Adultery by James Dickey
One Deadly Sin in One Potent Poem
James Dickey had been a much heralded poet in the 1960's; winning the National Book Award, as well as being Poet Consultant to the Library of Congress (Poet Laureate); before he unexpectedly became world famous, as a novelist.
Two years after publishing his best-selling novel, Deliverance, James Dickey would do something that very few poets had ever had the opportunity to do: perform a cameo in a major Hollywood movie production.
The movie, Deliverance, released in 1972, would go on to become one of the most talked about, and remembered films in American cinema history; thereby making Dickey something else quite foreign to poets: rich and famous.
James Dickey did not sell-out; as a matter of fact, his proficiency in poetry, after Deliverance, was quite remarkable; releasing no less than thirteen books of poetry before he finally wrote his second novel, Alnilam in 1987.
There is little dispute among his fans as to which of James Dickey’s many volumes of poetry ascends above the rest: Poems 1957-1967; as it best represents the potency, and the naturalistic depth of Dickey’s work. Adultery is from this collection.
We have all been in rooms
We have all been in rooms
We cannot die in
And so begins Adultery, a poem that will begin in, and remain in, this room. A room where a painting hangs above the bed, depicting a Western motif, complete with cattle, canoes, a sunrise, and American Indians, standing eagle-armed on hills; looking downward upon the room, Far away gazing down with the eyes of our children and passing judgement.
A clear symbol is put forth by the American Indian, as he stands in judgement; a reminder of the burden of sins all Americans must carry.
There is always some weeping
After the conglomerate guilt of American sin and parental negligence, thus far executed, Dickey describes the scene from the bedside view, as one of checking watches and wringing hands, There is always some weeping.
There is an understanding of regret and denial between the two as they continually check to see how much time they have left, understanding, Of this nothing can come. It is in this scene, that Dickey brilliantly and boldly describes the woman’s contraception, in a way that is simply masterful; correlating it to the man’s grim techniques.
Guilt is magical.
The guilt does not dissuade the couple from continuing their affair. As they come to believe in something magical; something like magical thinking; where the four walls of the room will protect them from harm.
It is in this final stanza, that Dickey strikes upon something powerful; in this portrayal a discovery is made: to commit one of the seven deadly sins (lust), and to not die as a result, makes one invincible; and thereby making the once corrosive feeling of guilt, an empowering and addictive desire, to be nurtured and fed.
We have done it again we are
Still living.
Guilt is magical.
James Dickey
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