My job involves reading a lot of stuff about the state of the world's economies, and one thing I find curious is the metaphorical and humanising language economists use to describe abstract economic currents that are best charted emotionlessly with a line and a couple of axes (worst.plural.ever). The first few lines are taken directly from a report about Croatia I edited today.
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Growth in 2015 will be weak at best, and the economy could continue
to stagnate. Import growth is subdued because of constraints on domestic
consumption. Croatia is experiencing sustained deflation.
Croatia is experiencing sustained deflation.
Croatia
is experiencing
sustained
deflation
How does that feel, I wonder?
An emotional response, like the inverse of elation?
Or something else – a physical sensation,
A shrinking, perhaps – a country punctured
Like a tyre with a splinter?
Or maybe it’s both – like a cock drooping,
A hairline receding, a back stooping
Under a harsh winter.
The description of croatian economy like describing 'a drooping cock' - a bit emotional. Is that what you try to say? If so, I think that is quite true. Hopefully readers don't react too emtional to that. I think it implies a little how volatile the market is because people respond quite emotionally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply!
DeleteYes, you're right, it is emotional. I wanted an image that contains elements of proudness, virility, and assuredness, and to reduce that, a faltering, an uncertainty, a loss of self-esteem. A shrinking penis seemed like a good fit for that idea.
But I also wanted to draw attention to what I feel to be the danger of describing economic movements in overly metaphorical language, and how one should be careful not to distort the message by using overly flowery to describe the emotionless market environment. Thus, the poem progresses in how much emotion is laden on each image - the emotion of deflation untethered and floating, the punctured tyre, the drooping cock, the old man.