The Bizarreness of Tuesday

Poem of the Day:
David Kirby's "Seventeen Ways from Tuesday"
The Best American Poetry, 2006

Kirby's poem begins with the recollection of a statement overheard; he hears a man whisper to his girlfriend at an art exhibit that he intends to "'put it to [her] seventeen ways from Tuesday'" (line 3). Throughout the poem Kirby reflects upon the nature and landscape of this raunchy slip. He wonders, what is it about art that makes people happy and in turn, so sexually aroused. Kirby also dissects the sheer bizarreness that is this stranger's statement; why Tuesday? What about this day of the week is especially stimulating?

Well, today is a Tuesday. It has certainly been stimulating but not in the sexual sense. I moved into a small townhouse in Cambridge today; I plan to intern and work in Boston this summer. After a six hour drive I unpacked all my clothes (itemized, this count comes to about one million) and met up with friends some of whom I have not seen since I left for a semester abroad in Ireland. So certainly, my Tuesday was stimulating.

But not all Tuesdays are stimulating. A Tuesday is not quite the middle of the work week, but close enough that it hurts. Also, on Tuesday one is still recovering from Monday which we all know can be brutal.

The aesthetics of Tuesday rub me the wrong way. The look of the word 'Tuesday' is just a bit queer. Double vowels always frighten me. Also, if 'Tuesday' were to be thought of as a phrase of Spanish (think 'Tu es day') and were it subjected to a VERY poor translation, it could mean 'You are day.' But 'day' has no translation in Spanish, so on Tuesdays I am inclined to ask, "What am I?"

I'm still not quite sure. But Tuesday I am sure of you; you are bizarre.


Sincerely,
A Poem A Day Audrey