Nets
by Jen Bervin is a collection of erasures. Her canvas are a collection of about
150 sonnets by William Shakespeare. The erasures, as Bervin says, “make the
space of the poems open, porous, possible – a divergent elsewhere” (151). They make
reading the poems truly a unique experience. In this essay, I will discuss the
relationship of the erasure to the sonnet while focusing on one of these
erasures. The erasure I chose comes from Skaepeare’s sonnet 15.
the stars
the selfsame
sky
for
love of you.
The
above erasure is a short poem of three
equally short lines. Most of the erasures follow this pattern and I was tempted
to call some of them haikus, and I actually believe they are. According to
Shadow Poetry, a haiku does not necessarily mean that there has to be a 5/7/5
syllable structure. Actually, the other definition as mentioned here (http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html),
defines a haiku as a poem that contains seventeen syllables or less. Furthermore, the page goes on to
outline the structure of the haiku where the first line is the setting and the
remaining two lines are the subject and the action. So in a sense, Bervin’s
erasures, as seen in this case, can be argued to be haikus. What I find most
convincing is that the erasures do not have more the seventeen syllables.
However,
the setting, subject and action do not necessarily appear in that order. I
would say the setting is the sky; the subject is the stars; the action is the
love. I guess this is the restriction of dealing with erasure but clearly,
Bervin did try to achieve a form similar to that of a haiku.
The
meaning of Bervin’s erasure, to me, is quite straight forward. But there seems
to be something lacking. It speaks of the stars, and sky that the stars are in.
Yet, somehow, they are related to the love of someone, as if something about
the stars and the sky, dictate or influence the love. I think, this is where
Bervin’s erasures begin to relate to the sonnets, and this is why I chose this particular
one.
In
this sonnet, Shakespeare talks about how time ages someone, taking away their
youth (“Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,/ To change your day of youth
to sullied night”). And the stars seem
to flaunt their youth in the face of men and plants. And on seeing this youth,
they decide that they too want to grow with Time under the same sky as the
stars (Whereon the stars in secret
influence comment;/ When I perceive that men as plants increase,/ Cheered and
checked even by the selfsame sky”). Unfortunately,
men fall prey to this mockery of the stars and Time takes away their youth. But
Shakespeare believes that that even though his love grow old, he will immortalize
this person, possibly in the form of the sonnets. I would probably say it is
seen in the following two sonnets where Shakespeare continues his discussion of
Time and aging(16), and continuing in Sonnet 18 to describe a young maiden.
It
can be seen, that standing alone, Bervin’s erasures seem so, “open.” The
erasure clearly sets up the subject, setting and action yet does not give the
relationship between the three. This leaves the poem very much up to how the
reader will interpret it, rather than how Shakespeare intended.
