"Conjugal" by Russel Edson

Chelsa Lauderdale
11/10/10
Intro to Writing and Literature
“Conjugal”
The poem “Conjugal” by Russel Edson intrigues the reader with both its content as well as the way its written. The poem is written in a sort of narrative form that reads more as a very short story than a poem. For this reason, this sort of writing could appeal to lovers of poetry or narrative or especially the people who don’t particularly like poetry. It is written in a combination of short paragraphs and one-liners, making the one liners stand out that much more. Lines like “he is convincing her. It is all so private” and “and it is such a private thing they do” are connected even though they are separated in the poem, they have ties to each other and the separation of these lines from the other paragraphs make this connectivity stand out. The shortness of the poem also leaves the poem in a mysterious tone that leaves the reader questioning.
However, the content of the poem itself also leaves us questioning. The poem seems comparative to the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman a story about a near insane woman losing her mind due to the wallpaper of the room that she is confined to. I feel as though “Conjugal” could be a poem written about the woman who is trapped inside the wallpaper and about how she got there. The lines “he is forming her into the wallpaper. He is smoothing her down into the flowers there” (323) give the reader that feeling. If that is the case, the sexual nature of this piece and the seemingly demanding nature of the husband in the poem could be the reason why in “The Yellow Wallpaper” the woman behind the wallpaper wants to be released from behind it.
There is something alternatively loving and perverted in the poem “Conjugal”. When Edson writes “he is bending her around the bedpost. No, he is bending her around the tripod of his camera” the relationship between this man and his wife seems almost pornographic. While in lines such as “he is smoothing her down into the flowers there. He is finding her nipples there. And he is kissing her pubis there” their relationship seems loving and caring, even if the woman’s husband is locking her up in the wallpaper.
If one was to combine the two pieces “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Conjugal” (or at least in the form that I’ve interpreted it as) it would make for quite the interesting tale.