To Help the Monkey Cross the River

“The Horse Poisoner” by Thomas Lux (2015)

In this poem, a speaker narrates a mysterious case of the horse-poisonings in a small town. Like in “To Help a Monkey Cross the River,” the identity of the speaker is unknown, and the events have a surrealist, absurd quality despite their given detail. The conclusion is open-ended, but presents a striking, surprising note. Comparing the two poems demonstrates the range of Lux’s style: While the poems share a matter-of-fact delivery and absurd humor, “To Help a Monkey” has elements of a lyric poem, while “The Horse Poisoner” is a narrative poem with a speaker persona relaying gossip about past events. “To Help the Monkey” is also clearly an allegory with a definite message (the message itself may be different for different readers), but “The Horse Poisoner” is more of an absurdist work.

“The Word Plum” by Helen Chasin

Thomas Lux often said his writing teacher, American poet Helen Chasin, was instrumental in teaching him the craft of writing well-constructed, tightly knit poems. “The Word Plum” is among Chasin’s most anthologized works. Though vastly different from “To Help a Monkey Cross the River,” the sensual, witty poem contains a similar economy of form and structure.

“Merry-No-Round” by Bill Knott (2004)

In this surrealist poem by Bill Knott, Lux’s contemporary and friend, the image of a carousel with wooden horses inspires a dream of freedom at the cost of annihilation. Unlike Lux’s poem, “Merry-No-Round” follows a more formal structure, divided into couplets, and is packed with literary devices such as alliterations and metaphors. The inventiveness of language (the “merry-no-round” of the title) and the element of surprise are similar to Lux’s poem. “Merry-No-Round” is also one of the few poems by Knott that works as an extended metaphor or an allegory.