“Magnitude 7.1” by Catherine Klatzker uses an extended metaphor that compares and earthquake to health. The poem starts this metaphor by describing actions that take place during earthquakes, such as searching “for your glasses, then your shoes”. The poem goes on to extend the earthquake concept by mentioning medial reports and medications, and reconsidering “their usefulness in the rubble of your life”. This compares the aftermath of an earthquake to the subject’ health, which supports that the poem is about health.
I originally interpreted this poem as comparing an earthquake to a relationship that is cracked and torn apart, much like the Earth is after an earthquake. In this sense, the earthquake would be the event or subject that tore a relationship apart. In the poem, the metaphorical earthquake would be the health issues that one of the subjects is experiencing. I saw this in the lines, “just wanting us back the way we were before tests, procedures, and surgeries”. These lines make me think that the medical issues drove a wedge between two people, especially if they want to go back to the past before the medical issues started. Additionally, having surgeries and procedures is usually expensive, and expensive medical bills tend to make even the closest people distant, especially for people who cannot afford those bills. Essentially, health issues caused damage equivalent to an earthquake with a 7.1 magnitude and caused ground failure and faults long and wide enough to emotionally separate people. The use of “we”, “us”, and “you” tell me that this must be about a relationship because more than one person is involved.
Throughout the poem, a yearning for chocolate is mentioned, seemingly at random throughout the parts about medical records. Chocolate represents sweetness, in flavor and romance. I take this to mean that throughout the health issues, the speaker longs for the times when they were still romantic and there was sweetness in the relationship. The desire for chocolate is almost an obsession and the speaker wants it more than water, which intrigued me because water is necessary for life and usually sells out quickly during earthquakes, whereas chocolate is more of a want than a need. I think this was included to emphasize how desperate the speaker wants to return to the better parts of the relationship. At the end of the poem, Klatzer writes, “Chocolate beckons: dark, semisweet, Swiss, chocolate pecan turtles, and fudgy toffee kisses”. The placement of this line is important because it emphasizes the desire for past happiness in the relationship and leaves the reader with that message.
Additionally, I found it interesting that the medicine is a factor that seems to make the relationship worse, considering that medicine is usually given to make someone feel better when they are sick.
This comparison of an earthquake to health can be interpreted in many different ways, one of which is Klatzker’s own mental health. In this case, the poem is written as if she is writing a letter to herself from an outside perspective, with the use of “your” and “us”. Klatzker continues this perspective by writing, “back the way we were before this earthquake of lurching past your body’s limits”. This particular line can be interpreted as Klatzker wishing her life would go back to before having mental health issues.
The title, “Magnitude 7.1”, is significant because of the high magnitude of 7.1. The highest magnitude an earthquake has ever reached is 9.5, which is not far from a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Any earthquake with a magnitude between 7.0 and 7.9 is classified as a major earthquake with serious damage. Thus, the metaphorical earthquake in the subject’s life is life-changing and causes extremely serious damage.