Simic's The Partial Explanation

None Necessary

Aug 21, 2008 Linda Sue Grimes

This poem's simple scenario draws the reader in as a story does. The reader's first thought is "then what happened?" instead of "what does that metaphor mean?"

Former U. S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic’s “The Partial Explanation” consists of four unrimed verse paragraphs. The poem’s theme is elusive beginning with the title; there does not seem to be any explanation for anything.

The reader may assume that the speaker wishes to offer his explanation for why he is tempted to “eavesdrop / On the conversation / Of cooks.” While the reader may be correct, this explanation leaves the poem with rather thin substance.

First Verse Paragraph: “Seems like a long time”

The speaker places himself in a little diner, “luncheonette,” somewhere in a cold climate: “snow [is] falling outside.” The place is unappetizing; the speaker calls it “grimy.” And the service is poor or at least slow, if the speaker’s sense of timing is accurate; he says it “seems” that it has been “a long time / Since the waiter took [his] order.”

Second Verse Paragraph: “Seems like it has grown darker”

In the second verse paragraph, the reader learns why the speaker thinks it has been a long time since the waiter took his order; it is that it “seems like it has grown darker / Since [he] last heard the kitchen door.” The waiter, it seems, has vanished into kitchen, and some time has passed without his reappearing with the speaker’s food.

But it has also seemed to be a long time since the speaker noticed people on the street passing in front of the diner. In the meantime, it has gotten darker, because after all this is winter time when the days are shorter. However, that the place is actually a “luncheonette” signals that the speaker is ordering a midday meal, and the seeming darkness would then just be illusion. The speaker’s focus is on the length of time he has to wait for his food.

Third Verse Paragraph: “A glass of ice-water”

The speaker then reports, “A glass of ice-water / Keeps me company.” He subtly lets the reader know that he is alone, which might account for the seemingly long wait he is experiencing and perhaps the illusion that it has grown darker outside. The stereotypically solo diner is often ridiculed or pitied, so much so that many people will go out of their way to make sure they have at least one dining companion.

But then this place is not a fancy restaurant, and if the reader has not realized that by now, the speaker again emphasizes that fact by reporting that he sits at a table that he himself picked out after he entered, that is, no host greeted him and escorted him to a table as is done in most sit-down establishments. And he did not need a reservation; he simply walked in off the street, seated himself, and now has to wait what seems an eternity for his meal.

Fourth Verse Paragraph: “And a longing”

The speaker then asserts that also accompanying him at his table is his desire to overhear what the cooks are talking about. The desire is an “incredible longing,” not just an ordinary wish. He drops his narrative with a thud, and the reader is left wondering, “just what did this speaker explain?”

Perhaps this speaker feels that he must justify the sin of eavesdropping, even though poets and writers are notorious for eavesdropping. Or perhaps he just wishes to leave behind a little mystery.

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Charles Simic