“The Perfect Life” by John Koethe

“The Perfect Life” from John Koethe narrates the story of someone’s life. In the beginning this person’s life everything seems to be joyful, comfortable, and calm. Suddenly it seemed like everything changed in a flash. What once was fun and curious became dull and cold. His or her days have passed and nothing is the same as before. This person seems disappointed and sad because their life was just another one soon to be forgotten. I believe this poem can be seen in many different ways. It reminds me of the movie “Gran Torino”, in which the main character is in his final days and he is careless for his life and feels what he does is meaningless. I see the last two lines “A blank space, like a hole left in the wake Of a perfect life, which closes over” as if the speaker was saying all his/her life marked was almost nothing and that it was just a life. For me the poem wasn’t very clear in certain part, but I found it very interesting how a life can be seen in many different ways, it all depends on the context and “the eye of the beholder”.