Some Afternoons She Does Not Pick Up the Phone

Carson uses ice as an extended metaphor to describe a mental landscape in this short, unrhymed lyric poem. The speaker is omniscient but self-effacing, which allows the icy physical landscape to occupy center stage. The speaker is not identified but could be the “she” from the title, who does not pick up the phone on some afternoons. Like many of Carson’s poems, “Some Afternoons” is spare in identifying details and invites multiple interpretations and readings.

Though landscape is extremely important in this poem, the details of place are not given. However, the reader knows the month is February. It can be inferred the action in the poem is located in the Northern Hemisphere, probably the poet’s native Canada, which sees harsh, long winters. The title of the poem foreshadows some of its thematic concerns, such as Mental and Physical Isolation. The poem is rich in atmosphere, its ice imagery inviting the reader into a cold, frozen world. The speaker’s tone seems distant, especially in the beginning of the poem, which paradoxically enhances the sense of urgency hiding behind it.

Gradually, as the ice begins to represent the speaker’s own state of mind, the observations turn more urgent and personal. Thus, the poem travels from the outer world to a more private one. It is a cold month, and ice is “general” (Line 1) or widespread. At first, the speaker means this literally. Fallen snow has hardened to ice. Lakes and other bodies of water have frozen over. Layers of frost cover all objects. Because of these different origins, the ice is found in all colors, from blue to brown to silver.

The first hint of a metaphor arises from the description that some bits of ice have a shadow inside. This is a literal description as well, since bits of ice can seem to house opaque spots, depending on how they were formed. Yet, the word “shadow” (Line 3) introduces a subjective note in the poem, which the next few lines amplify. The ice is “smooth as a flank” (Line 4), a comparison that invites more ambiguity. A flank can refer to the side of both an animal and an object, giving the ice a living quality, as if it were scheming against the speaker and other humans.

The slippery surface of the ice makes it impossible to stand upon, and “standing on it the wind goes thin” (Line 5). These ominous lines introduce an element of danger now to the ice. Again, the danger is also literal, because the ice may crack if one stands on it. It is the phrase “the wind goes thin” that adds a layer of subtext to the literal meaning. The wind becomes thin, or hard to breathe, when the speaker stands on the ice or confronts it. The wind is torn to shreds, like the breath, like “[a]ll we wished for” (Line 6). Alternatively, the speaker could be alluding to the thin, high-pitched sound the cold, brisk wind makes on a bad-weather day. In either sense, the ice is a treacherous entity. Standing on it or confronting the ice has the potential to ruin everything.

“The little ones” (Line 7) who cannot stand on the dangerous ice refers possibly to children. They also symbolize hopes and wishes. Neither a letter nor a stroke of a letter can stand on the ice. Now the metaphor of the ice becomes clearer, since the implicit comparison is to the blank page. The blank page is like the smooth ice in that the speaker cannot make a single letter stand on it. The ice outside represents the speaker’s inability to create, perhaps a writer’s block. Additionally, the fingers may feel too frozen to write. The letters that cannot arrive from the outside world refer to the stalled postal service as well. Thus, the ice is both a physical and a mental obstacle, seemingly unsurpassable.

Snowed-in, the landscape is completely cut-off from the larger world. In the next line, the ice becomes something overwhelming, like an excess of light and heat, almost sun-like. It is blinding and burns whatever it admits. The blank paper too consumes all thoughts and images; the speaker cannot overcome its stare. Here, the ice also represents a frozen or depressed state of mind. In this state of mind, nothing seems to penetrate the gloom. No communication is possible.

The last two lines repeat the poem’s opening, but now with amplified meaning. The ice, which is general, has gripped the speaker’s mind and heart too. The speaker is under a pall of inaction and despondency. There are different degrees to the ice that has gripped the heart, thus many reasons for its frozen state. It can be inferred that this is why the speaker does not want to answer the phone on some afternoons.