Belly Dancer By Diane Wakoski

In reading Diane Wakoski's " Belly Dancer," I get the feeling that this poem is about a woman's liberation. The speaker or the belly dancer is speaking about how the belly dancer moves her body so freely and how the fabrics on her body make her body feel good.The speaker also talks about the uptight women who watch this free spirit of a belly dancer mover her body to the awakening rhythms. The uptight women are women who repress their desires and their wants. They are modern and contemporary in the ways they dress but their minds are stuck in an old school mentality. These women feel they should act a certain way because society has told them to do so, so they repress their feelings, their desires and their wants to adhere to a "man's world." The uptight women frown, or look away, or laugh stiffly. They are afraid of these materials and these moves, they are afraid it may awaken a deep desire they've repressed for so long that even their husbands couldn't satisfy. The dancer is really scorning the men not doing it for their satisfaction. The belly dancer wants to awaken these women and make them feel more liberated in their ways and be freer to do as they feel. Overall i really liked this poem and I feel that in todays society, there are still women like this. Today is a more liberal time to live in but there are still pressures on women to act a certain way and to adhere to certain goals by certain ages such as, finding a perfect man, getting married, having kids, and so on and so forth.. Where in today's day, nto every woman would agree with that standard of life. There are a lot of women who are single mothers, never got married, or women who are lesbians, or women who chose to live different lifestyles. I think everyone should be able to live they way they want without the pressures of society to be or act or even look a certain way. I think women should continue to be more liberal in their ways of life and shouldn't be afraid to be who they truly are.

Personal Letter No.3 By Sonia Sanchez

nothing will keep
us young you know
not young men or
women who spin
their youth on
cool playing sounds.
we are what we
are what we never
think we are.
no more wild geo
graphies of the
flesh. echoes. that
we move in tune
to slower smells.
it is a hard thing
to admit that
sometimes after midnight
i am tired
of it all.

In Sonia Sanchez's poem, " Personal Letter No.3," I feel like this is a person reflecting on their life. The speaker is saying that nothing will keep you young not other young men or young women," who spin their youth on cool playing sounds."
The speaker goes onto say " we are what we are, what we never think we are." This sentence translates to me as we are who we are, including the things we try to hide from or are in denial about.. so following the first line, I feel like the poem is talking about the undeniable transition of aging. How people try so hard to stay looking young and keep from looking old.. A lot of people don't want to keep aging, so they go to extremes to keep themselves looking young or feeling young. This kind of reminds me of Peter Pan in a way because he was the boy who never wanted to grow up.. Some people have complexes and mostly on aging.. which is why so many people get into face lifts and botox for their faces .. to beat the signs of aging.. but no matter how much you do to cover it up you will still eventually age and the true appearance seeps through. I feel like Sanchez is fed up with people who can't embrace aging in a graceful manner and who can't be true to themselves. Sanchez wants people to be grateful for what they have and to be more mindful of how aging is a natural process of life. People should be happy with who they are organically and just embrace it. I feel like because the poem is titled "Personal Letter No.3," it is most likely a personal idea that she had in her head and wrote it down. It was a reflection perhaps because it was personal.. I think this poem was an overall strong message to just love yourself and stop trying to be something you are not or cant be for forever. Sanchez concludes the poem with her being tired of it all, after midnight.. which makes you think of being young.. how when your young you are out all hours of the night enjoying life and doing whatever. The older you get though, it seems as though the earlier your home and don't want to be out at all hours of the night.. like when your life is more settled.Overall I really enjoyed this poem.

There It Is By Jayne Cortez

Jayne Cortez's " There It Is," is a poem with a straightforward message. It cuts straight to the chase with no extra philosophical ideas. It's simple and direct. Cortez basically says If you don't do this, then you'll end up this way.. for example Cortez says:
"And if we don't fight
if we don't resist
if we don't organize and unify and
get the power to control our own lives."
Cortez is basically reiterating her point that if something isn't done the way it should be done, then it'll end up a different way, and sometimes the end result might not be what you wanted..Cortez is talking about standing up and being strong for the choices you chose to follow and live by. Cortez is saying to be in control of your life and not to just sit back and let life happen to you. Only you are the one to make the choices that outline or direct where your life is going. you are in charge of your destiny. Cortez then says if you don't do these things:
"Then we will wear
the exaggerated look of captivity
the stylized look of submission
the bizarre look of suicide
the dehumanized look of fear
and the decomposed look of repression
forever and ever and ever
And there it is "
I love the choice of words Cortez used to make that point. If you don't in fact make the choices of your life or stand for what you believe in, you will wear the looks of captivity, submission, suicide, fear, and repression for ever and ever." It makes the message even stronger. You can think of all of these looks but the way it is verbalized makes it so clear in your mind and is something everyone can relate to. If these people don't fight, then they will wear these looks for the rest of their lives.
I find it interesting that Cortez uses the word " wear," in describing the looks on ones face if they don't take charge of their lives. She uses the word " wear," as if she were speaking about wearing an article of clothing. Almost as if the looks are items of clothing making them "wearable." And There It is.. the result or the solution if you don;t do things the way you should get them done.

Theme for English B by Langston Hughes

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.
"Theme for English B," by Langston Hughes is a poem that his professor gave him an advice to help him to write. Hughes professor basically tells him to write a page and to let that page come out of him. In the first stanza Hughes wonders if it's that simple?writing poetry. As he writes from what is within himself, he free writes a poem about who he is and about how Harlem is him. Harlem, what he sees and hears is him.
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?
Hughes goes on to say he likes to eat,sleep, drink and be in love,and that he likes to work,read,learn and understand life. He goes on to say he'd like a pipe for Christmas or records, Bessie, Bop,or Bach. He goes on to say how he guesses him being colored doesn't make him not like things that other folks like who are different races. Here he comes to the realization that even though there is a color barrier between black and white folks, he may still like some of the things other people like just the same too. He names music artists. Music is universal, it's something everyone understands and gets no matter what color skin you have.He goes on to say that what he writes wont be white but it will be apart of his professor who is obviously white accounting for a line in the poem earlier where he stated he is the only colored person in his class.Hughes says
"Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American."

This poem will be apart of the instructor who is in part a part of him and vice versa. Hughes shows us here that they are two separate people, yet they are one. They have a commonality that they are both people, they are both American. He continues to say even though the instructor may not want to be apart of him and sometimes he may not want to be apart of the professor just the same, they are apart of each other. They are both American and they both learn in turn from each other even though his white instructor is older, white and freer than he is.He ends the poem with this is his page for English B. In this time the poem was written it was true that even though he had his freedom, he still was "less" free than a white man was.There was still a lot of segregation and hard times for black people still.

Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy

In Marge Piercy's , "Barbie Doll," we see all to well about how society pushes its agenda on how women should aspire to look and behave. In our patriarchal society, girls have been taught that to be women, they are to be weak,vulnerable,soft spoken, kind, nurturing,emotional,and dainty like. Girls are also taught they have to look a certain way or measure up to a " barbie doll," image to be considered "sexy". In the poem," Barbie Doll," in the following lines:

"She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle."

we see how it ties into what I was saying above about society has it's moldings on what a women should be. The poem shows that from childhood, girls have dolls that go "pee pee," that come along with little stoves and irons, that also come with little lipsticks of cherry red. For years women were thought only good enough to do house work and nurture children. A woman was only to be in the private sphere of the home and not in the public sphere of the workplace. Women were to keep a certain image. They were taught to wait hand and foot on their husbands, to never argue,to always smile and just be pleasant and dainty at all times.The media does a lot to push these " barbie doll," images of what women should act and look like. Magazines, music, television and ads all bombard us with images that are overtly sexual, explicit and is their ideal look of "perfection".These influences shape young womens cultural views about what they should look and behave like. It pressures young innocent minds to conform to what society says is the "right attitude" to have when trying to be the "ideal woman," or in this case, a "barbie doll." The pressures that society pushes then sets up young girls for low self esteem sometimes resulting in eating disorders or depression for trying to measure up to something that is pretty much impossible.

"She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs."

In these lines Piercy is showing us that in this society most times a woman being intelligent,healthy is overlooked as something that isn't important unless she's attractive too. Looks are deemed to be more important than being intelligent or having a good sense of character. the next few lines also show this:
"Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up."
Often some women will go to the extremes to live up to society's ideal of "perfection," even harming themselves or letting go of their good nature to be something they aren't. Just as women will do it, young girls will do what it takes to " fit in," to be accepted by their peers. Unfortunately, young children aren't mature enough to handle peer pressures and teasing done by others, resulting in harming themselves physically or even trying to kill themselves.

HAY FOR THE HORSES by Gary Snyder

In the poem, "Hay For The Horses," by Gary Snyder, we are introduced to the speaker. The speaker is with another person who is a farmer. Both people are coming back from a long night of driving to go get hay for the farm. Once they get back to the farm at 8 am, the poem starts to describe the environment on the farm.Before 8 am you already get the sense of hard work put in overnight to go get this hay for the farm and before midday you also see more of the hard work that is put in on the farm in the lines that say,"With winch and ropes and hooks We stacked the bales up clean To splintery redwood rafters High in the dark, flecks of alfalfa Whirling through shingle-cracks of light, Itch of haydust in the sweaty shirt and shoes."

By lunchtime, the audience is seeing the horses eating from their pale buckets and are made aware of the crickets crackling through the weeds. We get a sense of the small, day to day things that happen on the farm.

"I'm sixty-eight" he said, "I first bucked hay when I was seventeen. I thought, that day I started, I sure would hate to do this all my life. And dammit, that's just what I've gone and done."
I feel like the poet goes from the simple day to day things to hearing the farmer say that he's sixty eight and never thought he'd be doing the same line of work that he hated so much since he was seventeen. I feel like form the beginning of the poem, the poet makes you aware of the sense of time and how it goes by so quickly. One minute you're seventeen hating this job and the next thing you know, through all the hard work and sweat put in, minute to minute, day to day, you spent your whole life working hard doing something you've hated and you're already sixty eight. That's Fifty one years spent working a job you've hated your whole life, more than a quarter or more than half of your life. It's kind of like the farmer has an epiphany in a way at the end when he says,
"I first bucked hay when I was seventeen. I thought, that day I started, I sure would hate to do this all my life. And dammit, that's just what I've gone and done."
Having this moment of clarity,like yes I did hate this all my life, it's like he gets mad at himself for doing it but then just as quickly as he gets mad, he just embraces it and takes it for what it is. It doesn't seem like this is a good thing and it doesn't seem like this is a bad thing. The farmer just embraces the hard work he has done day to day, until this point.

I guess a lot of people can relate to this poem, in the sense that a lot of people don't want to get stuck working the rest of their lives doing something they hate. Lots of people give up on their dreams, to become grownups with responsibilities who work 9-5 jobs that they dread just to fit into society. In college, there is always pressure to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life or what career you will end up studying for. Being young,many people are confused about what they should study for their career paths because of lack of experience. This poem also reminds me of something my father always told me which is when you pick out what you want to do for the rest of your life , to make sure it's something you love because you will never work a day in your life. You will never strain yourself emotionally or physically because it's something that will make you happy to do and bring that great energy into your life and allow you to keep exerting it. Many young people with the confusion of not knowing what to do end up picking the wrong things and end up going into careers they end up hating and get stuck doing them for sometimes the rest of their lives.

"Jazz Chick " By Bob Kaufman

In the Bob Kaufman’s, “Jazz Chick,” we are introduced to the poet whom is intrigued by a woman’s “ jazzy,“ presence. Kaufman’s poem is very sensual. His use of language is very rich and alive. The poem has it’s own cool, sweet jazzy rhythm to it as you read it. Kaufman is captivated by this woman’s essence .

For example, Kaufman uses many descriptive words to paint the imagery in our minds. “Music from her breast, vibrating ,Sound seared into burnished velvet. Silent hips deceiving fools,” is how the poem starts out. Automatically you get the image of a woman with a presence so strong that emanates through everyone in the room. As the reader, I also get the image of a woman so beautiful that not one person can miss how beautiful she is. From the line about her silent hips deceiving fools, I get that from her body structure the men are turned into fools. They probably can’t help but stare at such beauty and don’t know how to behave themselves.

“Rivulets of trickling ecstasy ,From the alabaster pools of Jazz ,Where music cools
hot souls. Eyes more articulately silent, Than Medusa's thousand tongues.” From these lines I get the image of beautiful soulful jazz music fills the nightclub where everyone is and the music cools down the hormones that are raging throughout the club. Eyes throughout the nightclub are “articulately silent, than medusas thousand tongues.” Here I feel Kaufman is saying that all the eyes in the nightclub are finding the ways to flirt or talk seductively without using words. The comparison to Medusa’s thousand tongues means that the eyes in their “silence,” are louder than any verbalizing could try to accomplish. “A bridge of eyes, consenting smiles reveal her presence singing Of cool remembrance, happy balls Wrapped in swinging Jazz Her music...Jazz.” I feel here the speaker is saying a connection of eyes and approving stares, like men liking what they see in this woman he speaks about reminds them of something comfortable or common, something sweet or close to home. The woman which he speaks about has a jubilant, wholesome, happy spirit and he describes her spirit or her essence as her music, ”Jazz.” therefore being the “ Jazz Chick.”

News Report, September 1991 by Denise Levertov

Denise Levertov's poem, " News Report, September 1991," is a collection of quotes from different news reports having to do with the U.S. burying Iraqi soldiers alive in the Gulf War. The very first line says in bold, capitalized letters, "U.S. BURIED IRAQI SOLDIERS ALIVE IN GULF WAR." After this line there is a space and more quotes follow but in lowercase words. I think that because this line was capitalized and spaced away from the other quotes it was done intentionally to give us the main idea, raw and uncut. This is the very first image in our minds, that iraqi soldiers were buried alive by U.S. soldiers in the Gulf War. This really stands out. As we continue to read the rest of the poem, other lines tend to stand out. For example in the next few lines:

"What you saw was a
bunch of trenches with
arms sticking out."

Here we see such a stark image portrayed to us. It is a very impersonal, cold tone that comes with the description of " a bunch of trenches with arms sticking out." The speaker leaves her voice out of the poem and uses newspaper quotes from a collection of different articles, but we see how she points out how impersonal some of these quotes were about these people who died. I mean these are people and they just called them " a buncha trenches."
In the next few lines we see that certain words are all alone on lines by themselves, such as :defiant" and "buried." These words serve a purpose in the poem. They are making a point. These lines are followed by " carefully planned and rehearsed," showing that the Americans carefully planned out this assasination of Irai soldiers. It shows that American soldiers contemplated this attack and really thought out how they were going to kill these soldiers.
"Defiant."
"Buried."
"Carefully planned and
rehearsed."
"When we
went through there wasn't
anybody left."

The poem follows to say that when they went through there ( the Americans) there wasn't anyone left there. Reporters were even banned from this place and made a point to put that no American soldiers were killed. Americans suceded without one casualty. This means that they wiped out these Iraqi soldiers and not one American Soldier died not even while the Iraqi soldiers were probably defending themselves.

"Awarded
Silver Star."
"Reporters
banned."
"Not a single
American killed."

The poem then goes on to say that the body count was "impossible," giving us the feeling that it was impossible to get a count of exactly how many people died because there were so many people who died. They couldn't keep track. I also got the feeling that the Americans made it out to seem like this was something small compared to another time that they killed a lot more people. I get that feeling from these lines:

"I know
burying people
like that sounds
pretty nasty, said
Colonel Maggart,
But . . . ."
"His force buried
about six hundred
and fifty
in a thinner line
of trenches."
"People's arms
sticking out."

These lines give the impression that the killing of the Iraqi soldiers was no big deal.Again, pointed out to the reader, is that these people killed were " trenches with arms sticking out."

I'm not
going to sacrifice
the lives
of my soldiers,
Moreno said, it's not
cost-effective."

After reading these lines, I got the sense not only were the killings of the Iraqi soldiers made to be no big deal and gave this impersonal feel but even when speaking about American soldiers,a sargeant says he wouldn't sacrifice the lives of his soldiers but follows up the statement with it's not cost effective. It kinda gives the feel that the lives of American soldiers were just as invaluable or impersonal as well because of the comparison to what isn't or what is cost efficient.

"The tactic was designed
to terrorize,
Lieutenant Colonel Hawkins
said, who helped
devise it."

This tactic of killing the soldiers was made to terrorize them.

A lot of the guys
were scared, he said,
but I
enjoyed it."
"A bunch of
trenches. People's
arms and things
sticking out."
"Cost-effective."

Someone speaks about the grusome ways the Iraqi soldiers had died and says alot of guys were scared but he enjoyed it... He enjoyed seeing the trenches ( the bodies) with their arms sticking out. He enjoyed killing these Iraqi soldiers, burying them alive. That says a lot about a person's morality and character. To say you enjoyed killing someone else while they were terrorized by your actions is inhumane.It's cold. and again we see the quote that repeats itself " a buncha trenches with arms sticking out." This poem leaves you with a good sense of imagery and even though the poet doesnt use her own voice we see the points she is trying to make using all of these significant quotes. This poem makes you think about war and how cold someone has to get to be able to kill someone or a bunch of people and not even have any feeling of remorse but yet their feelings are those of enjoyment. I guess when you're away at war you see so much and witness so many deaths that after a while you may become desensitized to what death really is. Is it possible that the American soldiers were desensitized by this point? i think so..

Sharon Olds " Sex Without Love"

How do they do it, the ones who make love without love? This is how we are introduced to Sharon Olds poem," Sex Without Love." The speaker or poet,questions how do people have sexual intercourse without love being present. This is a common thing going on in our modern day society which doesn't really get contested if you aren't a religious person. I can see how this question could baffle someone. In our society, the attitudes when it comes to sex are more liberated and not everyone believes that in order to have sex with another person, they have to be in love and the whole nine yards. Olds is showing us how people can separate themselves emotionally from the physical part of having sex.Olds views on this are that she finds it ironic that people can do this. she actually says in her stanza:

"How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?
Beautiful as dancers, gliding over each other like ice- skaters
over the ice, fingers hooked
inside eachother's bodies, faces
red as steak,wine, wet as the
children at birth whose mothers are going to
give them away.How do they come to the come to the come to the God come to the still waters, and not love the one who came there with them,"

Here we see Olds asking how do people do it? how do they have sex without love? how can they do something so beautiful as make love without loving one another. How can two people have this kind of physical contact or get to sharing in eachother's worlds without sharing the emotion of love with eachother? She compares the act of lovemaking to that of " beautiful dancers," who are " gliding over eachother like ice-skaters over the ice,"
She goes on to say that their faces are "red," as steak and that they are " wet" as " wine. Olds describes everything two lovers are doing to be looked at in a loving way but with words clearly questions these lovers intentions if not love then how are they allowing themselves to share this experince with someone who they do not love. In a few lines down Olds answers her own questions with the next stanza that says:
" These are the true religious,
the purists, the pros,the ones who will not
accept a false Messiah, love the priest instead of the God. They do not
mistake the lover for their own pleasure,
they are like great runners:they know they are alone."

Here I feel like Olds is saying these people that can seperate emotional from the physical, they know what they are doing. These people can separate themselves, emotionally/spiritually from what's going on in the flesh, the physical. They don't allow themselves to get caught up in "love," and how it should be the guiding standard to whether they have sex or not. Olds says " they will not accept a flase Messaiah, love the priest instead of the God." Here Olds is saying that these people are loving the physical, the flesh and not the spiritual or emotional that would connect to God. It isn't love in divinty these people are looking for but just to enjoy the sexual pleasure and they know they are alone. "They are great runners, they know they are alone," is the closing line to the poem. Olds is comparem these people to great runners, they are running from the emotional they are great at what they are doing and they know that they themselves are alone in the run for pleasure over love and pleasure.
This is common in society. Many people don't want to get involves with "love," when it comes to having sex. Some people are more liberated and believe in sex before marriage, or having sex with no strings attached or even one night stands. These are all relatively modern attiudes when it comes to that of the topic of sex.I think that society, when it comes to media doesn't send the right messages to the youth or to people in making good desicions when it comes to having sex. I feel like the media,sends out the wrong messages to young minds having them believe that the overtly sexual videos, songs, and commercial ads, are the attitudes they should be having when it comes to having sex. I think that's why there are so many young teenage pregnancies as well, or children born out of wedlock. People aren't practicing the right or moralistic attitutes they should have when thinking about having sex. In religion, sex is viewed as something holy or that it should take place with someone you love or are in fact going to marry. It shouldn't happen before marriage actually. You can see here how what religion expects of people and the modern society today conflict with eachother on the topic of having sex. I feel that this poem was a great poem and can open your mind to different views and thoughts when it comes to the topic of sex. The poet used very good irony and wordplay full of texture. It was explicit in its nature of language where it described the act of sex. The poet shares an intimacy with the audience with the language.

"Facing It" By Yusef Komunyakaa

     In the Poem, " Facing It," by Yusef Komunyakaa, we are introduced to a Vietnam War Veteran who is visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. From reading the poem, we get a feel that he's visited the memorial many times before and that he himself was apart of the Vietnam War. The poem is so raw and in your face, describing this veterans feelings about the war and his feelings about having been apart of it. He seems to have a deep internal struggle with his memories of the war but also has conflict with his present day reality.  Komunyakka starts the poem with " My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite." I believe that Komunyakka is envisioning his memory of himself in the war, his face, "fading," or gradually going away and hiding in the wall. He follows that line with:
" I said I wouldn't,
Dammit: No tears.
I'm Stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me,
like a bird of prey,"
      I feel like the veteran also has a struggle in dealing with his own pride. In our society,boys have been taught that to be men, they are to be strong, courageous,tough, dominating, no pain, no emotions with the exception of anger and definitely no fear. Our society, collectively socializes men to be these things and in doing so, this stanza relates to that a lot.The veteran didn't want to allow himself to cry or to let out his emotions. We actually see him get mad at himself for crying, and a comparison to himself being "stone." Stone is a form of rock, something that is not living, it is dead and is solid. In the same comparison of himself to stone, he also says he is flesh, which means he realizes that he is a living, breathing person with real, raw emotions and feelings. Maybe he feels like a part of him died in the war and a part of him is living in present day society. He keeps getting taken back to the war with each name he reads on the wall. He is almost in disbelief that he is still living in a physical sense after the war, that his name isn't on the wall. That he himself isn't another casualty. In a sense though I feel like maybe, physically he may have survived the war but psychologically, spiritually, he died. 
      This poem relates so much to present day soldiers in Iraq and this whole war going on. Present day soldiers coming back from war, have similar issues trying to readjust themselves back to normal day to day life. Many soldiers come back with a distorted sense of reality, torturous flashbacks of killing, or being attacked. Many soldiers come back with post- traumatic stress disorder, where the simple thought or a memory could trigger a complete panick attack or irrational behavior.
    Instead of this veteran being able to put the war behind him, it seems as if this memorial serves as a constant reminder or a tragic marker of the war he served in.

"The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop

      In reading the poem, " The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop we are introduced to the speaker of the poem and this fish that the speaker caught. The speaker vividly paints pictures for the audience by telling us in great detail about this fish. " I caught a tremendous fish," is how we are introduced to what's going on. Just in reading the 1st line, I already knew that there must be great significance within it. As we continue to look at Bishop's poem, the speaker goes on to tell us about the fish's physical appearance. In telling us about the fish's physical appearance, we get that the fish is an ugly fish but the wordplay the poet uses to describe the fish's " ugliness," are actually beautiful ways of using language. It feels as though the speaker finds pleasure in her use of language and also invites the audience to feel that way; to want to indulge in the beauty of the wordplay, just as the speaker finds beauty in the fish. In the following lines of the poem, I feel like the poet used beautiful word intercourse to compare something "ugly," to something " beautiful". The exchange of words/ colors to describe and compare something ugly to something pretty, shows us how the speaker found " beauty" in the fish.

While his gills were breathing in

the terrible oxygen

— the frightening gills,

fresh and crisp with blood,

that can cut so badly —

I thought of the coarse white flesh

packed in like feathers,

the big bones and the little bones,

the dramatic reds and blacks

of his shiny entrails,

and the pink swim-bladder

like a big peony.

            The fish even through many attempts to be caught, was described as a "warrior" and continued to swim freely in his environment day after day. This poem made me think about some other aspects in society. Beauty for one, the saying goes, " Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." In our society, the idea of the ideal image of beauty bought on by the media, is of being super thin almost waif- like, with no curves. This image is all the media throws at young women, that this is how they must look to be " beautiful."  Society or us the people sometimes have not one idea what these models do to themselves to keep up this look of " beauty". Some of these models starve themselves, sacrificing their health and gaining horrible eating disorders and psychological disorders. The fashion industry uses a lot of photo- shopping and make up to keep these certain appearances or this look of "beauty," up. Women feeling the need to live up to these false or fake standards makes them then too sacrifice their health to achieve this. I feel like just like these women and models sacrifice their health and gain eating disorders or psychological disorders it's kind of like the fish in a way. I say this because the physical scars that the fish gains on his lips, is like the emotional or psychological scars these women gain. Even then a woman overall is a beautiful object in society's standards, hence the speaker still being able to find beauty in this fish too with admiring its " sullen face," or the "mechanism of his jaw." So you see " Beauty is in the eye of he beholder," and everyone has a different standard of beauty. You can find beauty even in the ugliest of matters.

   Looking up what symbolically a fish may mean, I came across a fish could mean " personal growth", or maybe a "deep unconsciousness." I found that pretty interesting and sought to see how I could relate that to our poem. I feel like from the beginning of the poem when the speaker catches the fish to the end of the poem when the speaker lets the fish go, there is an immense personal growth in the speaker that takes place. I feel like when the speaker was admiring the fish and going into detail in a new light about how beautiful the fish was, it was the beginning of the speakers journey into a new found consciousness. Instead of where the speaker was when she found the fish, she was growing to find the beauty in the fish and then towards the end let the fish go back into the water. I think that when the speaker let the  fish go back into the water it signified the speakers personal growth complete. The speaker allowed the fish that had been caught so many times, after admiring it's beauty, it's strength and wisdom, it allowed for it to go freely back into the water. I think the speaker took in the fish's essence for what it was and then decided it was beautiful living and allowing it to live in its own world just as it was beautiful for the speaker to awaken on a conscious level and really be alive and live in her own world.