In Larry LevisÆ (1997) The Oldest Living Thing In L.A., the speaker describes an opossum as it attempts to cross a crowded urban street. The literal events of the story are primarily meant to convey two universal aspects of existence for human beings. One, for those living in L.A., a relatively new and transitory place, the opossum represents the oldest living thing in an urban landscape that continually changes and has little history. Two, for those like the speaker of the poem living in L.A., it is often an indifferent, isolated and often dangerous place, something the attempted journey of the opossum is meant to symbolize.
The author uses a variety of techniques to express the above themes. The poemÆs form is free-verse, one single stanza of 24 lines that do not rhyme and are random in feet per line. For instance, the following represent the number of feet of the first nine lines: 1) 15, 2) 11, 3) 10, 4) 12, 5) 12, 6) 10, 7) 9, 8) 11, 9) 9. The author uses a number of techniques to convey the mood of the poem. The opossum is described as trying to judge his crossing by the ôbreath / Of moving traffic,ö (Levis, 1997, p. 1). The traffic is personified to show the impersonal nature of urban life and the basic fact that cars are as numerous as people in Los Angeles.
The speaker conveys empathy for the opossum and his journey, meant to emit empathy from the audience for the solitary traveler in the dangerous autobahn of L.A. life. People who exist the bars would approach ôas if somehow to help,ö but the fearsome nature of the wild creature keeps them back, (Levis, 1997, p. 1). Like many strangers would like to help but seldom intervene to help a stranger in L.A., so the speaker portrays the opossum. The poet also uses allusion to refer to the Trojan War and other antiquities like the ôfragments of ruins / In the grass at San Vitale,ö in order to show that L.A. is a
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