8 responses to “Week 11—Poetry Reading Response (Weds)”
I have chosen the poem “On Earth” by Franz Wright to examine in my reading response. Although this poem is short, the final line has stayed with me since reading: “The world/ is filled with people/ who have never died.” This line has stayed with me because of the bluntness it carries. It’s a true sentence, but not an idea we think about often. I enjoy poems that present ideas bluntly, without sugarcoating them or covering them with metaphors and similes. I also appreciate the transition between “forget– forget” and “dying.” I would argue this shift is the climax of the poem (if poems have climaxes). Dying is a form of forgetting, but forgetting is not as harsh (final) as dying, so this jump does confuse me a bit. But that’s okay, I think a good poem can still be confusing. Furthermore, I am particularly drawn to the imagery at the beginning of an apple tree and the “light of late/ in the April.” An apple tree is typically associated with fall, I think, so to have it be associated with April and springtime is an interesting juxtaposition of normalcy.
The poem I’ve chosen to respond to is The Years, by Alex Dimitrov.
In truth, I have nothing particularly profound, intelligent, or critical to say about this poem. I more so found it relatable, as someone who adores being around people and has no idea how to interact with them. This, and I hadn’t read anything by this poet before, and I am trying not to lean on old favorites.
I particularly liked the phrase “a little slant.” It communicates something distinct.
On the whole, the piece feels lonely, cinematic. It has a momentum.
The one critique or question I’d have for this poem/its author is why it’s one block of text – as many by this author that we read were. It’s not entirely unreadable, but I was surprised he didn’t insert a handful of line breaks to make the poem less daunting on the page.
I really loved Natalie Diaz’s poem, “My Brother My Wound”. At first, I ignored the title and just read it, and my immediate assumption was that it was about an abusive sexual partner. The lines “lift up your shirt, he said, and I did”, and “Where are you going? I asked. To ride the Ferris wheel, he answered, and climbed inside me like a window.” Are what made me think this.
After realizing the title was about a brother, I was less certain about this (though obviously there are cases where someone is both family and sexually abusive). I think that considering it as ambiguous, however, lets us consider the ways in which we can be hurt by the people we love and how the men in our lives sometimes take advantage of us in indescribable ways that don’t have to be explicitly sexual.
There was also an interesting sort of tension between the cadence of Diaz’s words and the actions that she was describing: her tone is very soft and gentle while she depicts her brother shoving a knife in her side, or “climbing” into her like a widow. All in all, I thought the poem was fascinating and outstandingly beautiful.
“Fourth Grade Autobiography” by Donika Kelly was definitely a very interesting poem that caught my attention. Reading the title, I thought that this poem was either going to be the author’s fourth grade self or it was going to be written as the author reflecting on their past self. However, when reading, I noticed that there was a mix of both the author’s fourth grade self and the author’s reflection now. There are specific phrases such as “We live in Los Angeles, California” and “I have a sister and a brother” that realistically sounds like what I would say if I was in fourth grade. However, there are other phrases such as “He launches every ball into orbit. Every ball drops like an anvil, heavy and straight into my hands,” that would realistically would like sound like what an adult would write in an essay. This language is also metaphoric and very descriptive which is different from what I would imagine a fourth grader would say.
I’m responding to Ode To Lithium #600. I read about 80% of the poems and plan to read the last 20% while I wait for class to start. Out of the 80% I read so far, Ode to Lithium #600 reminds me most of my own writing style. It is matter of fact and doesn’t use flowery language, yet it is still very powerful and moving. I’m glad this piece was included so we know poetry can address an issue (mental health) and it doesn’t have to be abstract and flowery to be good.
I really enjoyed Ocean Vuong’s “Self-Portrait as Exit Wounds.” It feels like the issues and the bliss of a time period are put together into words in this poem. There are reference points that everyone can understand and it puts human life in America into a new perspective. It conveys nostalgia for a time that was not at all perfect but still something one longs for like terrible moments in life that make great stories to laugh about later on. Especially the last line “that nothing moves” shows how time stands still there like immortalized moments in a museum.
I loved the poem My Secret by Alex Dimitrov. A main theme of this poem seems to be love and feeling like this narrator is disappointing the people around them. It seems like they have potentially gone through a break up, so they are feeling lonely. For example, they are going out to dinner alone and walking around alone. The narrator needs the person they love, but feels as if theyr’e happiness is not important. There is a lot going on. For example, the dog barking around them and the narrator going out alone. This poem gives the reader a great sense of setting and imagery. The streets the narrator is walking down and beautiful descriptions of the area around them are shown. It gives internal thoughts of the narrator thinking about the person that they love and wanting to see them again.
In “Love, I’m Done with You,” Ross Gay uses vivid and visceral imagery to express the speaker’s disillusionment and frustration with love.The use of graphic and unsettling metaphors, such as the “footie PJs warming your neck like a noose” and the “blood on the bottoms of your feet,” creates a sense of unease and suffocation that mirrors the speaker’s emotional state. The juxtaposition of once tender moments, like pushing a “downy face into your neck,” with the blunt declaration that “your breath stinks and you’re full of shit” reflects the stark contrast between the idealized past and the harsh reality of the present. The extended metaphor of the castle with its multiple vaults suggests the layers of deception and emotional imprisonment that characterize the speaker’s relationship with Love — I admire how it was done. The imagery of honey and snakes, shining houses and graveyards, further reinforces the theme of duplicity and the gap between appearance and reality. In the end, “We’re through” is a powerful assertion of agency and a rejection of the toxic influence of Love. I loved how these feelings were delivered in the poem.
8 responses to “Week 11—Poetry Reading Response (Weds)”
I have chosen the poem “On Earth” by Franz Wright to examine in my reading response. Although this poem is short, the final line has stayed with me since reading: “The world/ is filled with people/ who have never died.” This line has stayed with me because of the bluntness it carries. It’s a true sentence, but not an idea we think about often. I enjoy poems that present ideas bluntly, without sugarcoating them or covering them with metaphors and similes. I also appreciate the transition between “forget– forget” and “dying.” I would argue this shift is the climax of the poem (if poems have climaxes). Dying is a form of forgetting, but forgetting is not as harsh (final) as dying, so this jump does confuse me a bit. But that’s okay, I think a good poem can still be confusing. Furthermore, I am particularly drawn to the imagery at the beginning of an apple tree and the “light of late/ in the April.” An apple tree is typically associated with fall, I think, so to have it be associated with April and springtime is an interesting juxtaposition of normalcy.
The poem I’ve chosen to respond to is The Years, by Alex Dimitrov.
In truth, I have nothing particularly profound, intelligent, or critical to say about this poem. I more so found it relatable, as someone who adores being around people and has no idea how to interact with them. This, and I hadn’t read anything by this poet before, and I am trying not to lean on old favorites.
I particularly liked the phrase “a little slant.” It communicates something distinct.
On the whole, the piece feels lonely, cinematic. It has a momentum.
The one critique or question I’d have for this poem/its author is why it’s one block of text – as many by this author that we read were. It’s not entirely unreadable, but I was surprised he didn’t insert a handful of line breaks to make the poem less daunting on the page.
I really loved Natalie Diaz’s poem, “My Brother My Wound”. At first, I ignored the title and just read it, and my immediate assumption was that it was about an abusive sexual partner. The lines “lift up your shirt, he said, and I did”, and “Where are you going? I asked. To ride the Ferris wheel, he answered, and climbed inside me like a window.” Are what made me think this.
After realizing the title was about a brother, I was less certain about this (though obviously there are cases where someone is both family and sexually abusive). I think that considering it as ambiguous, however, lets us consider the ways in which we can be hurt by the people we love and how the men in our lives sometimes take advantage of us in indescribable ways that don’t have to be explicitly sexual.
There was also an interesting sort of tension between the cadence of Diaz’s words and the actions that she was describing: her tone is very soft and gentle while she depicts her brother shoving a knife in her side, or “climbing” into her like a widow. All in all, I thought the poem was fascinating and outstandingly beautiful.
“Fourth Grade Autobiography” by Donika Kelly was definitely a very interesting poem that caught my attention. Reading the title, I thought that this poem was either going to be the author’s fourth grade self or it was going to be written as the author reflecting on their past self. However, when reading, I noticed that there was a mix of both the author’s fourth grade self and the author’s reflection now. There are specific phrases such as “We live in Los Angeles, California” and “I have a sister and a brother” that realistically sounds like what I would say if I was in fourth grade. However, there are other phrases such as “He launches every ball into orbit. Every ball drops like an anvil, heavy and straight into my hands,” that would realistically would like sound like what an adult would write in an essay. This language is also metaphoric and very descriptive which is different from what I would imagine a fourth grader would say.
I’m responding to Ode To Lithium #600. I read about 80% of the poems and plan to read the last 20% while I wait for class to start. Out of the 80% I read so far, Ode to Lithium #600 reminds me most of my own writing style. It is matter of fact and doesn’t use flowery language, yet it is still very powerful and moving. I’m glad this piece was included so we know poetry can address an issue (mental health) and it doesn’t have to be abstract and flowery to be good.
I really enjoyed Ocean Vuong’s “Self-Portrait as Exit Wounds.” It feels like the issues and the bliss of a time period are put together into words in this poem. There are reference points that everyone can understand and it puts human life in America into a new perspective. It conveys nostalgia for a time that was not at all perfect but still something one longs for like terrible moments in life that make great stories to laugh about later on. Especially the last line “that nothing moves” shows how time stands still there like immortalized moments in a museum.
I loved the poem My Secret by Alex Dimitrov. A main theme of this poem seems to be love and feeling like this narrator is disappointing the people around them. It seems like they have potentially gone through a break up, so they are feeling lonely. For example, they are going out to dinner alone and walking around alone. The narrator needs the person they love, but feels as if theyr’e happiness is not important. There is a lot going on. For example, the dog barking around them and the narrator going out alone. This poem gives the reader a great sense of setting and imagery. The streets the narrator is walking down and beautiful descriptions of the area around them are shown. It gives internal thoughts of the narrator thinking about the person that they love and wanting to see them again.
In “Love, I’m Done with You,” Ross Gay uses vivid and visceral imagery to express the speaker’s disillusionment and frustration with love.The use of graphic and unsettling metaphors, such as the “footie PJs warming your neck like a noose” and the “blood on the bottoms of your feet,” creates a sense of unease and suffocation that mirrors the speaker’s emotional state. The juxtaposition of once tender moments, like pushing a “downy face into your neck,” with the blunt declaration that “your breath stinks and you’re full of shit” reflects the stark contrast between the idealized past and the harsh reality of the present. The extended metaphor of the castle with its multiple vaults suggests the layers of deception and emotional imprisonment that characterize the speaker’s relationship with Love — I admire how it was done. The imagery of honey and snakes, shining houses and graveyards, further reinforces the theme of duplicity and the gap between appearance and reality. In the end, “We’re through” is a powerful assertion of agency and a rejection of the toxic influence of Love. I loved how these feelings were delivered in the poem.