"The Man Inside the Chipmunk Suit" by Thomas Lux (327)

The very first thing I noticed about this poem, other than the intriguing title, is the fact that the title must be read as the first line of the poem. This is a really effective technique to pull the reader in and make us keep reading. The easy style of the poem continutes to keep our attention by describing a scene that we have all seen: a person in a cartoon suit. But then, Lux makes a point that I hadn't thought about before: this person probably wasn't wishing all of their life to be the 4'11", 3-D incarnate of Chester Chipmunk. I love the lines:

There are no small parts,
only small actors,
his high school drama teach said
and then said That didn't come out
the way I meant.

Awww! I wasn't expecting this poem to be sad! I guess I was fooled into thinking it would be funny because of the title--which it is, just a little, but not on the thematic stuff. Why was this poem written? Is this just the result of a poet's trip to Disney World? A writer must constantly be on the lookout for new angles. I wonder if the fact that the narrator leaves out the chipmunk actor's name is a clue to us that this is all simply imagined. Does he actually know this guy, or are these simply creative surmises?