Line-by-Line Analysis of “Read Signs Incorrectly, Repeat”
Read Signs Incorrectly, Repeat
- The title functions as a refrain and a confession: it signals the speaker’s cyclical pattern of misinterpretation and return. It primes us for a poem about ritualized failure and persistence.
I look into the screen, rows and rows of texts
- Establishes the speaker’s world of writing as both mirror and maze. The “rows and rows” gesture toward obsession and overwhelm.
Paragraphs, pages, after pages
- The anaphora (“paragraphs, pages”) intensifies the sense of endless labor. It feels both triumphant and burdensome.
These are my expressions, I cast an outline
- Writing as creation and containment: an “outline” promises structure, yet it also suggests limitation.
Spin a story, muchnof it writes itself
- A slip (“muchnof”) underlines the poem’s theme of imperfection. Creativity is partly autonomous, but the typo reminds us it still bears the human hand.
I am one pair of one eyes but
- The awkward phrasing emphasizes singular isolation. The speaker is both watcher and watched, trapped in self-reflection.
Always was, always will
- A compressed existential claim: the self is unchanging, bound to this act of observation and creation.
No respite warranted, none accepted
- Denial of rest becomes a vow. There’s no room for mercy—either from the world or from the self.
And the night passes me through, like a mother facing Shoulder Dystocia
- A startling medical metaphor: the night is laboring pain. It obstructs birth (of ideas or identity) just as shoulder dystocia obstructs delivery.
I can hear it wail, like a Banshee
- The banshee’s scream conjures ancestral dread. Night’s anguish becomes a voice of warning and grief.
And Maa whispers gently in my ear
- The maternal figure enters as comfort and command. Her whisper carries authority and intimacy.
"Stop this, I don't need you" , "neither"
- Maa’s gentle rejection fractures syntax. It’s ambiguous: is she dismissing the act, the speaker, or both?
How many signs do others ignore, I need one
- A plea for clarity. The speaker contrasts their own desperation with the assumed indifference of others.
Yet in this endeavour, I ignored ingnoring, inability, failure, inadequacy, impossbilities
- A catalog of obstacles. The slip in “ingnoring” mirrors the poem’s theme of misreading and persevering despite it.
I persevered, but as always this Maa too
- Persistence is the only constant—but even the divine mother mirror’s the speaker’s relentlessness.
Became like mine
- Maa’s mutability: she shifts to resemble the speaker’s own expectations and disappointments.
"Devi Kadakshikiyum" was my motivator
- Introduces the devotional mantra. Knowing now it means “Devi will bless,” it becomes the poem’s spiritual heartbeat.
Ammumma would say, far too frequently
- Invokes familial authority. The grandmother’s faith is both comforting and inescapable.
Every hour, everyday
- Reinforces the mantra’s persistence. It’s a refrain that loops through the speaker’s life.
Yet, this fallback to Maa too is my errand
- Returning to the maternal divine becomes a personal duty—an errand that feels both necessary and futile.
The fool I am, but I read it wrong I see
- Self-reproach and revelation coincide. Misreading the divine becomes the speaker’s defining folly.
Knowledge chases me, but I am faster maybe
- A paradox: the speaker outruns understanding, suggesting both cleverness and a refusal to fully grasp their pursuit.
Like sensibility has chased me in the past
- Links intellectual insight (“sensibility”) with creative drive. The chase is ongoing and recursive.
Between the bearer of the Veena and Half of the Trishul bearer, only one always blesses me
- Invokes Saraswati (knowledge/music) and Shiva (destruction/transformation). The speaker is selectively graced by one aspect of the divine.
Feeds me, I am blessed, I understand
- Acceptance of partial blessing. Gratitude coexists with awareness of incompleteness.
Yet the human in me wants more, and why wouldn't it
- The demand for transcendence is framed as inevitable—a fundamental contradiction of human nature.
It is a contradiction to my existence to not wish to be beyond
- Explicitly names the paradox: humans resist limits even when they live within them.
Yet Maa will as always control, Maa is Maa
- The maternal divine remains sovereign. Her nature is immutable and unfathomable.
I do not fight, let alone against her
- Resignation becomes moral choice. The speaker refuses conflict with the divine.
I submit, live my failures
- Submission transforms defeat into a lived practice. Failure is existence, not exception.
Be less human, until her choices change
- The final paradox: to become less fully human in hopes of divine favor. It’s both surrender and strategy.
Summary of “Read Signs Incorrectly, Repeat”
“Read Signs Incorrectly, Repeat” is a free-verse meditation on the speaker’s creative and spiritual journey. It traces the exhaustion of endless writing, the search for a singular sign of divine blessing, and the repeated cycle of misinterpretation. Rich metaphors—obstructed birth, ancestral wails, and whispered maternal commands—underscore the tension between human ambition and divine control. Ultimately, the poem moves from a plea for affirmation to a resigned submission under the ever-sovereign maternal figure, “Maa.”
Key Themes
- Cyclical misinterpretation and ritualized return
- Creative labor as both birth pang and relentless burden
- Faith and doubt interwoven in the pursuit of divine blessing
- Paradox of human desire to transcend versus submission to higher will
Imagery and Structure
- The screen and endless pages as a metaphorical creative womb
- Shoulder dystocia and banshee wail evoke pain, obstruction, and ancestral dread
- Divine interplay between Devi (blessing), Saraswati (knowledge/music), and Shiva (transformation)
- Free-verse flow with intermittent enjambments mirrors the poem’s recursive, breathless urgency
This summary condenses the poem’s emotional architecture and central motifs, offering a concise lens on its exploration of creation, faith, and surrender.
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