I and Thou, You and Me

"Love Song: I and Thou"
Alan Dugan

Nothing is plumb, level or square:
     the studs are bowed, the joists
are shaky by nature, no piece fits
     any other piece without a gap
or pinch, and bent nails
     dance all over the surfacing
like maggots. By Christ
     I am no carpenter. I built
the roof for myself, the walls
     for myself, the floors
for myself, and got
     hung up in it myself. I
danced with a purple thumb
     at this house-warming, drunk
with my prime whiskey: rage.
     Oh I spat rage's nails
into the frame-up of my work:
     it held. It settled plumb,
level, solid, square and true
     for that one great moment. Then
it screamed and went on through,
     skewing it as wrong the other way.
God damned it. This is hell,
     but I planned it, I sawed it,
I nailed it, and I
     will live in it until it kills me.
I can nail my left palm
     to the left-hand cross-piece but
I can't do everything myself.
     I need a hand to nail the right,
a help, a love, a you, a wife.
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According to our textbook, I and Thou is an influential theological book by Martin Buber that states that, "though suffering is inescapable, human life becomes meaningful as man forms 'I-Thou' relationships, as opposed to 'I-It' relationships." This poem follows this idea that, amidst life's confusion and pointlessness, value can be found in relationships with others. The speaker shows his need for the love of his wife through metaphor and allusion, illustrating his confusion and anger at the state of his life and the ironic peace he finds in marriage.

The most prevalent image in the poem is the image of the house and the building of it. The speaker begins by stating that "nothing is plumb, level or square;" he goes on to describe the faults of the house that he has built, ending with the assertion that "[he] is no carpenter" (1-7). By beginning in this way, with a list of all of the shortcomings of his house, he shows himself to be self-deprecating. The house is representative of the speaker's life, and his statement that he is "no carpenter" tells the reader that the speaker does not feel prepare to have responsibility and control his own life. He goes on to say that he built the entire house for himself, "drunk / with [his] prime whiskey: rage" (14-15). He "spat rage's nails / into the frame-up of [his] work: / it held" (16-18). His anger held everything together "for that one great moment" before everything fell apart (20). In his rage, he is throwing this house, or his life, together in the hopes that it will all fit together and give him a home, but it doesn't. He cannot escape from his life, and he vows to "live in it until it kills [him]" (26).

The poem contains several allusions to Jesus Christ. The speaker finds himself different from Jesus in that he is "no carpenter." By exclaiming "By Christ" before this (7), instead of a more traditional "by God," the speaker shows the reader the differences between the speaker and Christ. He also claims that "God damned" his life (23), a stark contrast from the blessing of Jesus. However, at the end of the poem the speaker describes himself nailing his "left palm / to the left-hand cross-piece" (27-28). This is a clear reference to Jesus on the cross; the speaker is trying to show himself as a martyr, but understands that he "can't do everything [him]self. / [He needs] a hand to nail the right, / a help, a love, a you, a wife" (29-31). He can hang himself up in his house by himself (12), but the use of the word "hung" as opposed to "hanged," which would have suggested suicide, shows that his purpose is not to die. The irony that his wife saves him by allowing him to suffer completely and in the way that he wants is clear; she completes his suffering and allows him to find peace in ending of his anger.

This poem twists Buber's initial ideas of "I and Thou," altering the concept to imply that peace can be found in life's misery when one can be assisted in one's pain by another; living in bitterness and upset can become blissful when one finds someone to help complete the pain. The speaker's use of religious allusion, as well as diction that becomes sharpest and most aggressive at the middle of the poem and then eases towards the end as the speaker finds his wife, help to expand on a well-respected idea in order to introduce a new meaning of the idea of companionship.