DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here: "Audubon Ate His Birds" by Kristin Robertson Originally read: January 30, 2013 More information about the Poet: Kristin Robertson The first sentence, or rather the first six and a half lines in this couplet form, is pretty humorous because of the hyperbolic acts compared to how Audubon is imagined (an animal lover who drew pictures); however, upon further inspection what the speaker writes of is true , well technique wise anyway. The speaker inserts the sense of humor through the first simile "feathers splayed like pick a card, / any card "  and  "he roasted and swallowed / the loves of his life."   What this sets up is a kind of authority behind the speaker.  The speaker doesn't hide his/her bias of a feeling of disbelief when stating the truth -- however, the speaker, no matter how hyperbolic it seems, is writing the "truth." Then the shift in the narrative -- or rather the comparison to Audubon where t

Original poem reprinted online here: "In My Craft or Sullen Art" by Dylan Thomas Originally read: January 30, 2013 More information about the Poet: Dylan Thomas After rereading this again and again, I think about the title.  I think the title cuts multiple ways, but these two ways stick out for me.  There could be a separation between "My Craft" or "Sullen Art"; or, there one could define the other, "My Craft" = "Sullen Art.  The poem could actually be read both ways since the first stanza and the last stanza address the same issue of art and readership, but in different perspectives. In the first stanza, the speaker compares his/her night activities to those of "lovers"; however, the focus here is on the lovers and the line cuts from scene to contexts, "And the lovers lie abed / With all their griefs in their arms, I labour by singing light"  not that this is the longest line in the poem and sticks out pretty awkwardly;

Original poem reprinted online here: "Dispatch Detailing Rust" by Adrian C. Louis Originally read: January 29, 2013 More information about the Poet: Adrian C. Louis So this is the first poem that I'm analyzing for this blog which has both narrative and lyrical elements to the poem;  furthermore, the elements are so distinctly separate that I feel that there's a progression of intent for the reader and the speaker. The first stanza is narrative where the speaker details the experience of seeing his "enemy's hand" and "gloated." So breakdown a little bit, the first half of this stanza has character development (speaker has an enemy and doesn't think him/herself old until as old) -- however, within the first few lines  the speaker identifies himself as a visual speaker and how attention oriented he/she is to the point that near the end of the first stanza the speaker realizes his/her own hands are just like his/her enemy -- or rather the enemy

Original poem reprinted online here: "Farm Scenes" by Robert Bly Originally read: January 28, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Robert Bly  I never wrote about sequence poems versus stanza break poems.  I believe that sequence poems take the white space as semi-colons.  That each piece, no matter how separate the content may be, are connected to each other somehow or someway; meanwhile, stanza break poems could shift topics and correlate to the stanza before or branch off into something entirely different.  Of course, I may be wrong with my assumptions. So for Bly, I remember most of the work had a Jungian influence ( Deep Imagism ), so the most important parts to look out for is the usage of light and darkness (or how one turns to the shadow [or the Orpheus complex]).  Anyway, away from the jarganism. In the first stanza, there's a specific visual scenery of "Everything is white."  That all the connotations of the color is there, but it's butted up ag

Original poem reprinted online here: "Shanidar, Now Iraq" by Sarah Lindsay Originally read: January 28, 2013  More information about the Poet: Sarah Lindsay When I reread this poem, I thought the images were odd, but felt strong which offsets the burdening of heavy baggage words. "Tower" has become one of those words.  And, I feel for a very long time, "Iraq" is one of those words as well -- at least in the context to American politics and literature.  Yes, America did invade Iraq, twice. And like all wars, there are always people that want to do something about the situation.  However, the title, "Shanidar, Now Iraq" has brought in a historical context. Ah, now I see. Anyway, I'll get to that in a bit.  In the first stanza I wrote, "The surreal opening line sets up a surreal tone, duh, right, but it's not over the top surreal -- anthropomorphizing bones and flesh."  And so the first paragraph goes about  bones. Then the second

Original poem reprinted online here: "A Little Shiver" by Barton Sutter Originally read: January 27, 2013 More information about the Poet: Barton Sutter When reading this poem again, I thought to myself that this was something I would see in a Norman Rockwell painting -- something so light-hearted and domestic that  I have a hard time being cynical about the poem.  The poem starts out with the "bad tidings" being snow. And here's the aftermath of such an event: 1) Children abandoned their homework (then a light-hearted jab at hypotenuse). 2) Snowplow driver getting ready for work. 3) An couple resolves their "barking at each other" and decide to "go to bed" 4) Dog, in the snow, puts tail over snow. Surely, there are things missing in the poem (if I look at this as a narrative) more centered around the couple who "barked at each other"; however, I fill in the blanks with connotation.  Something as innocuous as quilts diffuses my cyni

Original poem reprinted online here: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney Originally read: January 26, 2013 More information about the Poet: Seamus Heaney So the poem is in rhymed quatrains that works sort of like a question and answer poem.  The first three  stanza sets up a certain question and the last three stanzas answer the question. The first three stanzas define the "Follower" as the father.  A person who, for generations probably, worked the field.  The single statement of "An expert" actually made me see the poem in a different way when I reread this today.  Past me wrote, "The fragment sets up a distinct definition, and the following sentences -- discussing of technique with no description shows expertise."  Maybe I'm not looking at the poem at this angle at this time. Currently, I'm thinking how to be an expert at something, and placement.  For a horse-plough there's the horse, who is in front, and the person who is in "contro

Original poem reprinted online here:  "The Universal Prayer" by Alexander Pope Originally read: January 26, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Alexander Pope The poem is constructed in quatrains with alternating rhyme scheme (abab).  I wrote that first because I don't know what I should write about this one.  Yes, I did choose this poem, and I think I chose it because of the inconsistencies or, maybe, humor in the poem. The last line in the first stanza, "Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!"  shows a sense of desperation or rather overstatement (over-dramatization) of need.  From here on out, I get a sense of sarcasm from the poem.  In stanza two, "To know but this -- that thou art good, / And that myself am blind: / Yet gave me, in this dark estate to see the good from ill"  Within four lines there's a quandry.  An omnipotent being is good, but made me blind, but in my blindness, inflicted by a good omnipotent being, I am able to see the good in things b

Original poem reprinted online here:  " Landscape After Years With Yourself," West Texas by Shamala Gallagher Originally read: January 25, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Shamala Gallagher, and Youtube video This poem to me is reminiscent of Gertrude Stein's style of repetition; however, I wouldn't put this poem squarely in the branch off of Gertrude Stein -- L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry.   When I think of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry I think of early Lyn Hejinian and Charles Bernstein whose works tried to deconstruct the purpose and limits of language.  Of course, when times change so does meaning and poets. Why do I bring up L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry in the first place.  Well, I feel this poem is in conversation with the past ethos of the style.  Well now I do actually. Past me looked at how the language is used in the poem what words were used and how the word was used.  For example, "heat" in the poem comes up six times in the poem -- four times "heat"

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Q" by Michael McFee Originally read: January 24, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Michael McFee Before I start, I ran into a pretty thorough daily critique/analysis poetry blog called The Poetry Daily Critique .  The analysis of poems are far better than mine for looking at the poem through theme, technique, and mode. What do I have over this blog?  Uh, I try to do this daily -- meaning I make a lot of mistakes.  Anyway, the first blog post on The Poetry Daily Critique was for this poem .  The blogger, in the post, defines probably his/her aesthetic/lens he/she views the poems.  It's pretty good and thorough.   But from here on out I'll be focusing on what I think   Yeah, probably not as thorough.  So this poem is quiet comical as it points out the different variations of how to look at the letter "Q."  From the beginning to end, I feel this poem has a sense of whimsy, but doesn't cross the line into pretentio

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Two Bourbons Past the Funeral" by Andrew Hudgins Originally read: January 24, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Andrew Hudgins In the beginning of the poem, I noted the "we."  The speaker and another person are "enjoying" a bourbon after a funeral.  I didn't note this from the first read -- the word "old" is repeated and mentioned four times in the poem, "old books of the old poet, past old now, and another old poet fumbled / to his favorite poem." Now, whatever the case, past me found the first line funny, "I find this funny in a relatable [six] way -- the focus is not on who died, but what to do after -- drink perhaps."  The humor is further compounded with the repetition of old and the speaker and the old man fumbling to find the right poem. The turn in the poem happens in the first simile, "his voice reverent / and sure, until he caught on a word / like a coat on a barb

Original poem reprinted online here:   "What Work Is" by Philip Levine Originally read:Years and Years ago Originally Printed for this Blog Project: January 23, 2013 More information about the Poet: Philip Levine So this is one of those poems where I couldn't pass up on when it came up in one of the daily poem places.  I read this poem years ago, and it's one of my favorite poems.  I wrote down notes here, but what I always remembered about the poem is the tone.  The tone shifts from exasperated from angry. However, when I reread this poem for this blog, I wondered where the direction of the exasperation and anger went to. So I write down for the poem, "The tone of these line brought me in, Automatically prophetic and stating --> or trying to bring the reader in."  These are the lines, "if you're / old enough to read this you know what / work is, although you may not do it."  Current me believes that the first lines solidify the "you&qu

Original poem reprinted online here:   "Tattoo Theory" by Ada Limón Originally read: January 22, 2013 More information about the Poet: Ada Limón The beginning of this poem starts off as a narrative, but then there's an insert of humor in this line, "for some reason, in Spanish.  So it [the map] reads Montes Apalaches."   Then I wondered why I thought this is humorous.  Of course, the shift in language from one to another is interesting (Ezra Pound, Cantos ), but doesn't  mean it's humorous It's the switch in expectations.  On one hand, I as expecting a map in English, but I got one in Spanish -- how should I react.  I think this idea is the crux of the poem. The shapes of Nebraska looking like animal -- humorous, but a switch.  The poem switches from the focus on language to visuals kind of confusing the humor -- or is it merging it, I'm not too sure. "Nebraska! Nebraska Forever! Yeah" starts a sped up sequence (confusing or adding to t

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Hospital for the Ear & Neck" by Shanna Compton Originally read: January 21, 2013 More information about the Poet: Shanna Compton With this poem, I listen for the sound of the poem (which I get from the title).  And here's something that past me mentioned in stanza 2, "This is a mouthful"  However, when I read the line, "cluster flocklike" out loud today, I mixed two words together.  And I think this poem does a lot of play with sound. In stanza one there's "tones" and "tune."  In stanza three there is "knobs" and "notes."  In stanza four there is "grass" and "groups."  These words sound similar when read out loud; however, when I read them over and over again, I understand them as separate entities. Yet, still the poem plays with sound in a different way, anaphora.  In stanza five, the repetition of "we are" brings in a group feel; howev

Original poem reprinted online here: "A Fable" by Louise Glück Originally read: January 20, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Louise Glück After rereading this poem, I remember how I try (with every blog post) to separate Poetry and Prose.  Now I think I've argued why certain poems should be prose; however, not the reverse, some prose should be in poetry form.  I wonder why. In any case, this is a poem that I think would be better off as a flash fiction piece.  All the qualities are there for a flash fiction piece: short, plot, character development.  I look at the form and the line breaks and wonder what is gained by them. For example, "Two women with"  ending with "with."   I remember back that writer's shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition.  I never fully understood the reason why.  However, in this poem, I have a reason why.  Ending with a preposition forces to reader to go to the next line or sentence as though the speaker has

Original poem reprinted online here: "No-Motion Replay" by Dobby Gibson Originally read: January 19, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Dobby Gibson Past me wrote this at the first stanza, "seems like a better end stanza."  However, the poem is cyclical in it's imagery.  And I think that I knew why I wrote that about the first stanza.  I felt this line, "it's no accident if it has a cause" is such a great strong line.  However, the line is for the first stanza is to critique or amend the thoughts and connotations of the last stanza. But then in the second stanza shifts dramatically.  The speaker addresses a "you" the images changes from something nature like to a more religious imagery intertwined with stacking metaphors of prison and money. and the last three lines pose a rhetorical question:      Between never and soon      you found a place you can trust,      sacrificing something, but what? So at this point I feel the "you&q

Original poem reprinted online here: "Child" by Sylvia Plath Originally read: January 18, 2013 More information about the Poet: Sylvia Plath This poem is unlike any poems I know of Sylvia Plath. Daddy , Blackberrying , Ariel tend to have a dark (sometimes hyperbolic) overtone filled with personal emotion (Daddy), dark situations (Blackberrying), and/or viscera (Ariel).  All these aspects in her poems, I won't necessarily say resonate, but rather defines her work for me in my mind -- kind of an association (Sylvia Plath = list above). When I came across this poem in my daily reads, I thought hmm interesting -- I'm pretty sure Sylvia will fall back on one of those three techniques. The beginning of the poem starts out so innocent, maybe a little overboard from both the perspective of the speaker and the subject:, "Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing."  Noticing the line after rereading this, there's something awkward with the construction

Original poem reprinted online here: "A Coat" by William Butler Yeats Originally read: January 18, 2013 More information about the Poet:  William Butler Yeats I don't know what form this is.  There is a rhyme scheme, but it's not as consistent or follows a specific pattern.  Maybe since there is a certain foolishness with the poem in multiple levels, so the rhyme is offbeat -- depicts "humor." And this poem is humorous, especially when looking at the end lines, "For there's more enterprise / In walking naked."  There's a sense of defiance here that doesn't seem completely serious; however, in spite of the rhyme scheme and the ending, I feel the crux of the poem is the creation of the coat in the first four lines.      I made my song a coat      Covered with embroderies      Out of old mythologies      From heel to throat There's the concept of exposing oneself versus exposing one's art.  And, at least for me seeing this poem as

Original poem reprinted online here:  "I Write You This on a Train Named for an Endangered Bird" by Kyle McCord Originally read: January 17, 2013 More information about the Poet: Kyle McCord After rereading this, I'm trying to figure out what the name of the endangered bird is.  The funny thing is is that the name of the bird is not important -- rather it's the loose end that's not answered in the poem. However, the whole question/answer, call/response idea doesn't come into effect until after the poem is done.  When I first read this poem, I felt this poem was only a stream-of-consciousness poem where the focus was entirely the directions the ideas were going.  For example, "like pitting your protagonist against an all-knowing, all-seeing jaguar spirit." which I past me thought was funny. Now I realize that this poem deals with duality not only  scene wise, but within the language itself.  Note how there's a separation between the first sentence

Original poem reprinted online here:  "His Elderly Father as a Young Man" by Leo Dangel Originally read: January 16, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Leo Dangel This poem is a narrative.  And while I thrashed narrative poems before ( see:  "Zombie Preparedness Plan" by Mary Jo Firth Gillett) for being "overly narrative" (too concerned with plot, having no sound in the lines, no purpose in the breaks and white space, etc.)  I don't write about these things in this poem.  Of course, I can go on and on thrashing how "narrative" the poem is; however, what I find interesting is that past me didn't care and focused on the plot.  Current me thinks this could be a pretty good short story, and as a poem, well, I'll guess I'll get into that. So  the poem is a confession, and that's what past me focused on in the analysis.  I wrote, "Sets up an interesting narrative -- the speaker (father) and the audience (child) is set up

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Beauty" by Elinor Morton Wylie Originally read: January 16, 2013 More information about the Poet: Elinor Morton Wylie So I read this poem after "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron ; however, I don't remember if I analyzed them at the same time.  Judging by the line marks, I'm pretty sure no.  Anyway, reading the poem and then thinking about what Byron wrote brought a new perspective for me. Form first, this poem is written in quatrains with an alternating rhyme scheme (rhyme scheme similar to Byron), and still the technique.  There's something separate and off in the poem. Let me write down what I first thought about the poem: "Summary time!  If stanza 3 was put in place in stanza 1 -- I think the poem would be less of a definition of beauty but how beauty is defined." Although I don't agree with past me, I do see the point.  If I looked at this poem as a definition poem (title being the word to be def

Original poem reprinted online here:  "She Walks in Beauty" by George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) Originally read: January 16, 2013 More information about the Poet:  George Gordon Byron What I didn't write in my notes (and I just realized this after rereading this poem) is that the poem is iambic octameter with three sestets with an alternating rhyme scheme ( ababab, cdcdcd, efefef) .  What does that mean to the poem?  There's something off with the poem. Not in the sense of meaning, but the poem seems "incomplete" form wise.  The "usual"  form is iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets,  octaves (maybe even quatrains).  I'm probably looking too much into it, but form informs sound and interpretation. With that being written, the most important line of the poem is deciphering the initial simile, "She walks in beauty like the night / of cloudless climes and starry skies."  So this is a dumb point for me to address, but the simile can refer t

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Off Lows, Weakness Remains: Meditation #3" by Susan Briante Originally read: January 16, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Susan Briante DIY means do it yourself .  Knowing this now (rather than before when I only had a dictionary) turns the poem a bit more for me in a certain direction.  However, I want to quote what I wrote earlier about this poem: "Reassurance of self in a parking lot - or rather 'everyone else' there is no talk of the speaker or you -- in this way -- the ambiguous advice serves as prophetic.  I wonder in a different form, maybe avant or traditional, does  (can) the same message get across ... and how or if one side dilutes more than the other an in what way?" Well that's more deep than I though.  When I reread the poem I noted that the "you" is definitely referring to the speaker, and there's a sense of madness the more and more the speaker tries to "calm" him/hersel

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Item:" by Angie Estes Originally read: January 15, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Angie Estes "This poem hinges on this colon because the context of the poem changes from poem, to definition."  I somewhat agree with past me.  The title having a colon does set-up a poem to be read differently; however, it's not until I read the poem over again (from the first time I read it) that I saw how the colon worked in the poem.  Does the poem hinge on the punctuation?  For me, Yes.  Does the poem change to a definition?  For good and bad, maybe.  It's a definition poem so there's a little of the sterile (definition) and there's a little of the literary (poetry) in here. So the italics in the first lines sets up a context to the definition, " a beautiful hours, very well / and richly illuminated "  These lines state that items are like this but also how the reader should look at the following definitions

Original poem reprinted online here:  "In Memoriam (VII)" by Alfred Tennyson Originally read: January 14, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Alfred Tennyson This is another hesitation by me.  I like the poem (why would I choose to do this if I didn't).  However, looking around the internet, a simple search shows more detailed analysis of the poem from people like me (mostly readers) to scholars who write the context, the history, and the meaning behind every rhyme scheme and word.  I can also see why this would be a turn off for people trying to get into poetry (for such a short piece why is there so much context?).  So, I'm going forward the best I can. Do I know the context behind this poem?  Somewhat.  You'd probably find more information here , or here .  This is part 7 of a 17 year elegy.  There's so many nuances and allusion in the poem that I possibly cannot get.  I think for a reader of poetry (with any amount of background or knowledge), he/she ha

Original poem reprinted online here:  "The Teller" by David Mason Originally read: January 14, 2013  More information about the Poet: David Mason So this poem is tricky.  Yes, indeed that these is a narrative.  Also this is a Elizabethan Sonnet (even though the construction is separated in eight and six), so the volta in the poem is the couplet at the end.  So within the form already there's a bit of a sleight of hand. However, it's not really realized in the first eight lines.  The poem starts off like a regular narrative about how an Eskimo named Jack got lost at sea while fishing.  This all feels like back story, but what makes this poem work for me is that the back story is literally eight lines -- all I need to know is there. Then the next five lines, I believe, chronicle the five years the Eskimo took to go back home.  I write this: The anaphora matches the passage of time.  Technique wise, it's pretty brilliant. 1 [year one] Did the English control Singapor

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Soldierization" by Jane Satterfield Originally read: January 13, 2013 (hole punched the date :-/ ) More information about the Poet:  Jane Satterfield What's the difference between prose and poetry?  Hell that I know?  This is just a guess though. The difference between Prose and Poetry is expectation.  The automatic response when reading something in prose is information -- whether it be an article detailing something, or a finding out the plot of a story -- prose has that long tradition of a useful tool for information. Can you imagine a poem constricted to information like an article?  Meh, maybe, just not there yet.  Poetry plays more on a language level (or at least has more leeway).  And although sound accounts for some the distinction, this poem distinct itself through does other poetic techniques. So I paused after writing the last sentence.  I wanted to be specific about the poetry techniques that separate this from prose (a

Original poem reprinted online here:  "I Said to Love" by Thomas Hardy Originally read: January 12, 2013 More information about the Poet: Thomas Hardy I didn't write this down in my notes, but after rereading this poem, I imagine a narrative, similar to how I saw a narrative in Ministry Today by Steve Davenport even though, more or less, this is a lyric poem.   I, once again, imagine two guys at a bar talking about love this time (other time it was about God). The anaphora of "I said to [...]" brings a dialogue quality to the poem.  When the speaker is addressing "love," really, the speaker is just exposing his own thoughts about love.  For example, in the first stanza, "When men adored thee and thy way / all else above;"  Although the speaker tries to look at the subject a bit objectively and take himself away from the "men."  The further the poem gets, the more personal the poem becomes. I think I questioned when the speaker wrot

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Snow" by Kenneth Rexroth Originally read: January 11, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Kenneth Rexroth  So there's a certain speed of images that goes on here.  After rereading the poem today, I thought of how to control speed in a poem like for example alliteration and assonance create speed in a poem; furthermore, I feel, the majority of the time, longer sentences create speed.  So would that mean a long sentence with alliteration can be read the fastest? Anyway,  the poem starts out slow through sentence structure and image, "Low clouds hang on the mountain."  The poem could go into a different image for movement sake, but it's the reiteration (note: not repetition) of the image that slows the poem down, "The forest is filled with fog."  So the first few lines focuses on the clouds and the attributes of clouds: dim, invisible, growing.  Clouds are then juxtaposed by birds who take on the emotions of f