Response to Rodney Jones’ “Hubris at Zunzal”

hu•bris. n. exaggerated pride or self-confidence

Jones’ speaker, at the end of the third stanza, describes a change of heart, and with it, the poem’s tone changes. After dumping his rum and coconut juice-filled coconut into the water, the speaker momentarily laments the act, saying “then the idea I was not finished, / then the act of reaching down / with the idea I would get it back.” Here, the speaker stops describing the gorgeous Zunzal beach and refutes the purpose of his own poem-writing: reflecting on a moment that makes the speaker stop to imagine his feelings after wasting his drink.

The poem’s title is significant as well, as it addresses the speaker’s haste in dropping his drink into the water.