10/12

       Rodney Jones is arguing in the poem, Hubris at Zunzal, that once something is said, or a thought floats out and is put to words, it is almost impossible to get it back. He likens the thought or thing said to a tasty drink in a coconut. He throws it out to sea, sees its impact on the waves, and cannot retrieve it.
       It is only after Rodney loses the drink that he realizes the sweetness of it. This argues that human nature is focused on trying to get what we don't have. We only want what our neighbor has, and therefore attempting to "keep up with the Jones." Or we want what we just lost. A toy to a child is not half so precious as when it breaks. It is in that moment that the child realizes that it can never be repaired or played with again and its value increases dramatically. This relates to poets and their words. Words are commonplace and ordinary until they are set in a pattern and sent off to the world to accept and enjoy. Hence, "then the idea I was not finished, then the act of reaching down with the idea I would get it back."