Tuesday night, the class was given the chance to see Professor Kahan in concert at CSI. As the Chamber Music Collective performed the pieces by Claude Debussy I recognized what professor Kahan had said about Debussy’s music seemingly having no true beginning or ending. As whimsical and enjoying as it was, there were many moments where I thought the piece had ended, and almost began to clap. I soon realized that the audience and I had to wait for cues from the musician to signify the piece was officially over. This uncertainty of its ending appealed to me, actually. Overall, I can say that the night was a great opportunity to listen to music that I otherwise would not have encountered.

On Wednesday’s seminar class we continued our poetry recitations. Brendon’s poem “Check Mate” seemed to be the poem we analyzed most. I thought that the connections between the chess game and 9/11 were quite brilliant. At first, I thought it was peculiar how the poet chose to use the word “fat finger” to describe where he grew up. As the poem went on however I saw the connection between the chess game and hands–which you play chess with.

Another motif that seemed to occur in the poem was the presence of “doubles.” With the twin towers, two cigarettes, two players in a game of chess and the presence of two rooks per player it is something you cannot ignore. I think the fact that I noticed all of these doubles is because it reminded me of Hitchcock’s Stranger on a Train, a film where seeing double is an understatement. Another thing that I found interesting was that the two cigarettes smoked by the poets father also represented the passing of time. Rather than taking the usual pack of cigarettes to finish their game, the poet and his father took only the time of two cigarettes to finish the game. Undoubtedly, from the excitement of his first accountants check. Ultimately, I enjoyed the poem and the cleverness of the connections.