Madame Change the World

The poem My Tea with Madame Descartes was an interesting read, that really made me stop and think. The poem starts with a reporter running late for an interview. Her interview was not with an ordinary famous person, star or politician. Her interview was with a photographer who had been all around the world taking pictures that opened up the world to those who could not travel. Her photos included pictures of heartache and joy, but she was remembered for those that created the gasps and heartache. Throughout the poem we learn a lot about the characteristics of the photographer, and what her character and personality resemble. Madame Descartes initially comes off as a hard women, her first impression display that she desires to meet in a bar, with an alcoholic beverage, and sits against the wall where she is unseen smoking a cigarette. As soon as the reporter sets eyes on Madame, it is almost as if the reporter was mesmerized by her appearance. As the poem starts, Madame describes to her experiences and almost seems frustrated. She knows everyone has their opinions about her work and she addresses these ideas. As Madame continues to talk about her experiences and work, the reporter almost turns into a child listening to a story, rather than asking annoying questions. The reporter is all ears to what Madame has to say. As the reporter listened to what Madame had to say she is taken on an adventure to the secret place of what Madame felt through all those years. The interview is not long, but is intense in the way that Madame describes her experiences. By the end of the interview Madame has taken the reporters picture and now she is part of Madame’s story.

My first reading of this poem made is seem simple and up front, but the more I read it, the more I realized it was not that simple. Madame wants to come across as hard and not amused with others around her. Through this story we see that she is a complicated woman with hurt. The part that I was really surprised by was when she was talking about her husband. She describes his as “a sweet but stupid man”. My first reading of this was to laugh, and then think she was mean for saying such a harsh thing about a man she married. Then I took a step back and it made me think she did not mean it in a harsh way, she just was not right for him. The point that she said he was sweet, and a lawyer meant that he was a good man, I just believe he was to boring for her. I do not believe she meant to say he was stupid intellectually; in fact he was a lawyer. She intended for the word stupid to imply he was dull, annoying, pointless, and tedious. She had an adventurous side to her and she was not okay with doing nothing with her life. She viewed her husband as to simple for her, not as he was intellectually stupid.

I believe this poem is all about misunderstandings. Everyone has their own story and their individual personality. Through this poem we see a woman who followed her heart and fulfilled her destiny. She was a gifted photographer who wanted to enlighten the world. But through this she came across hardships, and at many points people talked down about her work. Not a lot of people understood her work, but many did respect it. She was viewed as different, but whenever people were around her they would get consumed by her, and then her talent could flow. This poem really reminded me that I need to be me, and we need to follow our hearts, not what other people say we need to be. We can see this when the story starts by the reported being consumed with Madame as soon as she sits down with her, the reporter says “her beauty was singular, volcanic, viscous, and inevitable”. The she talks about the war and how she was just floating through life, so she married a man who did not fulfill her, but that was what people told her she needed to do at that point. When she finally decided to follow her heart and invest her time in something she loved, photography. Madame said “no one could say no to me……the woman with the famous eye”. She followed her heart and got the world.

Another aspect that I loved about his poem was that even though maybe a chapter in her life was over, she did not act as though her life was over. As the reporter sat there and listened to her story she took every word in. When Madame decided she had shared enough she pulled out a camera and told the reporter she was going to now taker her picture. Not many times the person being interviewed takes the picture of the reporter. This only solidifies who Madame is, and what the poem represented, no one could say not to her. It was as if her story was always continuing. She was telling about her life, but by the end of it she was adding to the story of her life. This was an important reminder that our lives are never complete. We are always adding to our life story, and experiences. We should never give up on ourselves, we never know who is going to walk through the door and start asking questions about our life, and maybe our story will begin theirs.