To Sue's father

To Sue's father:

           

          You may have known that you would not be there to raise your son and because of that you chose to name him Sue, thinking that this will make him survive in the world you brought him to. Thinking like this, thinking of how to protect him when you’re not there is something a good father would do. A lot of parents don’t even do that much, they don’t protect their kids. Maybe your way of protecting him was unorthodox, but still it counts. You could not predict he would be that tough but still you tried. Sue has a right to be angry because he did not know your motives for choosing that name. He got a rare opportunity with you, because most kids don’t ever get to know the thing there parents do for them, even if it is as simple as giving him a bad name. I can’t judge you for leaving because I don’t know the motives of why you left, but before you did you left your child a lesson that you though was important for him to know. Based on what I read you are proud of the man he has become and having been involved in the raising of him, even though it was not much, it’s much more than what other parents that are always there get to do. I think that naming him Sue was your way of demonstrating your love for him. Even though he did not understand at first the reasons for the name, in the end he got to know that the action was not out of malice, but out of love. 

We are Phenomenal Woman

“Phenomenal Woman” written by Maya Angelou is a poem directed to women of all shapes and sizes, skin color and culture. Angelou’s was a black women that live through the hardship that was America’s racism, she died just a year ago but still her words of wisdom are an example to women everywhere. She once said that from a young age she was told that she was not the typical type of pretty that was known in the 50’s and 60’s. But she learned through life that indeed she was pretty, pretty in her own unique way. This is what she displays in that poem. With a relaxed and fun attitude she tells us that “I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size”.

The mayoralty of the poem leads us to know that is not our beauty what makes people look at us, it’s the stride and confidence we demonstrate what gets people’s attention. In a summery, our personality is what makes every one of us special, showing the “mystery” that is our individual strength. Not being anyone’s version of what a women is supposed to be, showing who we are is how we demonstrate to people that women are human beings. They are not models that have to be a certain way every single hour of every single day.

The media, especially in Angelou’s time, had a specific image of what a woman was supposed to be: blue eye, blond, white and adequate. The typical trophy wife. Imagine having to live up to those characteristic when you have none of them. Being an African American women was very hard in those days and most of them tried very hard to fit the mold. Flattening their hair, bleaching cream and diets were some of the things used to fit in. Because at that time and place this women knew it was better to fit the mold than to fight it.

This is what Angelou is trying to shatter, trying to tell women that it is not better to fit the mold. It’s better to be themselves, whatever that may be. Personally I think that every women on earth should know this by heart, that they need to be themselves and not try to imitate society’s vision of a woman. Because society has been shown to be wrong about a lot of things and this is no acceptation. The modern woman knows this and still she chooses to ignore it.

This is not what society should do, it should not makes us feel ashamed about our physical appearance and sure as hell not make us feel bad about being ourselves.  That is what this poem is trying to tell us. That being ourselves is what is going to makes us noticeable to other people. The happiness we show and the attitude we get when we are ourselves is what’s going to make us stand out. Every person, not only women, should know that it’s better to standout in a crowd by being you than to blend in by being society’s version of you.

To Maya Angelou

To Maya Angelou:

           

               

It’s been year’s sense you wrote the poem “Still I rise” and till this day it is still a poem of hope for every person on this earth. In it you say how nothing can make you stop and that every road block you confront makes you better. You had to face unspeakable things in your life, being judge by the color of your skin and not your human traits, to go through this things and still have the desire to help other through their journey. That is an example of how our judgments kill are human compassion, they keep us from seeing the person that stands before us. But even though most of us suffer with another types of blindness, some of us are able to get passed it and still rise from our mistakes. 

Follow your dreams and remember

     
           Amanda Bradley presents us with an inspiring poem that motivates us to chase are dreams and never give up. The poem is titled “Follow your Dreams”. It sounds more like a “pep talk” than a poem, but still it is a poem. She tells us in detail that we should never give up on our dreams. As we know life is like a roller coaster, sometime throws us a curve ball or takes us on a spin. It is true, like she says, that in that moment is when we have to be the strongest and never doubt our goal.

But when you're living this experience you obviously don’t have in mind this things, you're just trying to figure it out and sometimes we think it's easier to give up. This is the part when we all start to remember all that we have been through, the good, the bad and the sad. This is the moment when we evaluate if going forward with the original plan is still a good idea. Here we find ourselves on a crossroads, we can either go with our original plan or we can modify it to fit in with the new things we have to consider. This is the most important part in life, it does not come once in a lifetime. We do go through this process over and over again throughout our lives. We take a dream and we try making it a reality and if it gets difficult we stop and evaluate if we need to make a change or if we need to work harder for it.

This is what goes through my mind when I read Bradley’s poem and Dawn Jensen's poem “Remember”. He talks about how life is short and we need to remember the important things in life. Most of all we need to take those memories and put them to good use by giving us motivation to conquer the things we want. Use all the good, the bad and the sad to make us better, not get stuck on the past. I have to admit that this poem is very good but it talks in a past sense which make me remember when our grandparents sat and talked with us about the hardships in life and how we need to overcome them. This poem is like a narration of the memories of someone who has already lived and is passing on the lessons they have learned.

In Bradley’s poem it’s the other way around. The poetic voice is more of a young person's voice. In other words, it feels like the narrator is not at the end of his life, not like in Jensen’s poem where it does feel like the narrator is at the end of his life. In the first poem the narrator sounds more like a mentor that is trying to cheer up someone. This one tells of how when we accomplish things we can use the feeling of satisfaction we get to see how far we have come and where we want to go.

But both poems get their message across. First that we should never give up, no matter what and second that we should remember the things we have gone through. In my opinion, the central idea of both poems is the recipe for being happy. Life is about accomplishing goals and remembering what we have been through to help us go forward in life.  This is what living is about, not choosing the easy way out. Because if living was easy it would not be worth living it.

Poem analysis: “This too shall pass” by Helen Steiner Rice

This Too Shall Pass

If I can endure for this minute Whatever is happening to me, No matter how heavy my heart is Or how dark the moment may be- If I can remain calm and quiet With all the world crashing about me, Secure in the knowledge God loves me When everyone else seems to doubt me- If I can but keep on believing What I know in my heart to be true, That darkness will fade with the morning And that this will pass away, too- Then nothing in life can defeat me For as long as this knowledge remains I can suffer whatever is happening For I know God will break all of the chains That are binding me tight in the darkness And trying to fill me with fear- For there is no night without dawning And I know that my morning is near. This poem is a very empowering poem. When reading it you can hear the tone of strength, assurance and calmness that the poetic voice takes in your mind. This sense of power is also a consequence of the author's use of imagery, this is the use of sensory language that creates a vivid impression. In this poem it is mostly viewed  by the use of the word “darkness” to describe the scenery and the descriptions she uses to tell the reader how she feels that her body is  physically being held back from success and happiness. The author uses free verse to communicate that against all odds and with god's help she will succeed. She ends the poem by telling  us that hard times are just like the night, it only lasts a few hours, it's not eternal and it always passes by.