Skunk Hour

Overall, I thought that this poem was quite interesting. This poem by Robert Lowell is a very dark and dreary piece.

In lines 1-12:
In these lines, I pictured a small fishing/tourist island that was starting to wear down. "She buys up all/the eyesores facing her shore/and lets them fall." This depicts the overall destruted town.

In lines 13-24:
These lines express the lack of touring of the island. There is little business coming in for the people of this town. The fact that it is no longer summer, is one of the main reasons for the little income. As the towns people prepare their town for the coming fall/winter months there is little money due to the lack of income.

In lines 25-36:
The speaker talks about driving up a hill and sees some cars parked on the hill. I believe that these cars were those of "teenagers" or young couples. I also think that the speaker seems to be discontent with his own relationship status. Whether this is due to a lack of a relationship or a deteriorating one, I believe that he is unhappy--"I myself am hell/nobody's here". I also thought that these lines could be depicting the speaker having a flashback. (specifically the line "nobody's here".)

In lines 37-48:
These lines were harder for me to understand than the others.
I interpreted these lines as the speaker associating the skunks with his relationship. I thought, also, that the skunks could be metaphors for the people in the town, not in that they smell, but that the town around them is deteriorating and they are, in a sense, scrounging to survive.

As I mentioned above, this poem was very dark and quite metaphorical, in my opinion, however it was quite intriguing.