Reading Hemingway 

This poem really befuddled me at first because of its blatant simpleness. It had me guessing whether it was a poem with a deeper meaning behind the narrator's reading of Ernest Hemingway's literary works, or the narrator just simply stating that he felt this way whenever he read.

It is confusing almost to the point of annoyance. The narrator repeats that Reading Hemingway makes him hungry, but for what exactly..? He claims he's hungry for ham, and cheese, for a dry white wine. But then he's "hungry for the good life, the sun, the fish, the sky: blue air, white water, dinner on the line..."  


 And then later he claims that reading Hemingway makes him "cold. So cold. And very dry."
                                                                                                                                            ...the hell?


Another thing that's coming to mind, is that by "Reading Hemingway," he means literally reading Ernest Hemingway, as a person.

"Reading Hemingway makes some folks angry: 
the hip drinking, the bitter pantomime" 

Meaning, some people are annoyed at Hemingway and his lifestyle? I don't know much, if it all, of any of Hemingway's literary works, but "hip drinking" doesn't seem like something found in any of his books. And pantomime means to tell a story without words, which, would technically rule out being able to literally read the story; so any pantomiming being done would have to be done at the dictate of Hemingway himself.

With that idea, it makes some sort of sense to say that "reading Hemingway" instills hunger in the narrator for the "good life" - full of all those pleasures Hemingway can be seen partaking of.


I don't remember where, but I remember hearing Ernest Hemingway being hailed as the first "Most Interesting Man In The World"


Seems legit.




I was curious to figure what was meant by "I'd knock down Monsieur Stevens, too, if I / drank too much retsina before we dined."

I figured it was some allusion to one of Hemingway's works, but no, I tried googling it and found this:

http://www.kwls.org/littoral/ernest_hemingway_knocked_walla/

Apparently, it's Hemingway's firsthand account of the scuffle between him, and Wallace Stevens - a relatively well known poet.

In the account, it also mentioned "Papa". Not sure who that is, but in the poem, it also references a certain "Papa".

So I'm starting to understand that this poem is really just a big reference to the many stories surrounding Ernest Hemingway; which I suppose would explain why I'm having difficulty matching all this up. lol




My stance now, is that this poem is for those that appreciate Hemingway. The ones who understand the references, they're the ones who can enjoy this poem. And as a side effect, this poem perplexes those who don't know Hemingway, so that an interest may be sparked, and they will research Hemingway, and try to find out more about him and/or read his work.
                                                                                                                                             - I guess.