While I was waiting outside Professor Jim Hartley’s office, I sat at the wooden ornate chairs, patiently waiting my turn. As I glanced at his softboard, I noticed that it was filled with poems. My wait turned eventful as I read some of them, pondering their language and beauty. Here is a review of some of them that I recommend reading.
College Tour– David M. Katz.
…Only later did you feel the dread.
The cell was buzzing in my pocket.
You slept more soundly than the dead,
But the time had come to go to market.
Each line of this poem ends with a period, which gives it a lethargic pace. This one has to be read out slowly. The repetitions of lines such as “You slept more soundly than the dead” and “Only later did you feel the dread” again make me think that the tone was one that was slow and exhausted. The distinction between the abrupt line “The college was near Baltimore” and the “you” addressed in the poem showed a deeper relationship with that person, trivialising the college tour.
Meditation– David M. Katz.
…A scarcity of sharp blue morning air,
I panted for much more than I could swallow,
A life of nature and wide-open spaces—
To be a member of a commune, say,
With all my true companions near, the chance
For paradise on earth…
I found wisdom in this poem. As a college student, I know the feeling of a fast-paced life and living in fear of missing the next opportunity. As Katz writes about both the presence and the absence of the sounds of the garbage truck, I contemplate whether all that I strive for is really worth it in the end.
A Country Funeral– John Westbrook
Mark how the living, the loving ones gather
like clouds to bury grief in their hands, bowing
their heads in unison to console the weather.
Having waded through the waist-high grass…
This poem is very visual. I could picture the funeral in my mind’s eye, with the endless paddock of grief that “is farther than she can travel in a lifetime.” It reminded me of my own grandfather’s funeral, and I wondered whether we looked like clouds too.
Crossing– Jericho Brown.
…We work, start on one side of the day
Like a planet’s only sun, our eyes straight
Until the flame sinks. The flame sinks. Thank God
I’m different…
I related to this one the most. As an international student, I couldn’t help but connect the lines, “I’m not crossing/To cross back. I’m set/On something vast.” I thought about the thousands of miles I had traveled to get here. I thought about the sacrifices my parents had made so that I could cross vast oceans. The lines, “It reaches/Long as the sea. I’m more than a conqueror, bigger/ Than bravery. I don’t march. I am the one who leaps” made me feel stronger, and gave me more courage.
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