DDCPoetry

Poem Found here: "Mag" by Carl Sandburg The opening line of this poem feels so personal, "I wish to God I never saw you, Mag" that I wondered if this was a confessional poem.  I read snippets of other analysis from other people here and here  which discuss Sandburg's personal marriage with Lilian Steichen and his children.  Does this tie in with this poem.  Perhaps. But I feel the core of this poem, stemming from Sandburg's series of Chicago poems, is more ubiquitous.  And even though the woman is named, it doesn't necessarily have to be about Sandburg, but rather the speaker's frustration about "Mag" and, furthermore, what she represents. So the poem starts out with the speaker wishing, and the anaphora of wishing continues, "I wish you never quit your job and came along with me. / I wish we never bought a license and a white dress."  Note how the speaker projects his grief on Mag's actions, even if there is a "we"...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Cahoots" by Carl Sandburg Originally read: March 24, 2013 More information about the Poet: Carl Sandburg "Noir feel"  that's the first note I put on this poem; however, I didn't realize something until now.  The noir ( hardboiled ) genre didn't become popular until the 1920s.  I've been looking everywhere on when the poem was created or published, but nothing there.  So I have to assume this -- that this poem harkens to that time frame or is a commentary about reproduction of the 1920s. Or maybe I shouldn't make that assumption, in any case, the voice of the poem fits with my ideal version of what the time frame felt like through content, voice, and tone. "Play it across the table. / What if we steal this city blind?"  For me, there's a sense of nothing to lose here, because everything is lost.  It's an optimistic viewpoint in a Dystopian society -- which is the core of the hardboiled genre,...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Handfuls" by Carl Sandburg Originally read: January 6, 2013 More information about the Poet: Carl Sandburg "I've seen the word 'dusk' so many times."  That's how I started off from my notes.    It's not that the image is overly used or the word itself is over-representing the image; it's just that time frame (morning -> night) and seasons (Summer -> Winter) have been big topics in poetry as symbols, as images, and  overall inspiration. What interested me about this poem is how Sandburg uses his images.  The first line caught me off guard, "Blossoms of babies / Blinking their stories" the lines are surreal, but, sonically the lines shift from b's to s's.   Then in the following lines there's the "babies" take on the character of "gamblers." Even now, I don't know what's going on.  Hmm, I wrote this down: "I like this comparison.  It comes from no...