I read every poem that was on the Poetry of Witness and most of them didn't give me any feelings, no emotion mostly just confusion. After reading all the poems I came to the conclusion that I am just not fond of poetry, or at least I haven't found too many poems that touch me, but I will take a stab at it. Out of all the poems the two I felt most compelled to write about is “Immigrants in Our Own Land” by Jimmy Santiago Baca and “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” by Kevin C. Powers.
The reason why I enjoyed the second poem “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” is because when I first read it I had no idea what was even going on. I had to read the poem a dozen times before I could make any connection to the text, but I grew to enjoy this poem more and more each time I read it. I liked and felt emotion for the poem because I think he is saying goodbye to the women he loves because he doesn’t think he will make it back home. The other poem I read is “Immigrants in Our Own Land” I also felt some strong emotions for this poem. This poem makes me feel anger because I think people are trying to change but they are forced to do something they don’t want to do, also I feel sad for the people in this poem who feel like they are stuck and how they think there is no other choice. This poem is still a little confusing because the title of the poem is misleading. But I still do not know what poem I will choose to write about for the next essay. I have good ideas on how to analyze both of these poems and I do feel emotion for both. Maybe after a little more thinking one will stand out more than the other.
Sean
ReplyDeleteGreat post.I like your honesty. I must admit, I had to reread them all several times also and I don’t really enjoy analyzing poems either. It makes my head hurt.
I enjoyed your simple explanation of the poem, “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting”. Your analysis of the poem,was of a soldier saying goodbye to the women he loves. Which I thought was very insightful. But you failed to enlighten us, on what made you come to that conclusion.
Hey Sean,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your honesty as well. I've had to read poetry for school assignments and I've read collections on the recommendations of other, but for the most part, I would probably never say that I "like" poetry. Sometimes I think poets are just authors with shorter attention spans.
"Immigrants in Our Own Land" actually made gave me the creeps when I started reading it. Having worked in a detention setting for way longer than I'd like to admit, I recognized the subject matter instantly. It's actually a fairly accurate portrayal of a jail/prison setting and reading it made me feel like I was back at work. It never ceases to amaze me that people get out of that setting and continue to make choices that send them back again and again.