Blog 2/18/15

The first poem I looked at from the packet was Peter Markus's When It Rains It Rains A River. Immediately, the wording of the poem struck me as unusual. There is something motivational but poetic about the way it was written, as if it was a commander giving a speech before battle. "Other boys when it rains, they run inside to be with their mothers, but us brothers, when it rains, we run outside to be with ourselves. Outside, in the rain, the dirt beneath us turns to mud. Us brothers, we love mud." The story then transitions into something like a Native American creation myth. "We eat until our bellies are big with mud. We take what is left of the mud and we make girl." I believe I have read a few different creation stories involving sculpting humans out of mud.

 The Singing Fish continues where the previous poem left off, once again highlighting the mysterious "girl". The "us brothers" make an appearance as well, and at this point the significance of either is unknown to me. He has more of a Walt Whitman type approach on this one, comparing himself and his "brothers" to stick figure fish. "oh yes, these fish, they are us." I now have a hunch that Markus is writing from the perspective of a toddler. There is a childlike curiosity to his writing.

One of Mattawa's most impressive poems in Tocqueville was "Terrorist". The poem is quite cryptic. For example, I am unable to figure out why it is called "Terrorist". Most of the writing is descriptions of the author unifying his body with his brother's "I become my brother’s Siamese twin./
Rubbing the ashes of his bones unto my face". Why/how he chose the title is unclear. The poem is very dark, and gruesome images are created throughout: "I have cleansed my body with the soap of his fat,/ stuffed my pillows with his shorn hair,/ I made dice of his molars." Though I appreciate the imagery, I'm at a loss trying to figure out what message it communicates. My favorite line of the poem was: "despite my bunkered heart and fortified skin,". The combination of words rolls nicely off the tongue.

Having finished Tocqueville, I overall like what the author did with the collection. Problems that I had with the poems were not because of the author, it was because of my own feelings about poetry. Though I would probably not pick up this book or another poetry collection again, I will remember how to pick out small things that I like within the writing. I have come to realize that I will never enjoy poetry, but I can still see how skilled the writing is.

Week 3 Post

Khaled Mattawa's Tocqueville contains types of poems I have never encountered, such as ones that relate to events that have took place in my life. For whatever reason, in my other English classes the most contemporary poems we ever read were from the beatnik era. These poems coming from a time period in my life I can remember makes them seem a bit more relevant than other works of poetry. Mattawa's masterful tongue-in-cheek approach effectively delivers his message while simultaneously entertaining the reader. As far as I'm aware, the subjects Mattawa touches upon are not usually discussed in American poetry, making the poems a great example of how writers can approach poetry differently.

The poem that I enjoyed the most was Ecclesiastes. I'm a sucker for clever wordplay, and this poem certainly delivered. "The trick is that you're willing to help them/The rule is to sound like you're doing them a favor". Mattawa reverse the rules with the tricks, a way of commenting on the U.S.'s own tactics of foreign policy. The subtle way in which he makes jabs is quite remarkable. He manages to keep an air of mystery around his poem, while still having a strong political stance. It is almost reminiscent of some Allen Ginsberg works (Howl, America) in which the language is equally as interesting as the message.

Week One Post

For this week's readings, we were assigned several poems from around the world. The poem that stood out to me the most was Bhana Kapil Rider's Tell Me What You Know About Dismemberment. The poem blends the author's personal narrative into a tragic historical event. The first person account gives an interesting perspective into how disconnected we are from the horrible news that we read: "I read the  Denver Post--- 'According to our---" --- and sip my tea; '--- sources, the Serbs have made a practice of cutting out the wombs of women they rape, then hanging these wombs on poles." Though she makes very powerful statements, at some points in the poem I was unsure what she was trying to convey: "This rain, the mountain, the American, rain that's falling as I write, the rain that reminds me that I am always facing East; the direction of water: its rapidly dissolving salt." Overall, it was my favorite poem from the packet.

Mauren Seaton's Geology of Water was a more traditionally organized poem. Although the imagery was quite vivid, the poem was weighed down by it's cliched themes and language: "The sea grew old in me", "Their deaths are sedimented in long memories", "Wash that sea in me and wring it clean", etc. The poem struck me as whitmanian. From what I remember of his poetry, he would compare himself to nature, or even claim that he was nature. If I had to pick a favorite part of this poem, it would be stanza two line five: "If I bend closer I can hear him drown, a man made of water whose words arise like bubbles to the surface ". When I read the line, I had a strong image in my head of the bubble man.

In the past it has been difficult for me to appreciate poetry, even though I am an avid reader and listener of music. There is a certain investment that comes with a novel that is not there for me with poetry. Poems that have appealed to me in the past have been those by beatnik writers such as Allen Ginsberg or Jack Kerouac. Aside from them being a bit more "edgy" than the typical fare, I feel as if the writers were able to express themselves in an unfiltered, unconventional way. It reminds me more of a stream of thought rather than a carefully prepared piece of poetry.