Poem Analysis: Hadara Bar-Nadava's Telephone Pole

There’s this sense of isolated detachment present in the poem “Telephone Pole” amidst all this communication. By using the center source a telephone pole through which all communication flows Hadara Bar-Nadava creates a powerful message. There’s this contradictory theme running through this poem, the object the poems about has this indifferent air, but it shows bouts of awareness and emotion especially in lines thirty-four to thirty-eight. The word choice appears to have a simple meaning but has a variety of definitions which can fit interchangeably and alter the line interpretation.

The opening line of “blind beacon” means a telephone pole’s the hub of communication. Normally they’re pretty visible, but there’s so many around that this line

Instead of the words of thousands, Bar-Nadav uses lips, using the telephone wires as the metaphorical lips that allow communication to pass through them. The sleepy lover could be another telephone pole connected through the distance by wires or actual lovers on the phone. The authors phrasing in stanza nine seems off and draws attention to its message. “The world become less strange” seems weird, since the line grammatically should be the world became or becomes less strange. By claiming something as normal, it brings into question why this is considered normal. Maybe the telephone pole finds complacency in its usual task and feels odd when it’s not in use. “Words for static” implies silence on the other end, and “soon” an end of a phone call. This shows it has the ability to communicate or convey emotions without having to talk. The line “years of winter splintered my throat” could be either this sense of isolation being a bystander to all these people’s conversations or the literal winter causes calls to mess up and damages the actual pole. The next stanza that follows this one is interesting because life seems to return to it. The humming is the constant use of the telephone poles. It finds people and allows for them to connect back with one another.

People only care that telephone poles allow them to communicate. It’s similar to the opening line of “blind beacon” where there’s this plea to be noticed. This can be seen in lines twenty-nine to thirty-two. The birds notice the poles, but only use them to sit on to get warmth from the sun. The choice of “solicit” shows how the telephone poles feel about being used or taken advantage of. The birds ask and demand of the poles like people do, which can be seen in the last three stanzas. “I am not allowed to flinch” shows a strong almost violent imagery. Actions are taken against its will and without its consent. The poles aren’t allowed the ability to show their fear when their implied death occurs. “The trembling hasn’t stopped since I was born” shows a sense of awareness or knowledge of what will come of it but is unable to act on this knowledge. Or that the telephone poles have been created and taken advantage of their whole lives. They’re made to do something that nobody appreciates or