Ballad by Sonia Sanchez

The poem, “Ballad” by Sonia Sanchez is beautifully written. The main focus of the piece is a woman debating on the proper age of wisdom and love. It feels as if it is a war on one woman being too old and another too young to fully comprehend the meaning and the emotions being the word love. The young woman is told she is too young to understand. Yet while the older woman understands, she is told she is too old to experience love again. A line that caught my attention was, “once. What does it matter when or who, I knew of love. I fixed my body under his and went to sleep in love.” The woman is telling the young person that she has experienced this love, so how can she not fully understand it. The emotions and diction in this piece is amazing, showing her views and feelings on actually experiencing love as it unfolds.

Dreams by Langston Hughes

I have read this poem plenty of times. The poem, “Dreams” by Langston Hughes is so cleverly written where it can be read by a child or an adult searching for inspiration and hope. He tells the reader to hold on to their dreams as if it is the pure essence and joy the person will have in their lifetimes. He believes that if a person doesn’t possess any dreams or aspirations of any sort, they are living in what he calls life as, “Life is a barren field, Frozen with snow.” Dreams add color to life and the poet is pushing people to hold on to dreams, no matter if they are impossible or not. This poem has inspired me to follow my dream of writing endlessly.

“Incident” by Amiri Baraka

This poem is wonderful and I love the psychological thriller like theme to it. The poem, “Incident” by Amiri Baraka leaves people wondering and mesmerized following each line without a breath. His poem is a mystery being unraveled yet still having one’s guessing what the truth it. The rhythm of the poem is fast, non stopping and one feels like they are watching the scene unfold between the murderous killer and its victim. The narrator describes in great detail the shooting of the victim and how it damages him. The narrator clues in that the victim held a dark soul, “But he died in darkness darker than his soul.” This hints that the victim might have been involved in some sort of scandal that resulted in his death. The killer was mentioned to have stayed to watch the victim die from loss of blood which shows the menacing and horrible mind of the killer. The narrator leaves the reader guessing and wondering the history and the motive behind such a scene.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

I have always loved this poem, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. I referred to this poem plenty of times in my life with different situations. The narrator is forced to face a dilemma of two roads he approaches. He must choose between the two, each resembling a different life’s path. He tries to determine the results of taking each path yet he is unable to and is forced to choose one. The narrator describes one of the roads as “grassy and wanted wear” which means he was claiming that road was less traveled. After contemplating each road and understanding he cannot return to his present situation, he chooses the harder and more difficult road to take, the one “less traveled by”. He decides to take the route which is more challenging and acceptable in his eyes then the easy way out in which other people take.

Metaphors by Sylvia Plath

After reading the poem, “Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath, I was amazed by such skill that Plath possesses. This poem has to do with the topic of pregnancy. She starts off by claiming that she is writing a riddle that needs to be solved. She then uses each line as a clue and a metaphor to figure out the secret. She describes the appearance of being pregnant. She also talks about the responsibility and the effects of the choices being made from having a child. Plath discusses the financial effect on being pregnant, the emotions and the feelings. Her poem holds humor and understanding from anyone who understands what it’s like from being pregnant with child.

Song by Allan Ginsberg

After reading the poem, “Song” by Allan Ginsberg, I was left thinking more deeply about the essence of love and the philosophy of it. He writes about the importance of love in people’s eyes in society as well as how it shapes our lives. The poet starts talking of love as if it was a burden, preventing us from living our lives completely. People are searching for this powerful feeling through dreams, daily days of living, as if it was the fountain of youth. He talks about love as if it was a “weight” in which we carry, he also writes as if it is the cure for such poison as well. People’s search for love can be overwhelming and bringing us down, but the cure for such sadness is to lean on love for support, “we carry the weight wearily, and so must rest in the arms of love.” The narrator wants to feel acceptance and a sense of wholeness in their body and the only way that seems to be possible is to find love.

“The Secret” by Denise Levertov

The poem, “The Secret” by Denise Levertov reminds me of poetry in general. I can picture a group of friends sitting around and each reading this one poem. As one reads a poem, one can interpret its meaning in a whole new light. Yet it seems to me, each friend reads the poem and discovers a connection within them. Somehow, the lines reach out to each reader. However, as you read this poem you start to wonder if the poem was already written or if the friends each wrote a line creating their own poems filled with secrets within. Years later, the friends can read the poem discovering a time that gripped them with a sense of wonder.

“Early in the Morning” by Li-Young Li

After reading the poem, “Early in the Morning” by Li-Young Li, you receive a feeling of admiration and a sense of love from the narrator. The narrator seems to appear as a small child who watches the exchanges of love between his or her mother and father. The poem also shows a routine each morning for the family, the mother combs her long hair before the birds start chirping and while kitchen noises flow throughout the house. There is a sense of serenity in the piece as it focuses on the mother using the same comb each day brushing her hair and putting it in a bun. It’s as if she’s holding everything in place when she puts her hair up. There may also be a sense of worry about change, perhaps if she changed one aspect of herself, events would follow and the love would stray. An interesting part was when the speaker said, “Easily like the curtains when they tie them in the evening”. This quote may mean that they have a façade of routine and structure, yet when no one is around, the parents let everything happen on its own in a more free and spiritual way.

"We Never Know" Blog

After reading the poem, "We Never Know" by Yusef Komunyakaa, I cursed myself for never reading it before. The imagery is powerful and it seems this poem can behold many meanings to it. The character in this poem seems to be dreaming perhaps of a wonderful illusion. The tall blade of grass may resemble a forgotten memory while the character is envisioning it happening. The narrator tries to go to the character of focus and grab his attention yet is stopped by, "a blue halo of flies" which may represent the character's concentration from being disturbed? The poem is a bit confusing at first I do admit. Yet the crumbled photograph mentioned in the poem is very interesting. Again I believe the photograph might mean a memory that the character is holding on to. Since he was holding it in his fingers while dancing, you can assume that he refuses to let go of the past, something is stopping him from moving on. Yet towards the end you realize the character has been killed during the war, his last vision was probably the photograph and what picture was embedded within it. The grass claimed his attention and nature took him. The narrator fell in love with the illusion on what the dead man was experiencing as if he was taken to a different world while the sounds of mortars and guns faded from him.

"The Desolate Field" by WIlliam Carlos Williams, Blog Wk 1

After reading the poem, “The Desolate Field” by William Carlos Williams, I found myself sitting on my chair breathless. I have read through the other poems, yet this one seemed to grab me somehow. The imagery was pronounced and fascinating yet it seemed to delve even deeper. The first two lines leaves one guessing as the author talks about how the sky seems like an illusion. He finds himself unsure of its existence. If you ever walked down the street and felt a wave of amazement as you stared at the leaves falling or the opening of a sunrise you would understand the emotions pulling at this piece. I feel as if the poet is searching for some sort of sign to appear to lead him into the right direction. I can feel his uncertainty and pain with reality. To just exist yet not knowing why you were placed here or what destiny has in store for you. He talks about a nozzle searching the ground. Sometimes people just find themselves so caught up with scientific details on what happened or why it happened, where as life is passing by without any recognition or gratitude. He’s searching for answers, to feel whole again yet wherever he turns he finds himself as he says, “desolate” with nowhere to go. Yet sometimes when things fall apart before you, when all seems to crumble to the ground, a small aspect catches your eye. This aspect can be anything, a smile or the feeling that things just might get better, that this life IS worth it. The poet then feels the need not to search for the answers but rather to experience them. The poet wants to feel some sense of belonging and realizes just because love is not in front of him does not mean all hope is lost. Rather it means that far ahead love is waiting to be cherished and experienced to its fullest extent. A sense of bewilderment is possessed deep into his heart and if one reads these lines they can almost feel the same. At first I believed this was a depressing piece yet after reading it two times I realized it takes the reader from a sense of despair and brings the reader up to a new light, to a sense of hope.