DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here: "Bye-bye" by Derek Sheffield Originally read: May 16, 2013 More information about the Poet: Derek Sheffield The ambiguous pronoun of "it" is a predominate feature in the poem, and, even now, I'm trying to figure out if the "it" is static or if "it" shifts in meaning in the poem.  There's probably an argument for both, but where do I lean towards. The opening plays with tone through enjambment and hyperbole:      The animal of winter is dying,      its white body everywhere      in collapse and stabbed at      by straws of light The lines refer to "Spring."  So the metaphor of "animal of winter" is dying plays on opposition of animal of winter (presumably referencing the concept of a barren winter) is dying which equates to change.  Also the violence in line three and four bring more a visceral change which feels counter-allusive -- the light stabs. Through this set-up, m...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Blue Hanuman" by Joan Larkin Originally read: May 15, 2013 More information about the Poet: Joan Larkin There's a merge between the art and the representation.  The actual and the interpreted here shifts through how the image is presented mixed with Hanuman -- a Hindu deity in the Ramayan.  So the question, for me at least, is how much of the allusion do I need to know in order to "get" this poem. Well, allusions in the title and the first line usually telegraph how much information a reader needs.  Since the title is "Blue Hanuman" the focus is more of the adjective and how it interplays with the noun which further developed in the first line, "A four-armed flutist took me" -- note how the allusion works here, the adjective alludes to Hanuman while the flutist adds a different sense of the allusion as does "Blue" does to "Hanuman."  This is how the poem merges the actual and the inte...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Lesson in the Sunday Comics" by Jonathan Travelstead Originally read: May 14, 2013 More information about the Poet: Jonathan Travelstead Tercets until the end of the poem.  There seems to be three driving forces in this poem:  the representation of Calvin, the representation of Hobbes, and the speaker adding more of an narrator tone in the poem. First though, what really confused me was this in stanza four, "The friends, one named after a theologian, / the other a philosopher, hurtle pell-mell / down eight panels of hill,"  I searched for a while behind the meaning behind the allusion.  Yes, they do allude to John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, and then I realized I was looking too deeply to the allusion and seeing how the philosophy mixed with and within Calvin and Hobbes, or rather what the theologian and the philosopher mean to the poem. But, ah, it is not the philosopher, but the philosophy that matters.  So on hone side ther...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Ave Maria" by Frank O'Hara Originally read: May 14, 2013 More information about the Poet: Frank O'Hara Prayer for a people.  Usually when I think of prayer, I think of the more internal that's told by a group of people.  Especially when this poem is titled, "Ave Maria" or "Hail Mary."  What this poem does is focus it's prayer outward and to the personal.  Who is the speaker addressing?  "Mothers of America," and "kids." The disjointed lines add a sense of free-form  connection between mother and kids and the speaker's perspective in both.  In the first half of the poem is the impact of having kids search the world on their own, and the speaker makes good claims, "it's true that fresh air is good for the body / but what about the soul / that grows in darkness, embossed by silvery images."  Go outside or the soul will fall.  How about these lines, "when you grow ...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Elegy with lies" by Bob Hicok Originally read: May 13, 2013 More information about the Poet: Bob Hicok Past me wrote about the title, "Elegy with lies -- but it's honest about the elegy having lies -- focus how the lies operate."  So with an elegy, a poem honoring a dead person, there's bound to be overstatements and understatements. The first line deals with overstatement, "This lost person I loved.  Loved for a hundred years."  The overstatement is a personal view that continues to develop as the narrative continues. Narrative elegy?  Well, the story is the speaker is searching for her "in a forest."  And the speaker tries two different things to find her -- "call her name," and "build a machine that believes it's God to call her." The first attempt where the speaker tries to call out for the person.  Note how the  call is qualified with a parenthetical response of "noth...

Original poem reprinted online here: "For Mac" by Jack Spicer Originally read: May 12, 2013 More information about the Poet: Jack Spicer This is an elegy.  The references to death are high, but the execution of how death is looked at shifts with each line.  I feel this poem is dependent on line breaks. I guess a little on line breaks.  When I think of line breaks, the usual stance is to break ideas to either over emphasize the last word or the beginning word.  Both would be great, but over doing emphasis, perhaps, could unfocus the poem.  However, every line here shifts the focus of death and the personal. The first line, visually, focuses on a dead starfish on the beach, then on the five branches -- then the speaker does away with subtle metaphor and goes direct with, "Representing the five senses / Representing the jokes we did not tell each other." Past me wrote, "5 jokes,"  and still, I find the line wonky.  However, it's not the actual that's ...

Original poem reprinted online here: "The Frog Pool" by James Martin Devaney Originally read: May 11, 2013 More information about the Poet: James Martin Devaney Rhyming sestets.  So I actually have a purpose of announcing the form at the beginning.  Past me wrote down that the rhyme scheme is "sing songy -- goes with the absurdity of the poem.  AABBCC.  Also most of the lines are end-stopped.  Usually my mind would gloss over with this type of poem, but this one interested me because this reads like a fable. Also, my bias is that anything with "Frog" and "pool" anywhere in the poem has to do with Basho's famous poem about the old pond. Weirdly though, after reading this poem more and more, I think this poem successfully detaches itself from the allusion because of the rhyme scheme, the content, the humor, and all within a form. The first stanza starts out with the passage of time and the effects -- time passes, the pool shrinks.  The anthropomorph...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Alone, Looking for Blossoms Along the River" by Tu Fu Originally read: May 9, 2013 More information about the Poet: Tu Fu Continuing on with the idea of metaphor, the speaker in this poem automatically compares himself to the blossoms along the river.  Both are alone.  Now, the reasons should unfold throughout the poem, but I want to explain the picture past me drew in the margins.  The image of blossoms along the river are easy to visualize, but past me (and current me), doesn't quite see the connection.  Or rather, when it comes to loneliness and nature, there are some other representative images, but it feels like the blossoms near the river either have an historically symbolic reason or a personal symbolic reason.  Maybe a little bit of both. Yet, the focus of the speaker's loneliness is further impacted with the drinking.  "But my friend in wine / Gone ten days drinking" and then the image of the bed in which could...

Original poem reprinted online here: "The Hen Swallows a Worm or Slug" by A. V. Christie Originally read: May 9, 2013 More information about the Poet: A. V. Christie The very first word I circled and labeled, "hen and speaker."  There's a comparative metaphor going to be explored in the first stanza.  Where the poem goes after describing the metaphor will be explored in the second stanza.  I gleamed this knowledge from the first word.  Does that mean all poems like this that start out with "we" turn out like this.  Probably not, but the majority bringing in an item in the subject and then starting off with "we," alerts my metaphor senses. And as the poem starts the action of scratching is compared. "she kicks off / in a fan behind her.  I use a stick / to dig."  The action of uncovering has a heavy handed connotation for discovery, but what they both find are pretty moot "roots" and "a slug."  This is something n...

Original poem reprinted online here: "A Vision" by Oscar Wilde Originally read: May 9, 2013 More information about the Poet: Oscar Wilde From the beginning I noticed two things.  One, that the poem is an Elizabethan sonnet.  Two, I tried my best to pin the images to allusions.  Why?  The poem doesn't make sense to me if the lines don't allude to certain things.  But at the same time, I have to take the poem as is if I can't pinpoint the allusion. For example the first line, "Two crowned Kings, and One that stood alone" is a very narrative and heavy line.  First, there are kings, and second the focus in the "One" that stood alone.  Past me wrote "Dante?" But that doesn't make sense because Dante wasn't a king, nor did he aspire to be one. The entire time Past Me thought Antigone reading the description.  But this isn't the case.  The focus is of the third "one"  (not the third king past me wrote).  And look at the...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Riprap" by Gary Snyder Originally read: May 8, 2013 More information about the Poet: Gary Snyder At the very beginning of this analysis past me wrote, "Riprap (n) loose stone used to form a foundation for a breakwater or other structures.  (v) strengthen with such a structure."  And the poem plays with the ideas of "structure" not only through the form, but also the wording. The first two lines indicate the parallel between language and nature, "Lay down these words / Before your mind like rocks."   Note that the focus is on the speaker's words, not language as a whole.  His language.  There's a set up of the prophetic speaker that both talks about language and nature. The majority of the poem though is set in nature regardless of subject.  What I mean is a line like this, "Before the body of the mind / in space and time:" (interesting internal rhyme) has it's root in nature and the ...

Original poem reprinted online here: "From On Being Fired Again" by Erin Belieu Originally read: May 7, 2013 More information about the Poet: Erin Belieu The lackadaisical, colloquial tone really does shine in the first half of the poem.  The title itself has a semblance of exasperated humor where I, mentally, put my emphasis on "again" which foreshadows the speaker's intent to discuss her multiple firings. The sarcasm is apparent with the first two lines, "I've known the pleasures of being / fired at least eleven times--"  Am I expecting her to list off all eleven?  Yes, and no.  If the speaker does list off all eleven, then there's a sense of focus, but if the speaker doesn't, then the ones that come out the most shocking come out and adds to the sense of exasperation. And the big ones are "Larry who found my snood / unsuitable."  The sound here is pretty funny, "another time by Jack / whom I was sleeping with."  If in...

Original poem reprinted online here: "One Cigarette" by Edwin Morgan Originally read: May 6, 2013 More information about the Poet: Edwin Morgan Confession.  I used to smoke cigarettes for years, and that probably biased me to this poem.  So when I read the poem the first time, there's a lot of jargon that focuses on the addiction or "thoughts of an addict" where the "speaker is appropriating the cigarette to love.  Speaker is setting it up for disbelief."  However, rereading this poem, I'm not entirely sure about the "hidden symbolism" or "psychology" of the poem.  Not that I don't think these things exist in this poem, but rather I was thinking of what can a speaker get away with in a love poem versus other types of poems. Direct image with a direct meaning.  I think love poems can get away with this.  The more understood the image and sentiment, the more the message comes across.  It's not flashy or technically complex...

Original poem reprinted online here: "The Paltry Nude Starts on a Spring Voyage" by Wallace Stevens Originally read: May 5, 2013 More information about the Poet: Wallace Stevens I knew this was an eckphrastic poem from the title and the first line.    The words that lead me to this knowledge was "nude" in the title and "shell" in the first line.  But what if this wasn't an eckphrastic piece?  Well, I might be too saturated with Wallace Stevens, Botticelli, Poetry, allusions or all of the above.  In some ways, at least for me, it's impossible to separate the poem and the allusion to the painting. However, the speaker tries to separate his words from meaning or interpretation of the painting.  "The Birth of Venus" is a pretty acclaimed piece of art, but the first lines of the poem seem a bit jarring, "But not a shell, she starts / Archaic, for the sea."  Archaic.  Obsolete.  Not so much the reverence appearing in the painting or f...

Original poem reprinted online here: "South" by Jack Gilbert Originally read: May 4, 2013 More information about the Poet: Jack Gilbert A third person kind of fable.  Even the beginning reads lulls the reader into a sense of anticipation for change, "In the small towns along the river / nothing happens day after long day."  Past me wrote "domestic boredom."  Now that I think about it, isn't domestic boredom the start of the imaginary or rather a catalyst for some fantastical change.  Well boredom does that to peopole. Anyway, the boredom is punctuated by these two lines, "Lives with only emergencies, births, / and fishing for excitement."  Past me noted, "domestic fun."  But What I read now is more a of a sarcastic point of view from the speaker.  However, maybe it's me that reading too much into it because the straight description of the poem is quite monotone and any hiccup of emotion (the judgement call of "excitement...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Here Be Monsters" by Katharine Coles Originally read: May 2, 2013 More information about the Poet: Katharine Coles This poem is particularly difficult for me to decipher, and I wanted to go back to this poem after trying (and I think failing) the first time.  After rereading this poem, I still don't "get it,"  but at least I'll put my notes down on what I don't get and, hopefully, someone could explain to me the intent and drive of this poem. What I do want to point out is the structure, the offset couplet and single line.  The lines, to me, simulate a push and pull effect which enhances the sentiment of the first line, "We could fall off one / Edge or another." The other technique I want to point out is that the beginning of lines are always capitalized.  Although a minor thing, there's a different set of emphasis that I try to deny because of the repetition of the capitalization, but there are some pa...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Against Writing about Children" by Erin Belieu Originally read: May 2, 2013 More information about the Poet: Erin Belieu Humor.  The tercets really bring out a sort of angular bite with each line.  For example, when the speaker states that she is not surprised when people privately despise children the response is "I can't say I'm completely shocked, / having been one."  The sort of bite does two things  -- 1) centralizes the issue back to the speaker and 2) for the "others" there's the presumption that they forgot (or remember) their own childhood.  The humor is with expectations and the line breaks.  Added to this is the slightly cynical tone which switches between empathy between the "adults" and "childeren." Like this line break in stanza two "I was not / exceptional, uncomfortable as that is / to admit, and most children are not / exceptional."  Once again the twist goes b...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Fled" by Lisa Ampleman Originally read: May 1, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Lisa Ampleman Deer in this poem carries a lot of weight.  I don't know if the weight is intended for the poem or it's me adding that extra baggage to the poem. What I mean is that there's a lot of allusions to deer in other poems like "Traveling Through The Dark" by William Stafford , Tang Dynasty poets, Kobayashi Issa, some poems probably by Hass and Snyder and Kumin -- some I don't remember the titles of (as you can tell) but I do remember how "sacred" the image is if the image is central. But the image is not as central as the previous ones -- mind you the image of the deer is quite important, but the image is used as a direct parallel metaphor and what the focus of the poem is, then, a relationship. The speaker establishes a more contemporary feel with the first stanza referring to "reception" for a cell ...

Original poem reprinted online here: "A Man Said to the Universe" by Stephen Crane Originally read: April 30, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Stephen Crane A very short proverb, no so much a poem though.  I can see this quoted at the beginning of a paper or something and be a single line and still have the same impact. In any case though, the line breaks create a separation of what's said and response.  The statement that man says is stated alone for importance, "Sir, I exist!"  Construction wise, the politeness of sir combined with the exclamation mark brings a forced importance.  The line break for the universe's response, "The fact has not created in me / A sense of obligation."  brings multiple meanings. The line break versus the  single line shows a certain level of depth where the line "The fact has not created in me" can be taken as a stand alone line as more of a call out out to personification and the construction of a con...