Final Responses

American Gothic
John Stone
Thought the poem was cute, I don’t think it had very deep insight except to play off of the infamous American Gothic painting. However it did have a nice rhythm to it I thought it painted a detailed, imaginative scene of what was happening outside the picture frame. The lines “the borders of the Gothic window, anticipate the ribs, of the house” jumped out at me. The descriptions give life to the objects he is describing, and even though they are out of the picture frame, I feel as if I can clearly picture them next to the farmer couple.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Wallace Stevens
I remember discussing this series of poems in class, I found them to be interesting but am still not quite sure of the exact meaning of the Blackbird to the writer. Certainly birds that are black conjure up dark, mysterious impressions, however I am really curious to know what the Blackbird is intended to symbolize or is it meant to be an enigmatic figure. The subject reminds me of Poe and his Raven. I found the stanzas “A man and a woman and a blackbird. Are one.” to be thought provoking. And wonder why the blackbird is apart of this trinity.

Winter Landscape
John Berryman

Thought the mood and motif of this poem fit the Peter Brueghel’s painting perfectly. The painting is a depiction of a static moment in time of these travelers, it seems very cold but on the other side of the hill there lies salvation for the hunters. The poem reflects on this, that even though there seems to be a warm welcoming for the weary travelers, they are forever meant to be a top the hill looking down. This to me mimics the fatigued sense I get from looking at the painting.

The Hunter in the Snow
William Carlos Williams
I was not as captured by this poem based on The Hunter in the Snow, as I was in the previous poem by John Berryman. Thought it had strong images but lacked a deeper meaning. This is important to me as there is already an image to look at, so why bother simply describing the image, say something more insightful, thought-provoking about it as well. I did enjoy the stanzas “their pack the inn-sign
hanging from a, broken hinge is a stag a crucifix” but once again I felt it’s only intention was to highlight the already present images.

Musee des Beaux Arts
W. H. Auden

I think this poem, like the John Berryman poem, reflects the painting very well. It talks about how Icarus’s fall in insignificant, which I feel fits the poem appropriately as I can’t even see Icarus in the painting. It at first, seems to be just landscape scene, however it isn’t until I read the title that I actually began looking for Icarus out in the water. I think the poem points to this quite beautifully, suggesting that it does not matter, these things happen, almost completing the painting in a way.

The Bronze David of Donatello
Randall Jarrell
This read like an elegant description of the sculpture. I enjoyed the lines “Lightly, as if accustomed, Loosely, as if indifferent, The boy holds in grace, The stone moulded; somehow, by the fingers, The sword alien, somehow, to the hand. “ It described the emotional quality of the gesture perfectly.

Archaic Torso of Apollo
Rainer Maria Rilke
When reading this poem aloud, I thought it had nice rhythm to it. It was easy to follow and decide which words to put emphasis on. It would make for a good imitation poem in that respect.
I liked the line that related the hips and torso to a smile, and felt the poem had good imagination. I am curious of the last line “You must change your life.” Suddenly the poem turns on the reader and addresses them, instead of continuing on with its description of Apollo.



A Red-Figured Cup of the Onesimos Painter
Robert Kelly
This poem stands out a lot to me, obviously for its strong sexual content and erotic references. Still I like it. I like the story it adds to the image on the cup. It plays off of the gestures of the figures and uses them to create a narrative.
It definitely has a masculine voice while reading it, and at first it almost seems like it is making fun of the image, with the dildo reference, then towards the end it seems more thoughtful.
It’s funny to me how the poem seems to poke at the man on the cup’s physique. He does not seem that old or skinny to me, he seems equal to the women climbing on top of him. Yet the poem insists of juxtaposing them.

The Tall Figures of Giacometti
May Swenson
Thought this poem had good imagination. I especially like the line “We bubble as do the dead but more slowly.” I thought it was interesting that the figures were related to the dead because they are faceless, sexless and seem to lack any real identity. They indeed remind me of ghosts wandering around.
The crude language of the poem seemed to mimic the unpolished, rough style of the statue.

The Emperor of Ice Cream - Wallace Stevens
This poem seemed random to me. It did not make a whole lot of sense.
Curious to know when it was written, as it does not seem that old. I don’t think there is any insightful meaning to the poem, it seems more funny and playful. I did notice that the poem used some rhyming. It seemed successful, and did not take away from the poem at all.

Dance with me Darling

Hidden down in my belly
Where no one can possibly see
It's behind the peanut butter sandwhich
I ate last week
But it burns so bright, it's surprising no one notices it
shooting up through my ears, nose, mouth and eyes
My tongue like molasses, thoughts stick like glue
Calm down, calm down
And I push it back down
But it travels through veins
Down into my feet
And suddenly I'm dancing
Falling and tripping excitedly
Completely missing the beat

BUT I KNOW I WILL BE

Every step I take
To run away from fate

Reels the line in closer
Draws the imminent

Mackerel in
Fighting all the way

I know she thinks the same
About her mother

She fears the same
Hook and line

So we already have
That in common

I don't want to be
Anything like my mother






SOMEWHERE I’M SHAKING MY HEAD

My expression glazes over
lost within my own trance
I shake my head

I'm present. I'm water
Reflecting back upon myself
with daydreams of tomorrow

I feel myself gushing
down consciousness.
I swim this way

and the current fights back.
I float that way
the water takes me with it.

Depending on the tide
I’m flooded by these
inebriating thoughts.
I travel down the waterway
expecting rapids or river snakes

at any moment, contrived

by my own fears. Poised to
pop all aspirations like chewing
gum bubbles.

I can see docks up ahead
exits to disembark at, but the sun
above me begs me to stay.

Blue eyes, a red bird's
wings cut across my stare.
Some hope

blooms with the lily pads.
The water's lucid daydreams
float me down further. Past

entangling seaweed, I've lost
my anchor somewhere in this river,
my left shoe with it.

MOre Responses!

The Man With the Blue Guitar
By Wallace Stevens

I found myself becoming bored with this poem. At times the language and images would spark my interest, but others times the words would just ramble on I felt. I was not able to find the meaning of the poem. It had a melancholic tone to it I felt, which reflected the mood of Picasso’s painting. Its funny such a simple painting, accompanied by a lengthy poem.



The Man with the Hoe
By Edwin Markham

This poem relates the fatigued gesture of the laborer to I think, the underclass workers. It reads like a battle cry for a revolution of the overworked and underpaid. I enjoyed the image of kings and kingdoms that shape the form of the tired worker, creating a relationship between the shapes in the painting to the images of the language.

Responses

Allen Ginsberg
Cezanne’s Ports

This poem helped me to appreciate the painting a little bit more, then if I was just looking at the painting by itself. The references to heaven beyond the mountains and life within the town made the landscape scene that much more whimsical and magical. I picture Cezanne thinking this way while he was painting the scene.

The Parable of the Blind
William Carlos Williams

I am having trouble understanding this poem. As of right now, it simply reads as a description to me of the painting. Maybe if I knew what the parable was that the painting is trying to portray, I could better understand. I also wonder about the last line and how the one is “triumphant to disaster”. To me it looks like they are all heading for imminent disaster.

Ghost in the Land of Skeletons
Christopher Kennedy

I like to picture someone reading this poem aloud, it flowed so nicely in my head while reading it. Maybe it is the structure of the poem and that it looks and reads more like a paragraph then a poem with stanzas.
I enjoy the message of this poem and the way it presents it, with a sense of dark humor. It seems like a more modern poem to me, and I enjoy all the visuals that he conjures for the audience.

Matisse: The Red Studio
W.D. Snodgrass

I loved this poem. I enjoyed the image of the room swallowing up it’s owner and that is why the walls are such a vibrant red. The descriptions of the room give it so much life and energy to it, then the last line compliments that perfectly by saying “But there is no one here.” I thought that was a perfect ending. The poem and the painting compliment each other beautifully they both are full of passion and life.

Turner Poem

Interpretation of Some Days by Billy Collins

Somedays I pull the wagon with all the people,
I wait patiently as they load,
if they bring me carrots,
I stand still and let their children pet me.
All afternoon I do this,
families with babies,
a well kept business man,
coat ironed, perfectly groomed.
But other days, I am pulled
by the leather leash in my mouth,
to stand stagnant,
amongst a row of other nameless pack mules.

It’s secure
but how would you like it
if you never knew from one day to the next
if you were going to spend it,
prancing around like a show pony,
your mane glowing under the street lamps,
or standing amidst unfamiliar horseshit,
staring forward because of your head blinders,
straight at a horse’s ass

Cooper

I rode my orange bike
Past my favorite orange flowers
When they are in bloom
It is pure joy
Their color burns with the sun
As there leaves giggle on their stems

They bloomed over winter
For 14 days
And grew around my wheels
The sun kept them warm as long as it could
But the nights were vengeful and relentless

I knew they were fading
When he coughed up white
I screamed, "Hang in there"
But then they just sagged and blew with the breeze
That will eventually take them away

It is hard to watch them slowly wither
Knowing they weren't made to last
Knowing they bloomed too early
Inside winter's false mirage of summer
I try and laugh with them in the meantime
Soaking in our rare moments
Filling every last breathe with happiness
Until the bike ride is over
And we both go home

Responses

Disillusionment of Ten o’Clock
Wallace Stevens

To be honest, I really wish I understood the meaning of this poem. First I read it, then played the video and I noticed that it didn’t really appeal to me until I played the video animation of it. The video is great, I think it complements the poem nicely and is visually interesting on its own as well. After looking up what the poem meant I now know that it deals with imagination, but I think for once I enjoyed the visual more then the written part.

Love Songs
Robert Kelly

I loved the simplicity of these poems. It seems to me that that was their intent. They kind of read with an aggressive voice, but maybe he is just passionate, but it seems very “take it or leave it” which maybe is also a commentary on love itself. I enjoy the message of the poems/songs, and find it interesting that the first song is titled Love Song but no where in the poem does he mention love. Maybe to him love happens all the time, and that is what he is interested in.
I didn’t care for the image though, kind of cheesy.

Edward Hirsch The House by the Railroad

I really enjoyed how the house became personified through the visuals of relating it to a shrugging human in this poem. To me the house had more personality then the painter. I wish I could understand the insight more of this poem. It embodies the feeling of loneliness so well. Then I wonder if it is the painter that is portraying the house this way, and projecting his emotions onto the house and thus his canvas.

X.J. Kennedy Nude Descending a Staircase

I thought the use of language and play on words was quite clever in this poem. I like the relationship it has to Duchamp’s painting. It seems to sexualize the very geometric figure he has painted. I don’t think the painting would come off quite as provocative as it does, if it were not for the words accompanying it. The gesture in the painting has a lot of character but I feel the poem gives it even more personality.

If its a blushing rose you want
Then plant me a garden
Maybe in the backyard
With rich, chocolate soil
And room for me to grow
But be warned
There is gravel in that dirt
That my roots press forward
But history slaps them back
A scorned lover's rose red imprint
Across my cheek

Interpretation of The Dead

Her painted eyes are always looking back at us
they say,that she analyzes them as much as they do her
She is looking through your lenses and false lashes
to your heart, measuring each beat
She will lift your painted veil,
and whisper truths you forgot about since childhood,
Drugged by her omnipotent stare,
we think we have soaked in her wisdom,
which causes us to turn around,
and fall drunk with rejoice, then blink
with our closed eyes.

Corner of MLK and Ole' Bardenton

If the wind blows
Let it comb your hair
Halting the trudge
A hot flash of gold
Strings snap
Smoke crawls out
Free
Left with their broken metal
Whiplashed
Hit then ran

Deceptive sunny day
Raindrops fall on my face
And then it pours

We watch comfortably from our 3rd floor perch
Faces pressed against the glass
Then we fly back to work

Small birds in a flock
Frantically fly outside
Back and forth
From tall tree to smaller tree
Back and forth

Naked Girl And Mirror
Judith Wright

About a girl growing into her womanly body. She rejects it and longs for the days when she was young and shapeless and free. Now she is beginning to realize her feminine shape, but instead of rejoicing as most girls do, she fears it. I got the feeling from reading this poem that the girl was smart, and knew that with her new body came burdens and liabilities. For instance, she seemed to have a pre-determined knowledge that men will find her attractive now, and seek her out, and she will eventually have lovers. I think she is fearful of this, and sees her new maturity as taking away ownership of her body. Now she will be expected to look nice, in order to attract men. She may even fall in love and one day have children, which will mean her body will go to producing and serving her family. She sees where her new body may take her, and rejects it, saying she will never really be apart of this new body; she will always be free as a child.

A Hand
Jane Hirshfield

I think this poem is discussing the age-old question of what are we, and why are we here? Maybe it is because of the accompanying picture, but I feel the poem is saying that we are more than the physical matter that forms us, or the substances we produce from our labor. That we are also apart of something greater and bigger than our perception can perceive. The second to last line of the poem “A hand turned upward holds only a single, transparent question” brings to mind biblical references of people praying to God or some higher power. I think this sense of connection to something greater is what Jane is referencing.

Jungle
By Robert Kelly

As stated in class, I had to re-read this poem multiple times in order to understand the meaning of it. I am still not quite positive of the exact intention, but I think the poet does that on purpose. That maybe it is meant to be open for various forms of interpretation.
When I first read it, the poem reminded me of greed. Of being in constant state of wanting and receiving in order to just have more. This is probably because of the last line “The core of it is to be more.” However, now I read it and thoughts of growth and dependency come to mind. This image is conflicted with a trapt sensation that I get from reading the poem as well. For instance, because of lines like “I thought these feelings into place and now feelings have no place to thing their own” and “skeleton of earlier design, that leaves no room for breath or search or care” brings to mind a images of restraint. So to me the message seems very conflicted. On one hand it’s about movement and growth, but the tone of the poem seems also negative and captured in an endless cycle of expansion and outgrowth.


The Cuban Doctor
By Wallace Stevens

At first, I was really confused by this poem. It seemed rather illogical to me and random. I think it was because I was thinking of everything to literally, for instance once we discussed that the references to Egypt and an Indian hinted at the differing cultures the poem started to take shape. It seems as though the artist has tried to escape from some sort of cyclical chaos represented by India, and has hidden away where there is order and systemization. Only to find that he cannot escape his mayhem.

Sheena

Four strings
Each varying in size
Frets
About an inch wide

A black smooth body
Enticing curves
A voice deep and mellow
That it's barely heard

I named him Sheena
Then figured out it was a guy
When my hands get lonely
His stoic stance
Relaxes me
Reminds me
To focus
Stretch
Then play

Ruben Dario
Song of Autumn in the Springtime

Youth, treasure only gods may keep,
Fleeting from me forever now!
I cannot, when I wish to, weep,
And often cry I know not how…

My heart's celestial histories,
So countless were, could not be told.-
She was a tender child, in this
World of affliction manifold.

She seemed a dawn of pure delight;
She smiled as the flowers after rain;
Her tresses were like to the night
Fashioned of darknesses and pain.

I was timid and childlike shy.
I could not but have been this way:
She, to my love chaste as the sky,
Was Herodias and Salomé…

Youth, treasure only gods may keep,
Fleeting from me forever now!
I cannot, when I wish to, weep,
And often cry I know not how…

The other was more sensitive,
More quieting and loving-kind,
With greater will to love and live
Than I ever had hoped to find.

For with her grace of tenderness
A violence of love she had:
In a peplos of loveliness
Was hid a Maenad passion mad…

Youth, treasure only gods may keep,
Wilted in me forever now!
I cannot, when I wish to, weep,
And often cry I know not how…

Another fancied my lips were
A casket wrought to hold her love;
And wildly with the teeth of her
To gnaw my very heart she strove.

She willed all passionate excess;
She was a flame of love for me;
She made each ardorous caress
Synthesis of eternity.

She deemed our flesh a deathless thing,
And on desire an Eden reared,
Forgetting that the flowers of Spring
And of the flesh so soon are seared…

Youth, treasure only gods may keep,
Fleeting from me forever now!
I cannot, when I wish to, weep,
And often cry I know not how…

And the others! In many climes,
In so many lands, ever were
Merely the pretext for my rhymes,
Or heart-born fantasies of her.

I sought for the princess in vain,
She that awaited sorrowing.
But life is hard. Bitter with pain.
There is no princess now to sing!

And yet despite the season drear,
My thirst of love no slaking knows;
Gray-haired am I, yet still draw near
The roses of the garden-close….

Youth, treasure only gods may keep,
Fleeting from me forever now!
I cannot, when I wish to, weep,
And often cry I know not how…

Ah, but the golden Dawn is mine!

Responses to...

What do women want?

I thought this poem had a strong feminine voice. Even though it seemed shallow of her at first to me, to put so much focus on a dress, I think the dress later stood for her individuality and independence.
In class we discussed how she becomes the dress in the end of the poem, I agree with this. I think in some way, the idea of owning this dress and having a certain appearance gives the woman confidence, in a sort Cinderella way. I found it relatable. That being said I do not think the picture fits with the mood of the poem. Like I said I enjoyed the empowering feminine voice, and in the painting the female figure seems more like she’s whimpering.

The Street

I really enjoyed this poem, it had great imagination and storytelling. I found myself getting wrapped up in each stranger’s story and wanting to hear more. It had thoughtful insight, and adequately demonstrated how people are linked through a chain of connectivity but also disconnection.
I also, enjoyed the relationship between the poem and painting, I thought they were very compatible. They both elevate one another, but also stand as a complete piece of art on their own. Sometimes I found I would read a verse and then look at the painting and disagree, for instance, when the poem reads “The oriental couple wants always to dance like this: swirling across a crowded street” I instead interpreted the painting as them fighting. To me the women looked upset and the man seemed like he was trying to stop her. In addition the verse about the mistaken actor/baby was highly amusing.

Blurred vision
And swollen pride
Looking onward
Toward his cerulean bride

Exposed body
And a naked heart
Her rolling curves
Made rollercoasters of his thoughts

Nevermore will they sing
On yesterday's broken strings
Their tune, now bold
Harmonized
And in key