# XXVIII explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Mina Loy.

## What happens

A poetic meditation on whiteness, emergence, and bodily transformation, where the speaker describes an endless ascent of white steps, a climacteric withdrawal of the sun, and the etiolation of the body, culminating in a vision of a white dawn and smoke from a distant house.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Body and Mortality

The poem evokes bodily transformation and decay through images of burnt white skin, etiolation, and cymophanous sweat, suggesting a liminal state between life and death.

### Alienation and Belonging

The speaker's isolation is palpable in the 'illimitable monotone' and the unthinkable white distance, underscoring a profound sense of disconnection from the other and the world.

## Key lines

> The steps go up forever And they are white And the first step is the last white Forever

The staircase is infinite and white, with the beginning and end indistinguishable, suggesting an eternal, unchanging ascent.

_This opening establishes a surreal, cyclical spatial metaphor that permeates the chapter._

> And I am burnt quite white In the climacteric Withdrawal of your sun

The speaker is bleached by the sun's critical retreat, as if undergoing a transformative, almost sacrificial burning.

_The 'climacteric' implies a decisive, life-altering moment, linking personal change to cosmic withdrawal._

> Unthinkable that white over there — — — Is smoke from your house

The distant whiteness, which seems unimaginable, is actually just smoke rising from your home.

_This closing line collapses the sublime into the domestic, revealing the ordinary source of the mysterious white vision._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/xxviii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_17_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters