I think a lot of the time w/ poetry, we can become frustrated b/c we don't know what a poem "means." This is not to say that meaning isn't important. But I think we should also appreciate the way a poem sounds. For instance, the opening and closing stanzas from "Trouble in Mind":
A heartvein throbs between her brows: Ketty-San's
incensed another joke's made at her expense... [hear that surprising rhyme?]
All nightlong, she scribbles her useless esoterica.
All daylong, mumblecored, she meeps,
meeps along.
I might say that I don't know what this poem is about. But I have images. I imagine a young Asian woman with that throbbing vein between her eyes. I imagine her making a "meep" sound, a character out of a mumblecore film (yes, a thing).
Which of the poems did you struggle with the most? Now read that poem again. Focus on just a portion of it, and try to figure out what it's doing. It's better, w/ poetry, to talk about words and images than overall effect. I think we can't know its true effect until we talk about its parts.
The poem I struggled with is "The Difference". I couldn't quite get a picture about what was going on. It was very hard to put together. It also brings up some history about Greek, France, Russia, Ukraine. The poem was very hard to decipher. I couldn't get if it was relating today's history with history from the past. This poem was definitely not one I found interesting, I just find it very confusing. As you mentioned no one can be wrong about what a poem means. Everyone has a different understanding which is interesting because hearing other people's thoughts about what they think the poem is about can become more interesting rather than figuring out what the actual meaning behind it is. No one will ever know besides the author and in poetry I find that interesting and clever because poetry also makes you think. Not a big fan of this poem but definitely did like the fact it made me think and get my own idea of what I see in my mind as I read it. The one question I keep asking is the difference between what exactly?
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda: I'm glad to see you struggling w/ this one. It's tricky. I think it helps if you look at the first two words: "They talk..." Who talks? I think if you imagine who the "they" is, I think that can help you w/ the rest of the poem. I imagine "they" as two old men "in heavy jackets and plaid over / their coffee..." Read it again w/ that image in mind and see if you understand (like?) it better.
DeleteI agree i do think the poem was just all over the place. I re read the poem and i think the differences in the poem were just al over not a entire whole difference if that makes sense. Example line one the difference would be coffee (i assume its hot) to just the north (cold)
Deleteline too Obama(USA) and then talk about (Egypt) falling line three Russia and Ukraine and so on but thats just my assumption
Trouble in mind is the poem I had the most difficulty with. I often have difficulty understanding a poem at first. I always have to go over it over and over again.
ReplyDeleteIf I just focus on the beginning two stanzas of the poem I can focus on the author's description of what appears to be some sort of social media post which is directed towards her. It sort of puts the rest of the poem into perspective when I do that.
The poem that I had the most difficulty understanding and trying to make sense of it was "trouble in mind." The second stanza seems like she was being picked on over social media, where she tried to put a stop to it but people who she thought were her friends ended up continuing to joke over social media. Also "sidekick chum" was used more than once so maybe that plays a role in trying to understand the meaning of the poem? As I continued to read it was difficult to understand the wording and language of the poem, maybe out class discussion will help to clarify my confusions.
ReplyDeletethe poem I had the biggest trouble with was "the difference" at first maybe i figured somethings were simply about differences judging from the title like the first line was "they talk oil in heavy jackets and plaid over their coffee,they talk Texas and the north cold" at first i figured okay coffee maybe the difference with that would have been the hot cold but then the next line is but "mostly oil Obama,voices dipping vexed and then they talk Egypt falling, i felt that entire line had no meaning into it it sounds more beautiful then the definition a long with the rest of the poem which just felt like a nice arrangement of words and lines to me. Even the arrangement of words i have to say i didn't appreciate too much because nothing stood out to me and the poem overall was very bland to me
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