Original poem reprinted online here: "Secret of Life" by Diana Der-Hovanessian Originally read: January 9, 2013 More information about the Poet: Diana Der-Hovanessian I write, "The anaphora in this poem brings a mysterious enlightening quality to the poem because 'the secret of life' comes from a navy yard worker -- a forced perspective." So I disagree with my past self on one really big point -- past me forgetting the really big importance of the first line, "Once during the war" So, there's a context to this poem -- yes, there's a forced perspective filtered through the speakers (advice from the re-imaginings of a navy yard worker); however, add on top of this context a time frame -- a time of war, which means there's a sense of urgency for the advice versus "peace time" advice, or rather, in a time of war there should be a sense of urgency. However, the advice has a sense of the surreal along with humor. "The secre...
Formerly the RetailMFA, This is the Poetry Blog of Darrell Dela Cruz