Getting Divorced

In "People Getting Divorced" Lawrence Ferlingehtti uses the Analogy to connect actual events and objects with indirectly related happenings. A person forced to live in his car is forced to take all of his possessions with them; uprooted, without the comfort once had of knowing where their belongings belong, and where they will always be. A divorced person is without roots, without confidence and stability. One begins to see themselves no more grounded then an errant shoe, so easily lost. "Wondering what happened, to everyone and everything.." Suddenly nothing is certain, nothing is in its place. You question your values and choices.
He compares a pair of shoes to a married couple; one cannot be independent of the other. He wonders if the lost shoe can find a mate, sounds a bit weird, how likely is that? Perhaps when we got married we too were so; like a pair of shoes, compatible for non other. But now the shoe is on the wrong foot. Irreversible differences render the couple as compatible as two random shoes.

Ginsberg's America

The poem America by Alen Ginsberg is a strange work of art. It can appear as random thoughts jotted down (perhaps even in preparation for a poem) as opposed to an actual poem. He even dates the poem within the poem. Although the rhythm is there -the poem is a chant and a cry- it is perhaps more apparent to the trained eye as rather to my own.
As I read Ginsberg’s poem it seemed as though almost every line was displaying another side of character from a writer with an obvious complex personality. His strong statements are dark and laced with disgust and apathy, yet always coming back/tying in humor and wit.

One thing is certain, the speaker/writer is disenchanted, strongly. He speaks as a member of a sub-society/culture, disconnected from society at large and the reality they choose to see. A period in America’s history that is remembered as a time of growth and optimism.

The Day Lady Died

Some poems are timeless. In Facing It Yusef Komunyakaa uses imagery and references to his a specific time and place, regarding specific people. Yet, years later, I can relate as a civilian. On the other hand, Frank O'Hara's poem is so personal, I feel like an outsider, if not an intruder. He begins with a precise loctaion and time, and proceeds to report in great detail seemingly mundane (yet to him meaningful because of what happened that day) activities. Yet I am lost. What is the significance of his Friday afternoon routine? Who is Lady? How do I relate to all that went through his mind as he saw the everyday things he did through a new light when I don't even know what happened!?

Yusef Komunyakaa; Facing It

In Facing It Yusef Komunyakaa describes his experience at the Vietnam Memorial. A war memorial can evoke strong feelings for anyone, but for the speaker of the poem, a vet himself, the visit is painful struggle between many conflicting emotions. On the one hand, he must move on, not let the pain keep its paralyzing hold on him forever: “I said I wouldn't, dammit: No tears.” On the other hand, he is besieged with survivor’s guilt lest he forget those who died in his stead: “I go down the 58,022 names, half-expecting to find my own in letters like smoke. I touch the name Andrew Johnson; I see the booby trap's white flash”. Thirdly, he struggles to deal with the fact that a mere slab of granite can attempt to pay respects to a real life lost, to 58,022 lives lost: “Names shimmer on a woman's blouse but when she walks away the names stay on the wall.” We get to walk away, content with seeing the names, but they remain as they were, just a name to represent a whole life lost.
Komunyakaa uses strong imagery and contrast to reflect on his inner turmoil. He compares his face to the black granite, fighting to be cold and emotionless as the wall. From black he sees white; the flash of the booby trap, a white vet who lost his arm. (I wonder how the color of his friend is relevant.) He seems to describe the reflections on the wall as deceiving, his imagination and guilt (?) playing charades on his mind; his own reflection suspiciously becomes a bird of prey; a woman brushing a boy’s hair appears to be erasing the names; the black wall represents a mirror. Perhaps this mirror represents an alternative reality: In this real world, all there is is a cold, lifeless wall, but in the mind, the wall lives with the painful memories, a more just memorial perhaps. Perhaps the speaker is caught in between his painful conscience and his will to see things in better light. Life must go on. A mother brushing her son’s hair may seem indifferent to his pain, not having seen the war up close as he did, but in the simple maternal gesture also lies great beauty of life, perhaps reason to move on.

The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop; Who Caught The Fish?

In class last week, the general understanding was that Bishop is writing a poem about a fishing experience she had.
Yet, the contributing writers on the Bedford-St. Martin’s Virtualit site (Quentin Miller and Margaret Wald respectively) seem to take a very different approach. They refer to the fisher who's experience is recounted as a fictional second party. i.e. "the speaker" in the poem. As the first sample essay begins: "Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” is a seemingly simple poem about a speaker who catches a fish, scrutinizes it, and lets it go."

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/fish_elements/fish_essay.pdf

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/psychoessay.pdf

So is this poem based on fact or fiction? Did she catch a fish that looked as described (at least the literal parts of the description) who's usual appearance and hooks in his mouth inspired the symbolisms and the moral struggle described in the poem? Or did she create a story of a fictional fisher only to inspire them?