There’s three feet of spacebetween my two and the floor.
"In ancient times, the foot was 11.42 inches. Today it is 12 inches, the length of the average man's foot."
This type of wordplay is a trademark of Bo Burnham's form. The above quote and article show why this wordplay is possible. It is an interesting observation to make, and yet another that can only be made by a person hanging from the ceiling.
I wanted something this morning. I may bestuck. But at least I’m three feet closer to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luvmc_NJGng
The title of the above track states the once common belief that heaven is "above" the Earth . Perhaps the thing that Bo wanted this morning was for his spirit to go "up" and pass on, maybe not to Heaven necessarily, but to some sort of afterlife or next chapter. Bo has always had an interesting take on religion, being raised catholic. This joke implies progress towards "something," despite the narrator being unable to move or take any sort of action.
I’ve never been away from my shadow forthis long. It had always clung to my feet,parting momentarily for a quick dive intothe swimming pool. But never for fivehours. I like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soa3gO7tL-c
The above clip, in addition to being an all-time banger, uses the often-used idea of a shadow being a comforting presence to an otherwise lonely person who "walks alone." Bo turns this concept on its head, finding joy in separating himself from this figure for the first time in his life. He is still lonely, as he states earlier, but doesn't look to his shadow for comfort.
I readsomewhere that, like, anything funny is,in some way, ironic. But I don’t know if it’sfunny or not. I don’t think my brain owns“funny”, you know?
"Ironic" does not mean "funny", "curious" or "interesting", even though some people seem to think that it does. You cannot replace the expression "that's funny" with "that's ironic."
Irony is an interesting concept, defined by Webster as "incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result." Irony is a concrete, objective term, while humor and "funny" are entirely subjective. Bo stating that he doesn't think his brain owns "Funny" is an interesting piece of self-awareness that can only be found during self-reflection while hanging from a rope for hours on end. Closing with the phrase "you know" continues the pattern of a conversational tone for a serious subject.
Bitironic, right? Or is that not ironic? I readsomewhere that, like, anything funny is,in some way, ironic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VoscbQA3lM
To put this quote in context, Bo has a history of finding the humor in irony, whether it be in his poetry or musical stand-up. The above clip shows that he can find humor in tragic situations, whether it be running over a cat on your way to the veterinarian's office or hanging yourself.
I hung myself today. Hanged?
"Hanged, as a past tense and a past participle of hang, is used in the sense of “to put to death by hanging,” as in Frontier courts hanged many a prisoner after a summary trial. A majority of the Usage Panel objects to hung used in this sense. In all other senses of the word, hung is the preferred form as past tense and past participle, as in I hung my child’s picture above my desk."
Bo appears to be using a conversational tone, bringing up one of the common misnomers of the english language just after stating that he killed himself. The juxtaposition of this extremely serious subject with a question you'd ask casually to a friend might mean that Bo is indifferent when it comes to living or dying. The decision might've been made on a whim. This establishes the pattern of a conversational tone being used for a serious subject.
crying over their house turned zoo
This evoked the image of Walter White's abandoned house after his family was forced to flee because his run-ins with dangerous drug lords. Just like Walter, the brother has brought danger and crime into his family's home.
to climb out of whatever dark belly my brother, the Aztec, their son, had fed them to.
I associated this line with the other snake imagery in the piece and imagined his parents, still alive, inside the belly of a huge serpent. Snakes often eat their victims alive and whole.
draining color until their eyebrows whitened.
This image evoked in me a scene from Game of Thrones where the Night King turns a baby into a White Walker. The color leaves the child's face and its eyes turn light blue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhyLKJgd8Zw
he lowered his sword-like mouth
for some reason, the first image in that came to me after reading this line was of the pyramid head guy from "Silent Hill" (I've never seen any of the movies). It might not be what Diaz was going for, but it really takes away the humanity of a person when you can't see their face.
earth is calling in her little ones, “Come home, Come home!”
Personification of Earth as a "mother" figure, as if calling her kids in for dinner after a long day of play (an interesting comparison considering the subject matter of the poem).
Out of burlap sacks, out of bearing butter, Out of black bean and wet slate bread,
Alliteration of the B sound (burlap, bearing, butter, black, bean, bread). This would fall under the "patterns" category.