Reflection #7 : "Negro Power"

This last week was a very interesting because for the first time I understood a poem the first time I read it, jajaja. Obviously I’m talking about the poet Langston Hughes whose poems not only are very interesting and curious but very easy to interpret and understand. This man writes about Afro American life on United States. The first one we read on class was “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” which is tells us, by descriptions and metaphors, the truth about black people’s life that trough the history they were used as slaves, mistreated and considered inferior to other races. Trough the poem he says he had known rivers, and he refers that rivers, in the history, has been used to force black peoples to extract gold and other valuable things that usually cost their life and the black blood spread through the rivers becomes their veins, the black peoples veins. Also he says “My soul has grown deep like the rivers” and he refers that he also has been mistreated and pushed away and that motivates him to reinforce his soul to fight for his rights and freedom and to flow like water in a river.
Another poem and surely the most I liked is “I, too”. In this poem he express that he is also an American, and part of the civilization. But peoples judge him because of his color and had been rejected because of his ethnic origin. He is the darker brother and he said “They send me to eat in the kitchen” and the word “They” refers to white peoples who are constantly trying to intimidate black peoples in order to make them feel inferior. But the poet also says that he laugh because he eat well and that one day nobody will treat him like that referring that he has faith that things will change and be more fair.

Reflection #6: Alzheimer's by Kelly Cherry

This poem tells about an old man who after been in the hospital, maybe because the doctors were doing some physical analysis to him because of his Alzheimer, returns to his house as Kelly Cherry describes. Kelly uses a simile to compare the old man’s mind with the suitcase he is carrying in his hand insinuating the old man is confused. As he is at the house’s door, Kelly describes his surrounding atmosphere. By the descriptions she uses to define the place, one could think the poem take place in a rural territory because there are flowers, roses, bushes and other types of small forest around the place. The old man recognize his house, the walkway he built, his car, even his past life, when he was young, his passion for the music. He dedicated part of his life to the music, but now there’s something more important or urgent as Kelly describe. His illness, as a normal effect or the Alzheimer, don’t let him recognize the old woman standing in front of the door which, maybe, could be his own wife. The poem is written in open form and contains some literary elements like similes and metaphors. An example of a simile is when Kelly writes “his mind rattling like the suitcase, swinging from his hand…” and one example of a metaphor is when she also writes “While the white wood trim defines solidity in space”. When she uses white wood, she refers to tulip trees, and other types of small trees which sound logical because at that moment she is describing an area out the house with flowers.

Reflection #5: Are Women and Cars the same thing?

Wow! I never thought that boring moments could be so powerful to guide such a talented, brilliant and creative mind like E. E. Cummings’ one to write something like this. It’s incredible to think that a person have creativity in such proportions. I never imagined read a thing like this. It’s very exciting not only because you have to read it many times to understand it but because once you deciphers the code behind each word, you form part of Cummings’ mind and you are able to understand his or her ideas, comparisons, descriptions and not only that but there’s no way to hold your desire to start laughing. Believe me; I saw many kinds of comparison with a woman but never with a car. “She being Brand” surely is the best double sense poem I had read in my life. It’s funny, at first I thought it was about a person learning to drive but after I read it many times I was able to understand this sensual, sentimental, passionate and, without doubt, funny act that hide that columns of words we call poem. There’s an interesting point in this poem. I knew that there’s something important in the title of this poem. And after I looked at it very close I saw that, in the title, there’s only one word starting with caption letter. Looking closely at “she being Brand” and the sense of this poem, the word Brand means, I think, Virgin, “she being Virgin”.