Slow Dance Matthew Dickman Analysis

Poetry can be seen as a way to get our subconscious thoughts into words, and that is what Matthew Dickman’s work in All- American Poem (2008). All-American Poem comments on American society; in fact, it acknowledges the conflict between American history and the current events of the modern day. Dickman's first collection is as American as Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and Pepsi-Cola. Winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize, Dickman shows his perception of the world through his body of work of subconscious thoughts.

Dickman’s poems are confessional and narrative enough to be entries in his diary. Dickman writes all of his poems like an autobiography; telling a story from his point of view incorporating his thoughts and ideas. He expresses what he believes and what he likes, while telling a descriptive story that, often, has a digression from his

original idea. That does not matter, because whatever Dickman is expressing, he reflecting his personal thoughts. “Roma” is a good example that Dickman shows his own beliefs conflicting with someone else’s:
This is the way with enlightened people. They say things
that are so infuriatingly simple when the world is not.
So I put down my Pepsi and pull out the big card.
What about Hitler? I ask. You can't love Hitler!
My neighbor puts a piece of pineapple on his tongue like a sacrament,
sucks the juice out of it, chews it up, then turns
his head slow like a cloud and says I can love anybody I feel like loving.
And I say that's ridiculous.
And he says what's ridiculous is that you don't.
This autobiographical and thoughtful way of writing allows readers and authors to have a connection because readers feel they know what is going on in the authors mind. This is the connection that authors want to have when they open up their inner thoughts to the world.
Poets often create their poems with different, specific forms, which can give each poem deeper meaning and purpose. Dickman rebuts this style of creativity. The form of Dickman’s poem is a stream of consciousness that is not controlled by a specific length, but controlled by when Dickman chooses to terminate his thought process. Readers can tell Dickman’s poems reflect a natural thought process because they are enjambed, they are not perfect or in complete sentences, and thoughts can be split at random spots into two separate lines. The opening lines in “The World is Too Huge to Grasp” portrays how Dickman does not hold back his thought process and provides a glimpse how he creates his poem’s enjambment:
Still, tiger, there's no reason
not to tie your wife up
if that's what she's been dreaming about
in traffic. No reason not to
go out and eat twenty doughnuts
if that's what you want instead of granola
because, whether you like it or not,
it's a skeleton you're wearing
under those Italian jeans.
This type of form for every poem could present readers with the feeling that his poems are lacking momentum. However, Dickman’s honesty in his poems is so refreshing, therefore, readers will continue reading.
It is rare to see the truth about American culture; however, Dickman’s confessional and subconscious body of work tell what it is like to live the American dream. Since it is the All- American Poem, it is only appropriate that one of Dickman’s reoccurring themes is conveying American society. For example, in the poem “All- American Poem,” Dickman mentions every single state and says something about each. “Texas, / I was with you on the fourth of July watching the sky undress/ with my friends/ and we were Americans on America Day, /”. Relating every state to something that reminds Dickman of that state is a big task. However, he states so many positives about modern day American society that it reminds readers what it really means to be an American.
Another topic that Dickman commonly refers to, and comes naturally in his thought process, is how grateful he is for experiencing life. Everyone has those little moments in life, like a sunset or a nostalgic memory, where they remember the good things in life and smile. Dickman has many of these moments; because he knows how easy the happy moments in life can be taken away. Dickman lost his older brother to suicide, and death is another common theme among his poems. However, Dickman sees through the sadness of death, and shows that he wants to support his readers to also see through the darkness. “Trouble” is an excellent example of Dickman’s philosophy. “In the morning I get out of bed, I brush/ my teeth, I wash my face, I get dressed in the clothes I like best. / I want to be good to myself”. Dickman celebrates humanity and he expresses that our best memories, those most worth holding on to and those that might save us, will be memories of love.
Subconsciously, the last topic that Dickman often refers to is passion and sexual relationships.

Dickman’s poetry is not rated PG; nevertheless, he talks about sexual relationships in a tasteful way. Poetry can be used as a way of expressing passions, as Dickman expresses in his body of work. The lines, “When the woman I’m sleeping with/ stands naked in the bathroom, / brushing her teeth, the slow dance of ritual is being spit/ into the sink.” from “Slow Dance” are a small example of Dickman expressing a sexual relationship and making a connection to something in his subconscious mind.

Since Dickman’s writing style is an uninterrupted train of thought, why do poems seem to fit together? Diction is the key to Dickman’s poetry; it is those words that jump of the page and can be embedded into your memory that make his work so impressionable. The first thing that will jump out at readers, as it did to me, is that he is not afraid to use curse words or sexual language. “And it is right, necessary even, fuck–…” from “We Are Not Temples” displays how in Dickman’s natural thought process, no word is off

limits.
Also, Dickman’s choice to string words together that don’t really belong demonstrates how one thought is connected to another, just in a new way. In “Grief” he even expresses words in a different context, “reading the name out loud, slowly/ so I am aware of each syllable/ wrapping around the bones like new muscle, /”. Without Dickman’s diction of strange word choices, curse words and sexual language, his poems would not be as impactful or be an All- American poem.