"Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out... Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure." A.E. Houseman
I was most drawn to the poems, "Immigrants in Our Own Land" by Jimmy Santiago Baca, and "Letters Composed in a Lull in the Fighting" by Kevin Powers. I feel as though they have little in common, though they do share a mutual sense of disappointment. This seemed fairly obvious in the first poem, the realization that your dreams and aspirations won't stop you from being labeled. In the second poem, I felt that the last stanza, "I tell her how Pvt. Bartle says, offhand, that war is just us making little pieces of metal pass through each other," (Lines 1-4, 3rd Stanza) reveals that there is a sense of disappointment in the soldier. I interpreted it that the solidier was feeling as though what he was fighting for wasn't what he imagined, there was no glory, it wasn't what he was expecting. I think this poem stuck out to me because of its simple description of such a horrible thing. I can't imagine having to sacrifice what solidiers sacrifice, and the idea of someone jotting this down, thinking of who they love, and what their loved one will think when they open the letter, that it will have the stink of war, stuck with me. If the poem had had more to it, I think it would have taken away from it overall. The simplicity is what makes it.
"Immigrants in Our Own Land" was my favorite of all of the poems from this section. I loved the look into how no matter how much hope you have, or how strong of a work ethic, you can be labeled and left to fade away. The line, "The administration says this is right, no mixing of cultures, let them stay apart, like in the old neighborhoods we came from," (Lines 15-17, 2nd Stanza) was a strong point in the poem for me. I felt as though it showed how strongly people are instantly judged, how scared we are of change. If change isn't reinforced, how can things get better? This poem left me thinking how people are left without options to improve their quality of life, to be able to acheive what they are capable of. The poem has its moments of optimism, of dreams and hopes, but shows how difficult it is to maintain that enthusiasm for life when you have so many things holding you down. Anyone can relate to this, but I think it stuck out to me because that is absolutely how the system works. I've worked with families new to the country, new to English. Rather than having options and chances, they are forced to scrape by, doing what they can. Making sure that communities have cultural resources is so crucial. People need a chance, they need to be able to show they are willing to work hard for the life they deserve. For race or status or orgin of birth to matter more than what someone has in their heart is a sad thing.
Love this poetry blog!
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