Cherrylog Road

For some reason I had a hard time trying to interpret most of James Dickey's poems. This may be just because I was trying to read into them to far, looking for themes we've talked about in class but I'm not sure. I chose to write about "Cherrylog Road" because its theme and imagery seemed a little more obvious to me.
Dickey used a lot of imagery in this poem but most of it was from the main character's imagination, Dickey wasn't explaining events that were really taking place. Dickey did this using similes and metaphors. For example, "I climbed in And out the other side, like An envoy or movie star" and "A radiator cap raised its head, Become a real toad or a kingsnake."
The main theme or issue that this poem is about is social class and inter-racial relationships. The girl and boy are hiding their relationship, she has to sneak out for fear of how her dad would react. From the beginning Dickey gives you the impression that the boy is lower class especially at the end when they go their seperate ways and he leaves on his motorcycle. The social class difference was very evident as was the fact that the girl was white which was stated when Dickey said "Her back's pale skin." But it wasn't until the second time that I read through this poem that I got the impression that the boy was black and this is why their relationship was so thoroughly unexceptable, because this is what society believed and clearly the girl's father did also.
The line that introduced race as an issue was "The glass panel in between Lady and colored driver Not all the way broken out." This means that racism still existed and that the barriers between people are still there. Society's racism and disapproval of inter-racial relationships would explain why he would think he doesn't have a chance with the white girl and why her father's reactions would be so drastic.
In the beginning of the poem the junkyard is compared to death. This is a symbol for the relationship, it has no hope of going anywhere or amounting to anything. Just like if something is dead. At the same time though there is some hope and that is why the relationship continues. We glimpse this hope through the boy's imagination when he enters and exits the cars and sees himself as something better.
The cars themselves also are a symbol of the boy. People have given up on these cars, they will never be anything and are worthless. This same tone is used for the boy. The cars are described as broken and unfixable, this was a lot of the same attitude that society has had towards blacks. Thinking that being black means there is something wrong with that person that can't be fixed. The cars also do not have any wheels which means they are not going anywhere which reemphasized that the boy can not escape his situation. This symbolism is repeated throughout the poem.
At the end of the poem there tone changes slightly so that there is the possibility of hope for the boy when takes off on his motorcycle that is "fleshed with power." That he is not completely hopeless and does have some control and power.