"The Hitchhikers" by: Diane Wakoski

The Hitchhikers I feel is Wakoski's way of finding what she lost. Reaching a goal which I believe may be a lost lover. She states that " it is the look each one gives me of need, desperate need, pick me up, or Ill fail to reach my goal, and that need frightens me." Everyone is on a path in life both literally and figuratively. People are always trying to get somewhere, reach some unseen goal and hitchhiking is the most obvious of visuals to define this. Why else would a hitchhiker do what they do if not for a desperate need to get elsewhere? Wakoski herself seems to be on a journey to reclaim herself, find what she lost or learn to live without it. I feel it is a lover because she states " looking for your face in each car I pass, or which passes me, knowing you would not hitchhike, either, thinking of the two years I spent with you, reliving them over and over, knowing I had everything I wanted". It was a love lost. Now they are both going their own separate ways and like all she needs to to recover, "think" as she states and recollect herself. Like all others out there she is on a new path. Trying to reach a new goal and letting go of the one she left behind.

Joy harjo - "She had some horses"

In "She had some horses" Harjo speaks of the plight I believe of native american women. Being of such descent herself it only made sense. Each horse described a different identity such as:

"She had horses with full, brown thighs.

She had horses who laughed too much. 

She had horses who danced in their mothers' arms

She had horses who were much too shy, and kept quiet

in stalls of their own making."

Each women is different and this poem punctuates that . I t shows you the difference in personality but still binds them all together. When Harjo states the following this is why I think of plight.

"She had horses who whispered in the dark, who were afraid to speak.

She had horses who screamed out of fear of the silence, who

carried knives to protect themselves from ghosts.

She had horses who waited for destruction.

She had horses who waited for resurrection."

They were forced into different lives, losing many and not knowing what their future held. It was most likely filled with fear, pain and uncertainty which I feel Harjo brings out perfectly.As in those times a person was their tribe and the tribe was each person. All was one and when she states "There were horses I loved and horses I hated, and they all were one" I feel she is in fact talking of herself. She has each of these women in her each disposition, each hope and fear, and she both loved and hated it. At least this is what I got from this poem parts of it did in fact confuse me.

 

Anne Waldman - "Makeup on Empty Space"

Emptiness seems to be the underlining theme of this poem. Though The author speaks of putting makeup on in the most literal sense that could be the theme , it seems to go further than that. Almost as if the author is invisible or trying to hide behind the numerous amounts of makeup and jewels many women adorn. As if we are not really hear nor would we become noticeable without the adornments upon us. Its as if to say we are all simply empty vessels waiting to be covered or filled. Waldman states "I am putting my memory into empty space". The empty space continuously refereed to here is the head and face. So perhaps she feels she will not be worth the recognition without it? All her works and memory goes into the art of putting makeup on and shows you all she has learned. What her life is like her society and background perhaps? It seems to be all about covering or filling up a void. This is what I have gotten from this poem.

"The Mother" by: Gwendolyn Brooks

This way by far the most touching poem I have read in awhile. Normally when it comes to an abortion a woman is looked down upon and the topic is rarely spoken of. It's considered taboo and the mother is made to look like a criminal but what people fail to realize is she is in fact a victim too. This poem goes where no one chooses to go before. It shows that women feel it , it does in fact change their lives but it sometimes is a necessary step because having the child may have even worse circumstances surrounding it. I appreciate how as a women Brooks is able to not only acknowledge what she did publicly and not hide from it or be ashamed like most would, but she also apologizes in her own way, and admits she does in fact love each and every child. It really touched something in me and made me really appreciate her as an artist. I respect her mentioning this and as a women feel her pain. It was a touching poem and incredibly eye catching.

"Barbie Doll" :by Marge Piercy

In this poem we see the unyielding, over demanding expectations of society on women. The way we look is constantly at battle with how society deems acceptable. Whether we are too fat or two thin, at any time it is subject to change and we are expected to keep up with such a demand in order to be considered beautiful. Piercy states from the very beginning that 

"This girl child was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy"
So simply stating that from birth society is to blame. These are the norms we teach our children. Girls are given a pink nursery and dolls with other such things and boys are given a blue room with sports decorations. These are the accepted norms. No one questions them we just go along. Then as we grow older we are criticized and told how to look which at such a young age we naturally take to heart and with no will power or self love we then form opinions of our self on how wrong we look and begin to hate ourselves. Why? Simply because we arent a size two model with perfect features. Piercy speaks of the girls health and how well her other features were such  a ' strong arms and back, a normal sex drive, etc..." but all anyone saw were her flaws. Why is that I wonder? Why do so many people care exactly what our flaws are? Something considered unattractive today would be considered beautiful tomorrow. In ancient times being a woman of weight made you desirable. It not only signified your financial status because it showed that you have enough money to provide for food and such necessities but it was ideal for childbearing. Now you have to be skinny and sometimes you get criticized just for that because it doesn't look right on you. It might even make you look too skinny. No matter what people will judge but what I ask is why? Why should anyone care how I look or dress if it doesn't concern them? Who makes these ridiculously high standards for beauty and why do we conform to follow them? Perhaps it is us as women ourselves. We wish to look a certain way because we aren't happy and instead of changing ourselves we bring others down and judge? As they say "Misery loves company" .So does that leave us to blame? We as women force ourselves to go through this?  No matter what anyone says it is still our choice. We can choose to be happy with our appearance and ignore all else. Do we create these demands that are impossible to live up to so we don't feel alone? Other women will struggle and try to look as we want to but at least for those who fail we wont suffer alone? Piercy even states
"In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending."
A happy ending? For whom? She suffered and changed who she was facing death either figuratively speaking because she kills the person she once was to be different or literally as most women do when going through surgeries to please those around us and receive praise. What part of this ending says happy? All to hear the words " Doesn't she look pretty"? Ans though I know Piercy means this in a sarcastic way many feel this is the truth. Its all life means many women would do anything to be considered pretty by societies standards rather then finding the people out there who will think she looks just as pretty just by being her. Not by being a 'Barbie Doll".

"In Goya’s Greatest Scenes We Seem to See" ... by: Lawrence Ferlinghetti

In this poem suffering is the over all theme. Specifically of those whom are American. Whether its the suffering we inflict of the suffering we take upon ourselves Ferlinghetti sees America as nothing more than a great landscape for suffering. He first speaks of war when he mentions "Heaped up groaning with babies and bayonets under cement skies in an abstract landscape of blasted trees. Bayonets are in fact a weapon used way back when in war. When he speaks of cement skies I cant help but think of industrialization. The skyscrapers surrounding us that are so tall and so close together it almost seems as if there is no sky at all or it is impossible to see. Industrialization is in fact the very thing Ferlinghetti apeaks of right after. Especially when he says "They are the same people only further from home on freeways fifty lanes wide on a concrete continent spaced with bland billboards illustrating imbecile illusions of happiness". Illusion of happiness? That really interests me  in this poem fact is It's human nature to suffer we always want more , need something and are never fully content. This is in fact how capitalism works. It feeds of our wants and needs giving us and outlet. The more we work the more money we make therefore we can spend more and fulfill our never ending wants due to the production of constant new things. However we are feeding capitalism this way because the more we spend the more money we circulate therefore the process begins again with the government feeding off of us each and everyday. It enslaves us and we allow them to do it because in a society as materialistic as ours we believe the more we obtain the happier we shall be. Our possessions define us even though it should be the other way around.  We are the cause of our own suffering as portrayed in this poem but we are too far in to change or even care enough to change. We complain but take no action. It truly is a never ending cycle of suffering one in which we cause ourselves and pass down to our youth from birth by immediately putting them through school with the sole premise of if you do well in school you will have a good job/career and be happy in life. How will that make me happy? It will only fuel my greed and our economy and that isnt happiness its suffering in disguise. Quite in fact nothing more but the illusion of happiness which Ferlinghetti puts out there.

"Howl" by: Allen Ginsberg

Drugs, Capitalism, Despair, and Generational issues. These I see as the themes for this long 3 part poem. It starts with his generation. Those of his peers struggling to survive and find meaning in life. Alot of them having turned to drugs, Capitalism has taken over and begins it's destruction of imagination and creativity, everything is done for you. All you can do is work with the machines to advance which wipes out all hope for personal change and growth only conformity as I have gathered from this poem. Life becomes nothing more then the consumption for all things materialistic there is no beauty in your surroundings or simple pleasures, its the drive for obtaining  more and holding on to possessions rather than dreams as stated " Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the American river! Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit! Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions! gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! Despairs! Ten years’ animal screams and suicides! Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on the rocks of Time!" It continues on this way but with the stance that the fight is necessary and needed as stated here "I’m with you in Rock land in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-journey on the highway across America in tears to the door of my cottage in the Western night" while speaking to his old friend Carl Solomon.Simply its a poem of our nations destruction in the form of improvement and advancement. But do you think that holds true today? Though we continue to advance today's generation was born into a world of advanced technology. We are often referred to as the generation without creation, we have no individualism because we have all been sucked into the "land of machinery" from computers, to phones its as if we couldn't live without it because its quick and simple. We know no other way, nothing of struggle or personal growth, patience of the value of words. We no longer write letter we email and text and the recipient gets it in minutes rather than days. So were we born conformists? Isn't everyone born a conformists to their society and generation. We are already lumped together as a generation and given little options. The author speaks of the ends of dreams and creativity in his society, yet we know only this, work with machinery and speed, we are technology dependent and that is all we have ever known but is it really then end of creation  as he claims? Or could it perhaps be the beginning of a new revolution? A new way to identify one another progress, follows ones dreams, and make it easier to break free from intellectual conformity? With all that is around us we have more in terms of resources to learn and form an opinion. though our generation is in fact materialistic does that make us non dreamers or uncreative by birth?

"The Day Lady Died" by: Frank o'Hara

This poem follows a man running errand throughout New York on a Friday , "3 days after Bastille day".
o'Hara has a train to catch later to attend a dinner with people he doesn't know so in the meanwhile he is getting his shoes shined, go to the bank, buy liquor and while heading back to 6th avenue, he passes by a newspaper and it has "her" face on it. The lady whom this poem is dedicated to the one whom died. The only thing I thought then when reading this was it must be someone famous, why else would such a big deal be made about her death? Normally civilian deaths don't end up one the front page of a newspaper and for the author to see it at a glance while strolling that is the only logical place for it to be. Only one conclusion was made here, it must be someone he admires very much for went to all the trouble to further document her death in a poem and at the end he puts " I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT while she whispered a song along the keyboard to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing"

. Documenting his plain day must have signified her importance. How while he was running trivial errands a great lady died, it then became a day of sorrow for him. This lady was none other than the legendary  jazz musician Billie Holiday also known as "Lady Day" hence the title, The [Day Lady] died.
After giving some background on this poem I felt this held a great relatable topic to today's society. Lately we have watched many a great star, actors and musicians alike from Heath Ledger, to Michael Jackson die. I wonder why is it we mourn myself included for these stars as we do? It isn't as if we knew them personally  but when hearing of Heath Ledger, an actor i grew up with and held quite a crush it was a horrible thing to hear. I mourned just as though it was a close friend that had died. An entire nation mourned the day Michael Jackson died, it was on the news for months after and everywhere you looked there was a tribute to him. The king of pop died and it became one of our biggest losses in the entertainment industry, much as the death of Billie Holiday. I feel it's because the entertainment industry impacts our lives more then we think. We feel as if we know these people and look up to them. Their songs or movies bring us tears, laughter, fears, etc ... why wouldn't the author not be able to breathe? Losing Billie holiday at the time must have been equivalent to losing Michael Jackson why else would he dedicate a poem representing this day I feel it is his way of mourning.

"February Evening In New York" by Denise Levertov

In a literal sense the poem is exactly what its titled . It consists of an evening during winter on the streets of new york. However with the way Levertov describes the poem itself New york seems like more then a bustling industrial city. It appears magical, and widespread. Limitless like everything there is beautiful and wondrous. There is hope and a yearning and appreciation for life like when she hears two women talking and one says

"You know, I'm telling you, what I love best   

is life. I love life! Even if I ever get to be old and wheezy—or limp! You know?   

Limping along?—I'd still ... " .

New York is always described as the place to make your dreams happen by books, movies, and the general media, and the way Levertov speaks of New York is as if it's limitless. The bustle of feet as stores close one more day ends and another is ready to begin. Stores close and people shuffle along trying to make it home or to any destination they might be needed however Levertov states herself it is as if the bodies aren't even there. Like everything blends into another there is no specifics of personal identity everything is grouped together. However despite Levertov's intention of making this seem like a hopeful poem especially when she ends with

"west sky, east sky: more life tonight! A range   

 of open time at winter's outskirts."

I find this poem to be a tad bit depressing and lonely. It seems as if no one is important or special everything is clumped together with the way the footsteps and bodies are describes. It almost seems like rather then a vast chance of opportunities New York really only provides Isolation. Perhaps this poem means more then what Levertov wants the reader to believe?

 

"The Gift" by Li-young lee

The gift by Li-young lee seems to revolve around a young boy who had gotten a splinter or piece of metal stuck in his hand. His father then removes the splinter all the while telling him a story one in which he cannot remember if asked now. All the author can recall is the strong and calming way his father sounded and the peace he brought to a concerned child. This became a art of him eventually and turned into a similar incident with the authors wife. She too gets a splinter stuck within her nail and he carefully so she feels no pain "files her nail down" and gently removes it for her. In the end the author then goes to recall that he ket the splinter and kissed his father when it was over. No crying or dramatics just a simple kiss of gratitude for not only removing it but giving it to the boy to keep. I wonder why did he keep the splinter? Was it because of the care his father took to remove it or does it symbolize something else? I feel it describes and demonstrates the bond between father and son. I also feel perhaps it was more then the soothing and quick way the father removed the splinter? Maybe the son was purposely no crying to seem brave ion front of him? He specifically oints out the when it was over he didn't lift u the wound and cry. Could it really be because it was so ainless or because he had to be strong?

"Birches" by: Robert Frost

"Birches" by Robert Frost is a poem that soely revolves around fantasy and imagination in my opinion. Though Frost knows that the Birches were hung over by a snowstorm and ice that enveloped the tree and dragged it down he still prefers to believe that it was dragged down by a little boy. This boy was considered isolated and lonely, too far from baseball or other interactions. He did his chores hence being accomanied by cows and found playtime in the most basic of things. He had to rely on himself for fun and that fun relied heavily on his imagination. I hunched and later come to realize that this boy is  in fact Frost himself and it was an opening, background material if you will for his true meaning. Rebirth to innocence. He longs for the days of his childhood. Where he was innocent non worldy and life revolved around plaing and housework. The days when his biggest concern was what he will play today. He begs to not be misunderstood for Frost says there is no better place for love then earth but he wishes to reach death and come back anew. Reborn to a child and once again swing on those birch trees. Once again really live.
I feel this means to really live because as a dults we have responsibilites. Some we force on ourselves others we are given by society but truth be told did we not live life to its fullest as children? We appreciated the beauty and nature around us, interacted with it even rather then ignoring it as the jaded adults we are. We used our imaginations not pure fact and focus. We lived and played, criied and got hurt but we always went back outside and played again no matter the consequences. It was innocence in its purest form for we lacked imagination. Who doesn't wish they could return to that?

"The Fish" By:Elizabeth Bishop

While reading this poem a thought occurred to me one in which I incorporated into my exercise but also wish to get further insight. When Bishop catches then studies the fish she receives a sort of epiphany at the end. I feel that what she described has an even deeper meaning. The fish was described as gruesome in physical appearance but also a warrior. He continued to struggle to live and be free despite many attempts to be caught. It made me think of society in general.
The "look" in society and what is deemed acceptable is always changing. In Greek times Women who had meat and would be considered heavy set by today's standards were once considered beautiful. They were good for bearing children and it showed off their social standing. They were rich enough to eat well. Yet today all we see in fashion is skinny women practically a size zero with no figure and many try to accomplish this look through sacrificing their health.Much like the fish being considered ugly. But by who's standards. The fish is shown to have beautiful aspects as well or so Bishop points out.
Then we have the fish's desire to break free, he had many hooks stuck within his lips and threads from fish lines hanging off. It reminds me of society's struggle today with the government and economy. We fight and struggle so hard everyday for simple things that should come to us for free such as food and shelter. Without these things we would die. Yet many people take on numerous jobs and sacrifice themselves and their families in order to gain such things. Just like the fish fought for his freedom which was given to him at birth so do we. We fight for freedom, equality, and basic necessities.
Much like this poem and Bishops view we consistently ignore the beauty of nature and the true meaning of life. Are we really here to feed our economy? Sacrifice ourselves for capitalism? Downgrade and judge others by appearances? My questions to these poems include not only this but one for everyone else as well. Do you see any other aspects in this poem that contribute to society and the struggles we face similar to the fish?