Kevin Halligan

 

He is a Canadian poet and writer who was born in 1964. Halligan grew up in Toronto. He lived abroad for many years, in England and Cambodia, before returning to Canada. His collections include Blossom Street (1999), The Belfast of the North (2005) and Utopia (2009). For several years he edited the poetry 'zine Earlscourt.

His early work shows the influence of the English poet Peter Reading, who welcomed Blossom Street in a review in the Times Literary Supplement as "different from the general ruck" and noted "the sensation of slight unease and of exile" created by the poems.

The Cockroach

 

I watched a giant cockroach start to pace,

Skirting a ball of dust that road the floor.

At first he seemed quite satisfied to trace

A path between the wainscot and the door,

But soon he turned to jog in crooked rings,

Circling the rusty table leg and back,

And flipping right over to scratch his wings-

As if the victim of a mild attack

Of restlessness that worsened over time.

After a while, he climbed an open shelf

And stopped. He looked uncertain where to go.

Was this due payment for some vicious crime

A former life had led to? I don’t know

Except I thought I recognized myself.

Analysis

'The Cockroach' by Kevin Halligan is a poem about reflection on life through watching the movement of a cockroach. Through the use of structure, detailed description of cockroach as an extended metaphor of the persona, the theme of confusion and realization of life is well conveyed.

Halligan describes a frantic movement of the cockroach throughout the poem. However, the poem opens with the exaggeration of it 'a giant cockroach'. This highlights that he is observing it very closely feeling as if it is a 'giant'. The word 'giant' also conveys that it is not only an insect but also a device to reflect on life giving it great importance with the repetition of word 'cockroach' in the title and first line.
The cockroach is an extended metaphor of the persona and human being. The cockroach moves through 'a path between the wainscot and the door' which symbolizes a steady path that people follow early in life. But, 'soon he turned to jog in crooked rings' suggests human being's confusion in later life reinforcing a sense of confusion of human being through an image of cockroach. The readers also sense the confusion and pain in the poem creating an interest for the poem- for the scene of a cockroach moving. The sense of confusion continues to be expressed through dictions 'restlessness' 'flipping right over' 'victim for a mild attack'. The line 'flipping right over' symbolizes the change in tone and change in the way that poem develops. The man feels lost and confused and doesn´t know where to go.