Nick Flynn, “Emptying Town,” p. 127 Legitimate Dangers
Flynn plays a lot with line breaks and the aspect of continuity in “Emptying Town.” He begins the poem by speaking about the emptying of Provincetown (a summer colony that literally does close down for the most part in the colder months) all in one stanza. The writing is tight, follows standard rules of punctuation, and flows without disruption caused by diction or sound. However, the moment he switches to the subject of Jesus, the stanza breaks. He breaks the next stanza once he moves to his next subject, how he misses his (presumably) lover, and the next line stanza break occurs when he changes the subject to his friend, then again when he focuses on Jesus, then again when he discusses heaven and hell, and finally when he addresses the relationship between him and his lover directly. This use of line breaks adds a lot of hard emphasis to what he is discussing. The reader understands more fully that the narrator is making difficult mental jumps from subject to subject; the breaks add an emotional charge to this movement.
This effect is enhanced by the style of the narrative voice. Flynn writes using very simple language that could come out of any average person’s mouth. He even goes as far as to say “bye-bye” which cannot be put into any piece of writing without lowering its formality and making it much younger and more familiar. This casual voice helps illustrate the narrator’s mental process. This is his voice, we are with him as he reflects. Because of this intimacy and facility of comprehension, the line breaks are so much more influential. They strike the eye and tear your easy progression along his simple sentences and arc.
Flynn furthers these two elements in tandem in the final line when he adds italics to the line “look what I did for you.” Now we are hit with both the emphasis of separated speech that would flow beautifully without stanza breaks and the added emphasis of italics. Although these italics could also be interpreted as words that are voice by the narrator, the aesthetic effect of italics on interpretation is arresting nonetheless.
Imitation:
Each spring the leaves come
anew to the trees, and life
is restored to the valley. You
left this time, freezing
my heart solid. It can’t absorb
or see or feel, it has to just sit.
I think about my dog
pressed against the door
waiting to be let out.
But I don’t care. I
prefer to rest with my
loneliness instead. Outside
the windows all is green and
flowers blossom. But I just see it and wonder
What happened to spring?
