Diane Wakoski and the Hitchhikers

Seeing the hitchhikers on the side of the road reminded Wakoski that she “once had what she wanted, and lost it.” She compares the relationship she is mourning to being trapped under her own good fortune, like a mountain of diamonds of being rendered immobile by being turned in to gold; someone who has everything they want but cannot realize it until it is too late.
Sometimes comfort and security can foster guilt. Her car separates her from the plight of the hitchhikers who rely on people like her to sacrifice some of their comfort zone. But her car is full of her own needs and regrets; she seems to need her space and guilt. Perhaps accepting a stranger into her comfort zone would symbolize moving past the past, which she is not ready for.

Joy Harjo; Perhaps the World Ends Here

Harjo writes of the value of family-centered life in a era where tv dinners are beginning to replace rigid family rituals. If the value of family can be compared to a religious observance, the kitchen table, where a family receives physical and spiritual nourishment, can be considered the central and most holy of places; an alter. The architect Frank Llyod Wright designed his house to centered around the hearth/fire place to enable families to see their meeting point as the center of their lives, their home.

john giorno; an unemployed machinist

The repetition seems random and yet intentional at the same time. The first two stanzas are repeated as a whole after they were broken at first; as are the last two. This seems to be the main motif from which he varies a bit. It's almost as if he wants you to hear the words within the words. There is emphasis, but not just repetition, there is something else. More than one meaning to a line; a line can be understood two ways. Depending on how it breaks, the emphasis is on a different word. When he reads in person, in a way it seems lie the lines repeated are the same, repeated for effect. but he stresses not on the same word exactly each time.

Incident by Amiri Baraka

The imagery here is interesting. Beginning the poem with imagery using many verbs and non-noun words such as back, shot (twice, emphasizing "He came back"; as if to say the killer returning to shoot was like twice intentional), fell, stumbling, down, shot (again), dying, dead. Perhaps the lack of nouns and metaphor project a more literal feeling.

Only in the second paragraph do we get introduced to the nouns: speeding bullet, tearing his face, "blood sprayed fine over the killer and the grey light". Now we have the characters missing in the first stanza, and "the grey light"; perhaps even a pseudo-metaphor. As seen in the third stanza, the light is only a metaphor, the darkness both literal and metaphorical, as is the tumbling.

The journey from literal to abstract is gradual: the first metaphor of light so commonly (over)used and familiar, it can almost "feel" real to the reader. This sets up the metaphor of tumbling down the stairs, more thoughtful and insightful.

The unusual break in the middle signifies an end and a beginning in middle of the poem; perhaps because we return to the literal.

Langston Hughes; Sylvester’s Dying Bed

In Sylvester’s Dying Bed, the vernacular familiar to Hughes from childhood is paramount. In other poems, Standard English is used, but here, the speaker’s story is unique to its organic roots. The words dont just tell the story, they are the story. Of course, this gives the poem a tune of its own, we hear the voice of an immigrant, the mourning of loss is not just any mourning, it is unique to the customs/wailings/tune of its culture, which gives the poem its melodic quality; swayin’ an’ chantin’.

Hughes seems to be telling a story that he does not want lost in translation. It is the story of life, death, love. Perhaps for Hughes they are inseparable from their ethnic roots; for once they are cut off/ integrated to the faceless melting pot, these fundamentals can be rendered meaningless; general concepts perceived by the general population instead of the unique individual interacting the irreplaceable family.

Li Young-Lee; Early in the Morning

Early in the Morning seeps with nostalgia; a common setting for childhood memories, but also common for immigrants. Many images in the poem are conducive for nostalgia; the time of day, especially morning, especially early. Foods of childhood, especially local foods and customs. Birds remind us of time. Common or even mundane practices such as combing hair are anchors that remind us how special it was to be a child within the predictable stability of family. Her mother repeats the motion every day, her father like it just so. The poem flows with continuity; first we imagine the long grain, then the long hair. We begin with the light of early morning, and end behind the dark shroud of the unknown evening. The hair like curtains, the imagery hiding our imagery, left to wonder as a child might.

Marge Piercy; Barbie Doll

Barbie Doll is a strong poem. I could feel the rhythm, hard and prodding; challenging at every turn our conscience, our utopian hopes for society. Perhaps this is a characteristic of a Beat poet. With the quickening pace, the imagery finds uncomfortable corners of our mind; the words are relentless and carefully chosen, from the title, to the stark details of death. Barbie Doll hurts; you don’t want to face the reality of the next line, but you must, like a tragic scene unfolding in front of you, you want to turn away, but you can’t.