Is Love Worth the Risk? - My Love for You Is So Embarrassingly” by Todd Boss

Is Love Worth the Risk?

The poem “My Love for You is So Embarrassingly” by Todd Boss depends on many figures of speech. The main metaphor used in this poem are comparisons of his love to the Hindenburg, then compares the Hindenburg to the Titanic. The title might indicate that his love is not just grand, but also an embarrassment. Both the Hindenburg and the Titanic were the most gorgeous forms of transportation for the time period, but also an embarrassment because they failed. Every aspect of this poem suggests that when it comes to his love it is grand, unpredictable, and old fashioned.

Boss starts the love poem with “My Love for You is So Embarrassingly / grand . . . would you mind terribly, my groundling, / if I compared it to the Hindenburg (I mean / before it burned)” (title-3). Right away it is clear he is addressing his love as the groundling below him. He asks if she would mind his love to this colossal airship. He asks her permission to compare their love to something that had failed. He does make a point to mention that the comparison is before the crash, when it was still in the air. Comparing something as grand as love to a failed aircraft may seem strange, but the aircraft was at one point the greatest form of transportation the world had ever seen. This could mean his love is the greatest the world had ever seen.

Through the end of the first stanza we start to make sense of the comparison of the Hindenburg to his love as being “that vulnerable, elephantine / dream of transport.” (3-4) Here Boss is explaining how love is vulnerable and needs work and support for it to be successful. The Hindenburg is a massive aircraft that is, as it says in the poem, “a fabric Titanic on an ocean / of air?” (4-5) The Titanic is another massive and legendary way of transportation. Here we see a pattern with grand forms of transportations, that unfortunately failed as well. He mentioned that it was made of fabric. Fabric is an elegant building material, however it is not as sturdy as steel or any other conventional building material.

After discussing how delicate the aircrafts are, he explains to his love that she can see him “There: with binoculars, dear, you can / just make me out, in a gondola window, wildly” (5-6) Here we get a sense that he is in the Hindenburg on his way to see her for perhaps the first time. Throughout the entire poem he mentions forms of transportation, giving us a hint that he could be on his way to see his love and it is a risky trip. Perhaps they are in a long distance relationship and this trip could mean the end for them, just like the HIndenburg and the Titanic ended in tragic crashes.

Now that we know he is on his journey to come see her we can start to understand his emotions as he comes closer. He is “wildly / flapping both arms as the ship’s shadow / moves like a vagrant country across the / country where you live in relative safety.” (6-9) The speaker seems to be extremely excited about seeing his love for the first time that he is waving his hands before she can even see him. He explains the way the ship is wandering slowly over her country as he waits in anticipation for the moment they meet. He also says that she is in relative safety on the ground and in her own country, maybe because he is taking a risk and is the one making the long journey to meet her. The nerve-racking moment they meet could either be the start to a successful relationship or the end of the love story.

As he is on his way to meet her he says “I pull / that oblong shadow along behind me wherever / I go”. (9-11) The shadow could be his fear of failure after this long journey. He pulls the shadow of fear and anticipation across the countries he has flown over. The shadow “is so big, and goes so slowly, it alters / ground temperatures noticeably”. (11-12) Shadows are usually a symbol of darkness, in this case it could mean nervousness,