"The Fall" by Russell Edson from Word of Mouth (Reading Response)

 

Anyone who has a clear understanding of the poem's meaning, feel free to comment. 

I can only speculate what this poem means, but there are certainly things about it that I find interesting and unique.  First, I could have sworn that the poem was about a boy.  I think this was because I remembered him being in his parent's living room and the parents told him to "go into the yard," which seemed like people in charge giving orders to a child.  Recently reading it again I discovered that it was a man.  Also, "fooling" around and playing with leaves seems like something a child would do.  Why wasn't this grown man at his own house?  Why was he playing around with leaves?  I also find it interesting that the author does not use quotation marks for the parts where the man and his parents speak.  Maybe he does this because the words that are said are not exact, but are along the lines of what was really said.  Like when Russel says that the parents say to "go into the yard," they probably didn't say it in unison, and perhaps they said "go outside" or something.  Maybe this poem is based on a story or something that Edson heard, and he is just putting his own spin on it.  I think that this poem could mean that actions speak louder than words, since the parents are ready to dismiss the man saying he was a tree, but when he drops the leaves, the parents suddenly think it's fall.