Poetry Analysis

"Toronto one"

By Donna McCaw

The Spell of Crazy Love, page 60

I picked the poem Toronto one because of the title. This poem can be found in the book The Spell of Crazy Love, which is a collection of poems by Donna McCaw. I was drawn to the book because of its clean, simple design, and how the font reminded me of Lord of the Rings. Scanning through the table of contents, I  immediately noticed Toronto one, because I like the city of Toronto. I would like to move there soon.

Donna McCaw is a local, since she is from Elora, which is very close to Guelph. She attended the University of Guelph as well as the University of Toronto.

Perhaps, the poem is based on the author's own experience, because it is set in Toronto, where she went to school at some point.

The poem explores themes of loneliness and emotional distress. The woman in the poem is sitting alone in her Toronto apartment. The space is too big, it feels empty because she feels lonely.

I like the following line;

photogenic as hell

because it illustrates how the woman is pretty, without actually saying so.

caught in an emotional crossfire

Means that she had a fight with someone, perhaps a boyfriend, but one should not assume this. 

too many empty echoes

too much sterile space

is a way of expressing how her apartment is too "clean", without life, because sterile means free from germs, specifically in a medical environment. Many people have an aversion to hospitals, perhaps this is why the word sterile was used.

The woman in the poem might be depressed, but this is a strong assumption to make.

I like the line;

 portrait in black and white

because it reminds me of the earlier line, "photogenic as hell". Perhaps what the author means by portrait is a photograph, which, depending on the date of the poem, could be because colour photography was not available at the time.

I like how the poem loops
. The first line is "sitting on a lonely chair", and the last one is "woman on chair in kitchen".