The poem “The Man With The Saxophone,” written by Ai, successfully articulates the tension of his encounter in downtown New York CIty during the winter of 1985 through concrete diction, metaphorical contrast to nature and creative contradictions to the setting to make an ordinary night to become an extraordinary memory filled with the unexpected experiences that defy the narrator’s expectations.
Ai’s poem begins immediately with vivid descriptions of the setting, setting the stage for the remarkable incident that will occur. Coming in the winter of 1985 in downtown New York, the narrator ties the poem to some preconceived definitions: New York during the 1980’s was a dangerous city to live in, filled with high crime rates, poverty, and unemployment rates. The narrator uses this information to cast New York as a cold and hollow city. When, in lines 20-23, Ai sees the narrator as “earthbound,” with “solitude as my only companion, the only one you can count on,” The specific use of solitude-- an abstract noun meaning the act of being alone-- as a concrete noun describing the loneliness the narrator felt: no one around to the extent of naming solitude as their only companion. Furthermore, the passage continues to describe solitude as “The only one you can count on/ Don’t, don’t try to tell me otherwise” (22-23). Personifying solitude as a consistent presence in the narrator’s life indicates that, even in one of the most populous cities in the world, loneliness and solitude can still be widespread. Repeating the word “don’t” twice in line 23 further emphasizes the narrator’s point: no amount of convincing or persuasiveness can sway them from their staunch positions. To have such a stout and solemn narrator also adds complexity to the passage by adding apprehension about the setting of the setting of the city that makes the narrator closed and abrasive to any moments or changes coming in the following night or time in the city.
When the narrator does come into contact with the man with the saxophone, he feels a sense of inner tension between embracing the unexpected moment of spontaneity and silking in the metaphorical and physical dreariness of the city. The narrator’s first look at the man with the saxophone in downtown New York implies that the man is nothing but a homeless street beggar, a piece of texture in the concrete jungle that is New York. But when the narrator sees the man, they do not look at him like a simple person on the side of the street, but as a real musician with respect for and admiration of the same city. By the time the narrator and the man start to play together, the narrator’s attitude of the evening has shifted entirely from that cold and lifeless attitude to a city full of color and music. The line “I think I must be somewhere else, not here, not in this city, this heartland of pure noise” (Ai 37-38), alludes to New York as the ‘city that never sleeps’ due to its high population density, traffic, and high levels of development. But, instead of the author embracing that as a death sentence for the city, they embrace it as a “heartland,” associated with the emotions near and dear to the narrator’s heart and soul. By being transported “somewhere else,” the narrator is almost hesitant to admit their pleasure in the city they so often can quickly dismiss.
When the man with the saxophone and the narrator begin to play their saxophones together, magic ensues. Even if it lasted for only a moment, they feel like the “unencumbered burd of my imagination, rising only to fall back toward the concrete, each note a black flower” (46-49). The narrator includes these metaphors as a direct contradiction of the lifeless city. The idea of being like a bird, an animal typically associated with freedom, independence, and innocence, is a welcome relief to the narrator who felt like his encounter with the man with the saxophone was so transformative it had saved some part of the day they had rued. The “black flower” description again relates to nature but the color black extends outside the natural world. Since they are both playing the saxophone they would both be familiar with street music, often printed with black, black notes and sometimes associated with the ideas of conformity and obedience. Because of his comparison, the narrator can openly admit that they seem to be free of all mortal tragedies and explores the opportunities of freedom with that oppression found elsewhere.
Ai’s Poem “The man with the saxophone” finds a brilliant way to convey the speaker’s complex relationship with the city: a draba and confining city filled with unexpected life and adventure. Through the use of absolute definitive language, allusions to the contract, and metaphors to nature, the poem reads as a way to prove that nowhere is truly closed to new art and opportunities and that there is always room to love and experience in a new city.
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