"The Hitchhikers" by Diane Wakoski

After reading this poem, it seems as though Wakoski is reminiscing and remembering a better and younger time. When you think of hitchhikers you can imagine the youth trying to run to a better place, or people trying to travel the world together. Here, in this poem the author seems to be remembering a time spent with someone and how she misses that person, she looks at "Hitchhiking" in a different light now that she is not experiencing it with the person she misses.

Maybe she went through a tough time with someone overcoming mountains and different obstacles in life with a certain person that it is a journey she will never forget in life.

An Unemployed Machinist - By John Giorno

This poem reminds me of a human condition called Tourettes or when a person is SO scared they start stuttering or repeating their sentences without knowing or being in the right state of mind! As weird as it may sound..this is what this poem reminded me of.

It seems as though the person went through a lot in his 10 years that he had moved to Georgia and had trouble finding a job, maybe this person is not emotionally stable? Or maybe this person is a criminal? What made this man turn into a police station and admit that he does not want to be afraid any longer, maybe that's why he wasn't able to find a job for those 10 years because he was afraid that if he was to register somewhere people would find out who he is and what he has done. Maybe he has fear inside of him, or guilt that causes him to repeat things, his fear eating him up inside and forcing him to go insane.

"Makeup on Empty Space" by Anne Waldman

What I read this poem at first, I was thinking that the author was basically trying to say that even empty space has a meaning and should be be paid attention to, but as I kept reading more it seemed to me as if the author was acting like God, she is making something out of nothing, she is creating a universe, she is creating people, she is creating beauty, just as many believed god did. M

Maybe she was staring off into space or staring at a spot that had nothing interesting going on and just created her own world with her own imagination and built her own world of dreams and accessories. Maybe she is talking about a new life coming into the world, or how nothing is ever empty, there is no such thing as "nothing" there is always "something"

Langston Hughes' Mother to Son'

Maybe it is nowadays that teens seem to rebel against their parents and their parents being strict on them, but when you were younger and are being brought up, your mom is there to protect you and teach you right from wrong, and bring you up to be the best you can be, and never give up doing what you believe in.

This poem proves the motherly love mothers have for their children. Langston Hughes's mom is basically telling him not to give up and that things weren't as easy for her either, yet she overcame whatever the situation was thrown at her. The term "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair." was her basically saying that she didn't have the rich life where she would walk somewhere and things would be handed to her on a silver platter, she had to go through different obstacles and walk on splinters as she mentioned and go through "pain" in order for her to get anywhere.

I believe this is a very good lesson for anyone to learn and to teach their children at any age, it is never too late to learn that when things get hard, you just have to go on and try harder to get past it, and to NOT give up. Especially when you are growing up and are faced with difficult obstacles, you have to prove to yourself that you are capable of passing them and earning rewards from life for doing so. The advice from your parents isn't always so bad especially when it is from the heart and out of love.

"Howl" by Allen Ginsberg

When I first read the poem "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg , I was a bit surprised at how complicated the poem seemed , and I'm not even sure if I have interpreted it correctly. It did not compare to any of the poems we have read so far for this class, but having variety and something different for change is actually quite good and pleasant for the mind.


What first comes to mine is the setting, it seems as though it is taking places in a specific era(s) and changing up, the "Negro streets" comment made me think that this might have taken place around the time that white and blacks were not united and there was a bit of segregation still taking place. Where a lot of people seemed to be engaged in similar things, going through life everyday and waking up to the same addictions and searches. The era seems to change up a little bit when the author starts mentioning Hipsters and Jazz music. It seems as though the era is taking place sometime in the 40's-50's.

The mention of drugs kind of puts you in that mindset that this poem revolves around that. It seemed that it was the time where hipsters would smoke all day long and waste their days away and did whatever made them happy, but the poem doesn't seem so happy. Maybe the drugs were a part of them because their lives have been hell? Maybe there was nothing else to search for through their various hardships, that drugs became a part of their life because of their struggles. It seems as though a lot of them did not have a real place they could call "Home." They might have had a place to stay but Home isn't something they would have called it, especially when the author makes it seem like a very dark and scary place to be.


I'm not really sure of how else to interpret this piece of writing, but the struggles and hardships shine through more than anything else. Drugs, alcohol and all of the other substances people can do was probably a big way to "escape" from reality and maybe feel things were better for a little moment.

The Wedding Ring- Denise Levertov.

I think I am growing to love Levertov's poems. They speak so many things to readers, and she never says anything directly. She uses so many metaphors and unique styles of writing that make us look into the poem and really think about what she is trying to say, rather than just having the answer right in front of us. (Which is absolutely no fun!)

The poem "The Wedding Ring" shows a lot hurt. She was obviously lied to , which is why she hid her ring so far into her basket, it seemed as though she threw it down the bottom of a well, which would seem impossible to retrieve. It isn't obvious if she was lied to, or if her parent left her, but either way the vows for being together have been broken for some kind of reason.

Levertov uses a lot of examples and metaphors that help us picture what she means with things we are already familiar with, "..telephone numbers with no names attached..." knowing that people would be hectic to call someone without knowing whom the number belongs to, so they would probably withdraw to do so.

I am really looking forward to reading more of her poems.

"The Secret" by Denise Levertov

When I first looked at this poem and read it the first time, I honestly did not even understand it, until I analyzed each line and read the poem the way the author intended us to. The way the author wrote this poem was amazing, to me it seemed as though she is really making us put the effort into reading her poem otherwise we won't understand what the heck she is saying.
It was as if the author tried to tell us "Reach each line carefully and see what I mean" to find her little secret hidden in her poem, just as the girls in her story found something in her writing.

When Lebertov writes that she wishes she would know what secret the other girls have found in a line that she herself wrote, and how she wishes to see and interpret things just as they did, it makes me think that maybe she cannot see what they see because each person has their own perception, their own way of viewing things. Just as I am analyzing Levertov's poem, I will find a different meaning than you, because something might pertain to my life, but not to yours because we have not gone through the same things, even though we are both reading the same poem. I think that even if the girls told her the secret in her lines, she would not be able to see it herself because they have a different view of things.

She also mentions how the girls forgot the poem they had read and probably even forgot the meaning in her poem, but being as curious as she is, and not finding their meaning in her own poem, she became obssessed with wanting to know what the meaning is...when in reality everyone finds their own meaning in what they read. Their own little "Secret".

My opinion : I love the way Levertov wrote this poem, she mentions how she feels that the girls found meaning in her lines, when in reality they found meaning in the poem as a whole, which is why she is probably making us read her poem by lines carefully by breaking up her thoughts the way she did.

The Fish - Author : Elizabeth Bishop.

After reading the poem The Fish, I was quite moved with all of the metaphors and similes used to describe what was happening, and how the author really took us into her mind and showed us basically what she was seeing at that moment,and her thoughts on what she had seen.

Most of us, when we see something we just SEE it, we don't really try to break the object in question down, and really put ourselves into its place. The fact that the author compared the fish and its appearance to things that we have seen before, such as : the foil in the fish's eye, the wallpaper imagery she used, with pictures of full blown roses that were ready to die and were drying out, It really helped us imagine and picture it better, because we are already so familiar with these images. I think this poem was very descriptive in what was happening and how in that moment, before she let the Fish go, she saw what it had been through, and how it experienced this before, which was one of the reasons it looked like wallpaper that was already ripping off. I feel that if the Fish was going to die, it should die in it's own "world" instead of ours.