Favorite Poems --> "123rd Street Rap" by Willie Perdomo

"123rd Street Rap" can be found on page 995 of the Norton.

This poem initially caught my eye because of its structure. It is composed of eighteen double-line stanzas. Each stanza is more of a phrase than a sentence, which shows Perdomo's careful diction. He describes the bullets as "automatic", which shows that violence is the only answer to life's problems on 123rd street. The repitition of the word "for" on lines 10 and 11 make the reader feel like a "drunken mourner". This syntax draws the reader in and makes them feel more connected to the poem. Further down on line 12, the "baby men" conveys that children grow up fast in this crime-infested neighborhood. The use of improper grammar in lines 15, 17, and 19 give the poem a slangy feel. It is as if the poem should be spoken or rapped rather than read. After reading this out loud, I found that the words have rhythm and flow nicely with one another. The later mention of night and day right before right and wrong gives the reader a mental image. The only thing known for sure on 123rd street is "day turns to night." It is hard to tell "what's wrong from what's right". In this poem, Permodo not only tells about the setting, but he also reveals a lot about himself.

Favorite Poems --> "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall

"Ballad of Birmingham" can be found on page 1072 of the Norton.

This poem is divided into eight stanzas with every second and fourth line of each stanza rhyming. I chose this poem as a favorite because it had a plot line and I was interested until the very end. Also, the poem drew sympathy from me over an event that I had no idea about, the bombing of an Alabama church. The fact that the first four stanzas are dialogue are between a mother and her young daughter give the poem a warm feel. The narrator in the next four stanzas distances the reader from the events, but the emotional attachment to the little girl is still present. The repitition of "No baby,no, you may not go" forebodes the fact that something awful is about to happen. It is also ironic that the girl was instructed to go to church because the streets of Birmingham are "fierce and wild", and she ended up dying. Randall's descriptive diction allowed me to feel like I was on the scene. The description of the mother "clawing through bits of glass and brick" put a clear image in my head of a frantic daughter searching for any hope of her daughter still being alive. All in all, I enjoyed this poem because it was easy to read but still drew emotions from me.

External Structure --> "Here I Am" by Roger McGough

"Here I Am" is found on page 1046 of the Norton.

The brevity of the line "Here I am" at the beginning of the poem voices McGough's unhappiness with the emptiness of his life. The messiness of the first eight lines of the poem show that McGough is confused and has a lot of thoughts regarded his inaction in life. Lines 9-14 in line with each other shows all he wished he had accomplished. On line 15, he repeats the line "Here I am." It shows that after all the oppurtunities he has missed, his is accepting of the life he has chosen. The two separate lines of "here I am" act as a belt to the bulging thoughts of his missed oppurtunities. At the end of the poem, McGough admits his life is "pretty dull" with a humorous tone. This shows that although he was not able to live his life to the fullest, he is still happy with himself. Although he may not have been able to do everything, he can still dream it.

External Structure --> Composed in the Composing Room

This poem can be found on page 1043 of the Norton.

After spending some time on this poem, I began to understand the symbols and formulate them into words. The first four lines of the poem were easy to decipher and I therefore did not spend a lot of time on them. In my opinion, Adams purposely made this stanza easy to understand in order to warm the reader up. My guess is backed up by the ending quote which translates "I don't care at all." However, the second stanza was harder to understand. I interpreted it as Adams trying to run away from his problems, because of his "running" and the "Fleeting Hour". I was not able to grasp the full meaning of the third stanza, although the line "all fear of deadly parallels" struck me as extreme. Adams is saying that he doesn't want his writing to parallel with any others, which explains his use of symbols instead of words.
Furthermore, because of these symbols I noticed pauses and understood changes of voice easier. As said in the Norton, I definitely noticed a "musical score for reading". This poem was like a puzzle and I felt accomplished after figuring out the symbols. As also said in the Norton, this poem is for "puzzle-solving pleasure rather than emotional effect."

External Structure --> "In the Park" by Gwen Harwood

"In the Park" can be found on pages 1031-1032 of the Norton.

This sonnet is a Petrarchan Sonnet, and follows the 8-6 form and the abba,abba cdecde rhyme scheme. This type of sonnet is usually used for the author to make one point in the first eight lines, and then illustrate it in the following six.
In the first eight lines, the lady is introduced as "out of date" and is tied down by her children. When "someone she loved once" passes by, she is not able to "feign indifference". This shows that she still cares for this man and loves him. The balloon that rises from his head not only represents what he is thinking, but also that Harwood sees him as an escape. She wishes to become involved with this man and leave her old life behind.
In the following six lines, Harwood illustrates the extent to which the woman feels trapped. After the man leaves, she sits "staring at her feet." This shows that she is embaressed of her life and regrets the decisions she made. Her comment to the wind shows the absolute dread the character feels towards her own life. The fact that her children have eaten her alive shows that she is done with her responsibilities. However, the only person she can tell is the wind and therefore is forced to keep her emotions inside.

Internal Structure --> "The Daughter Goes to Camp" by Sharon Olds

In the taxi alone, home from the airport,
I could not believe you were gone.
My palm keptcreeping over the smooth plastic
to find your strong meaty little hand and
squeeze it, find your narrow thigh in the
noble ribbing of the corduroy,
straight and regular as anything in nature, to
find the slack cool cheek of a
child in the heat of a summer morning—
nothing, nothing, waves of bawling
hitting me in hot flashes like some
change of life, some boiling wave
rising in me toward your body, toward
where it should have been on the seat, your
brow curved like a cereal bowl, your
eyes dark with massed crystals like the
magnified scales of a butterfly's wing, the
delicate feelers of your limp hair,
floods of blood rising in my face as I
tried to reassemble the hot
gritty molecules in the car, to
make you appear like a holograph
on the back seat, pull you out of nothing
as I once did—but you were really gone,
the cab glossy as a slit caul out of
which you had slipped, the air glittering
electric with escape as it does in the room at a birth.

This poem is written in simple narrative structure, which is based on the gradual unfolding of Olds' emotions. First, she is alone in the taxi after dropping her daughter off for camp. Then, she slowly realizes everything that she will miss about her daugher, including her "meaty little hand" and "narrow thigh". She then starts to compare her daughter to other events in life, including her dark eyes like "magnified scales of a butterfly's wing." The image of a butterfly shows the mother's acceptance of the daugher growing up. Also, her leaving compared to "the air glittering electric with escape as it does in the room at birth" shows the mother's want to keep her as a baby, but understanding that she must move on.

Internal Strucure --> "The Dance" by William Carlos Williams

"The Dance" can be found on page 1009 of the Norton.

The structure of the poem is very much like the dance that it tells about. The poem starts with "In Brueghel's great picture, the Kermess", and ends with the same line. Most structured dances begin and end with the same movement, which ties the whole poem together. The middle of the poem is messy, with no distinct pattern for the lines. This reflects the style of dance, with the "squeal and blare and tweedle of bagpipes". The structure of the poem portrays the spastic motions of the dance. The "swinging butts" of the dancers also paints a picture for the reader. The structure of the poem, including the repition of a line at the beginning and end, as well as the disorganized middle, illuminates the style of dance portrayed in the painting.