Poet's Choice

They never had enough money

And were bitter beyond belief,

Compared, say,

To a troupe of electricians.

Freud said somewhere

In our unconscious

We are always 23.

Understatement gives force to small, cunning touches. Against the flat landscape of phrases such as "a little something," the definition of politics stands out. The ordinariness of "hanging out" and "eaten alive" emphasizes the anger in the less casual, more energetic phrase "academic gangsters." The academics are a "bunch" like grapes and then a "crew" like sailors (or thugs), but the theatrical term "troupe" for the electricians is like an offhand laugh, like the comparison of politics and "showbiz." Bunch, crew, troupe; "beautiful people," academics, electricians -- the differences among these groups matter less than the similarities, the poem implies.

Fatalistic about the behavior of groups, the poem is equally resigned to the "fallen" nature of the individual, as the final stanza demonstrates, with its sudden veering to Freud. No one is ever entirely immune to the forces of desire and resentment, the poem suggests, just as no one is entirely, permanently, "beautiful." There's a forgiving element, a sad shrug and smile, in the idea that the vulnerabilities, failings and dreams of our early 20s persist, somewhere in us, for the rest of life. And though worldly, that notion attributed to Freud suggests the opposite of "disillusion": the beautiful albeit deluded youth inside us endures, and keeps wanting the world.

Liam Rector's poem "Twenty-Three" is from his book "The Executive Director of the Fallen World." The University of Chicago Press. Copyright 2006 by Liam Rector.