The Gift

For my poetry class this week I read the poem, "The Gift" by Li-Young Lee. It mentions the relationship between child and father. The author writes about a time his father removed a splinter from his hand. The description is pretty intimate on an emotional, mental, level. The poem reminds me of both my grandfather and father. Actually, I have had many splinters and teeth removed by them. The same method in the poem, is the exact same method they would use on me. Both of them would tell stories, or ask me questions to answers. My grandfather would sing in Spanish or recite small poems and jokes. These little things they did would help me deal with the pain. Often, I'd still have tears in my eyes, while they laughed to themselves holding a tooth or splinter, laughing because it was removed, yet I managed to not notice. The author writes about how these little memories, for him, have made him grow up. He states how he used the same technique with his wife. I think this is the gift the poem is titled after, the gift of being helpful, strong, gentle, caring, and how to be a man, which is something people believe is usually taught by the father.

Facing It

This week for my poetry class, I decided to read "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa. Hmm... what to say? I don't know if I understand it on any level deeper than I already do. I think it is about war. Specifically, as is hinted at in the poem, the Vietnam War. From start to finish I feel this sense of hardship. I feel as though the author is taking me through his feelings, fears, words, and experience in sequence from start to finish. The title, "Facing It", begins to make sense when you read the poem through. I think the poem is speaking of hardship and how one should always face them.

The Fish

Initially, and honestly, Elizabeth Bishop's poem "The Fish", did not interest me in class. Only until it was being systematically dissected by my peers and Professor did I understand how great I am at underestimating a poets ability to create complex beauty out of simplicity. The simplicity being a fish, neither struggling for survival nor interested in the captor who so deeply described his appearance, both inside and out. I actually thought the poem was written by a previous student of the Professor... I don't care much for seeing the works of peers; however, when it turned out to be an authentic poets work I focused more respectfully and read the poem a few times. Reading it more than once, I think, for any poem, means that said poem is a good piece of work. The more you read over a poem the more you seem to discover. Discovery is most important in Literature and Poetry; of course to my opinion. I think discovery in anything feeds, fuels and births curiosity and information. That same curiosity the author had in her poem that caused her to observe, rather eloquently, a fish she had caught, is the very curiosity that saturates in the words and stains others, linking both our curiosity and discoveries to one another. In the poem, entitled "The Fish", I felt intrigued, not by the narrative, but more curiously, the fish. The fish was given a character, so much so, the entire poem came to life through just the mention of him, in great detail I will add. The detail was also introduced to the reader warmly. The words used to describe the magnificent fish felt homely, gently, subtle, comfortable. After all, he was just a fish with more color and complexity than a fish cares to be. In the end, the author released the elegant, dignified, but indifferent captured fish.