It is remarkable how much differentiation is packed into so much repetition.

 

 

 

 

Duffy, Clifford. “That’s What I Name”. Dada Duffy:

https://dadaduffy.blogspot.com/2018/10/thats-what-i-name.html?zx=dd4b69008f84a4cb

 

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