Peter Porter’s “Your Attention Please” reflects the disarray and disastrous state of affairs of the contemporary times. It echoes the theme of death, division and decline as does the poems “An Exequy”, ”The Delegate”, ”The Easiest Room in Hell.”.etc. Peter Porter always juxtaposed the power of art against the degrading powers of applied science and technology. In the “famous and oft-published two minute warning”,the warning stands not as a forewarning for those people alone, rather it is a pointer for humanity in general. It is a reminder to Man who is cutting of the branch he is sitting on. Immersed in a world of money, material and munitions, human values have shown a marked deterioration. In an era of competition, Time and Destruction reign supreme. This becomes obvious when the poet repeats “two and a quarter minutes” and “eight and a quarter minute.” We are reminded of the futility of life as in Philip Larkin’s “Ambulances.” In an ironical stance, “a specially shortened mass is telecast” to signify the corrosion of spirituality. The announcement says that Protestant and Jewish services will begin simultaneously. It suggests, how in the face of death, all communal rivalries vanish into the thin air.

However, only human life is valued at least slightly here, for, people are asked to abandon their pets as “they will consume fresh air.” The Homo sapiens are content with the assumption that the “fresh air” is solely theirs. The callousness of the contemporary generation is revealed in their disregard for the old and the bed-ridden-the rule is that they HAVE to be left behind. The mention of “Valley Forge” as a medicine for painless death drives home the paranoiac sense of victimization, meaninglessness of life and points a sense of nihilism.

In a satiric tone, the poet ascertains that the President has already given orders for Mass retaliation. The decision is “decisive”. The ordinary citizen has no say in the matter. Nor do the military personnel involved. This proves to be very significant in the modern-day context, where America plays Big Brother to all the other nations. Under ”authoritative rule,” human beings have lost their individuality and identity. This becomes more obvious when the poet asserts “statistically” it is unlikely to be “you.” All flags are fully dressed on Government buildings where power reigns supreme.

There is also the conflict between religiousity and self-love that the poet projects with pungent irony. The announcer asks them to administer pills to have a painless death and thereafter the Catholics will be instructed by the priest what to do in such an eventuality. Howerver, this is suicide or the Eternal sin for the Catholics, and the mention of a Catholic priest seeing to their final rites is outright obnoxious.

The superfluity of advanced science and technology is stressed here. The nuclear weapon is itself a child of science and technology. Nevertheless ,the helplessness of Science in the face of a calamity caused by itself is made explicit here. The omnipresence of Science is reinforced by devices like the Geiger barometer, CO, Valley Forges, plasma flask, television. They enhance the theme of the victory of Science over Art and Life.
The poem is therefore a harsh indictment on the race for power politics and amassing of weapons of mass-destruction in the modern times. The best way to win a war is to prevent it .Peter Porter asserts: ”The truth is a story forcing me to tell it .It is not/ my story or my truth.” It is an eternal truth that has its foundations rooted in humanity.

© Rukhaya MK 2010

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