Why I Love "The Space Between"

Elena Georgiou’s poem, “The Space Between”, published in 2003, explores the complex relationship between two lovers. The lack of meter and rhyme in this free-verse poem highlights the undefined nature of this pair's relationship since even the poem's form does not conform to structural organization.  Throughout the poem we learn more the relationship as the speaker struggles to put words to it.  She says,

“When I write about us, I stop myself/ from saying we make love or we have sex/ I search for a euphemism that won’t bind me/ won’t define us” (5-9).

I found the differentiation between “bind me” and “define us” to be interesting.  The speaker seems to emphasize how she, alone, would feel trapped within the relationship if it were to become “defined” (8,9).  She could have written bind and define us, but in choosing to separate herself from the relationship with “me”, she shows that the relationship may be perceived differently from the other person’s point view, maybe in a more positive and welcoming light (8).

Another aspect I enjoy is the use of music to characterize and give context to their relationship.  The speaker writes,

“The way we moved together vertically/… Music joined us,/but even in this joining, I didn’t know/ how to behave, how much or little to say,/ how to choose to be me" (12, 14-17).

Music exists as a starting point for the relationship, and it also is a method of communication or, rather, lack of effective communication:

“We exchange tapes of songs/ to hint at the possibility of a feeling,/ admitting nothing, partially exposed/ in lyrics so, if pushed we can deny/ we meant the words that way" (36-40).

It appears to the reader as though music is at once a catalyst for action and a barrier to authenticity. In the same way, the idea of “partially exposed” feelings that are never concretely expressed furthers the characterization of their sentiments toward each other as equally masked, if not fleeting in visibility (38). Their relationship seems fairly underdevelopment and one-dimensional in the same way people can usually only experience music in limited ways, usually through listening.

I also like the author’s diction to further the overarching concept of “distance” that characterizes the relationship toward the end of the poem (45). 

            “I preach distance to you. I inflict it/ on myself" (45-46).

The hyphenated word choices used throughout this poem like “age-gaps”, “bad-timing”, “two-time”, “soul-thread”, and “so-called” help visually create distance within words emphasizing the distance felt by the speaker (46, 47, 28, 29, 30).

However, why I truly love this poem rests within lines 48 and 49:

            “the word/ distance can magnetize lovers".

The idea speaks volumes of truth and gives words to the ache felt in those half formed relationships—those where someone demands distance and both are left to discover the effects of what this means (49). I like the idea that somehow verbally requesting “distance” creates an attachment—maybe a nagging thought, a part of our mind constantly wondering about or desiring that lover(49). The articulation of the seemingly unreasonable aching, desiring, and wondering is what makes me love this poem.