Interruptions and the Mindful Moment: McCaslin’s “Interruptions”
In a busy and production-oriented society, interruptions are generally seen as irritating, rude and unnecessary moments that should be avoided at all costs. However, in “Interruptions”, Susan McCaslin wants the reader to consider that living in the gaps between thought and conversation, in the interruptions of life, is how one can often see what is truly happening in the present around us. Using the rhetorical pattern of contrast as well as direction, the unexpected, natural imagery and words about language, McCaslin seeks to demonstrate the value of interruptions by understanding them as the gaps in life where the opportunities for mindfulness and creativity lie.
The first stanza of McCaslin’s “Interruptions” begins by giving the reader the direction that is the backbone of the poem’s theme: in other words, the reader must grow accustomed to the interruptions in life so that the chance for mindfulness can occur. She then uses an unexpected subversion and natural imagery to begin building the contrasts where the interruptions in the poem develop. McCaslin directs the reader to “Get used to them”, beginning a series of commands to the reader to accept interruptions in every day life. She subverts the idea of a traditional male Abrahamic god, transforming the “God” she’s discussing into a woman. This unexpected turn disrupts the poem itself, an example of the interruptions she’s heeding the reader to “[g]et