Response to "The Lull," etc.

Molly Peacock’s “The Lull” begins describing road kill along a railroad track; however, the poem picks up speed and insight about life itself through the description of the road kill. I finally recognized this after Friday’s lesson in class. A poem should start with a concrete item, an everyday thing. The poet can then form the poem about an abstraction out of the original concrete image. Molly Peacock changes the tone midway through the poem from matter-of-fact and descriptive to subjective and reflective. I really don’t much understand her outlook on life; I even had to look up the definition of the word “cache.” Maybe I should start thinking about different unorthodox ways to describe life as well. A dead possum? I applaud her.

            Alberto Rios’ “Nani” really struck me. First, my grandmother is Italian and we call her “Nana.” From the title on, I felt as though Rios was describing my grandmother; this gave me a special connection with and appreciation for this poem. One of my favorite phrases of the poem was “the absolute mama,” used to describe Nani. This shows how deeply respected for the grandmother is, and also how wise she is. I enjoyed that he poet uses the number of wrinkles on Nani’s face to correlate with her experiences in life. I want to write more on my Italian side of the family, now that I think on it. I should use the rich family experiences from them for my writing.

            Margaret Atwood’s “The Woman who Could Not Live with her Faulty Heart” is now one of my favorite poems. She begins with the usual stereotype of a heart, the image one normally pictures when hearing the word “heart.” I thought it was interesting that Atwood decided to use the literal image of a heart, in all its depressing qualities. My interpretation of this poem is that the heart knows better than any other part of your body what you want, as well as what you don’t want. The heart sometimes confuses you, or leads you down the wrong path, and never seems to be satisfied. This is how life goes, until you die. Again, this poet uses a concrete image to describe a larger part of life.