Brautigan's "The First Winter Snow"

Despite what I heard from others in lecture last Tuesday, I love the way Brautigan plays with the image of a woman's body. In no way is he offensive or vulgar in his language or tone, it is all playful and as truthful as I believe he can be. I think what I observe in his poems containing women are reflections of the human. In "The First Winter Snow" on page 16 of The Pill vs. The Springhill Mine Disaster, Brautigan strays from his usual machine/organic dichotomy so prevelant in Trout Fishing in America, and reflects on how humans have strayed from their own natural state. He does this by playing with the theme of human obesity. The poem begins, "Oh, pretty girl, you have trapped / yourself in the wrong body. . ." (1-2). He is not conscending to the girl, he even calls her "pretty" (1), but continues to point out what is wrong with her: "Twenty / extra pounds hang like a lumpy / tapestry on your perfect mammal nature." (2-4). It is evident that this weight she carries is unnatural from her "perfect mammal nature" (4). It could be the result of consumerism or insecurity caused by our society. Even with her "lumpy tapestry" (3-4) hanging from her figure, it still sounds as if Brautigan is writing a love poem to this girl: "Three months ago you were like a / deer standing at the first winter snow. // Now Aphrodite thumbs her nose at you / and tells stories behind your back." (5-8). Brautigan ends the piece with two short stanzas. The first compares the girl three months ago to a beautiful animal trapped within a beautiful scenery. The second is more playful, depicting Aphrodite as an uptight schoolgirl, wanting nothing to do with the girl because of her weight. I think most of the poem's honestly and playfullness is weighted in those last two lines, but the words "perfect mammal nature" in line 4 definitely stand out as significant. The human, as an animal, is not supposed to be twenty pounds overweight. There is so much excess in our society and culture, I think humans forget that a lot of what needs to be shed is actually attached to our bodies. "The First Winter Snow" is not offensive to me as a woman, I feel it speaks to me more as a human.