Journal Entry #5 Gavin Sullivan

 

Gavin Sullivan

English 1109 at 10:30, T-TH

10/6/2020

 

Journal Entry #5: Cisneros and Poetry

My active reading began with the poem, Homage to My Hips by Lucile Clifton. In this poem, Clifton speaks about her hips and how they allure men to her. Even going on to say “…I have known them to put a spell on a man and spin him like a top!” (Clifton, 1) I thought that this was a funny bit, and this poem was fun to read but I did not relate to it. I did like her use of the word petty though almost eluding to her large hips in away. Moving on next I read For Brothers Everywhere by Tim Seibles. This poem really carried the theme of jazz and being a listener of the genre, it really did flow in a unique sort of way. Almost as if it were emulating the melodies of jazz, “…their bodies like muscular saxophones body-boppin better than jazz…” (Seibles, 1) this quote really encapsulates what I believe what we as readers are supposed to take away from the poem. This quote even included my favorite word from the poem which was jazz. The next poem was the Last Hike Before Leaving Montana by Patricia Traxler. This poem resonated with me because I picked up on the subtle theme of a lost loved one. It really shows once re-read carefully especially in this area “I sit in the dirt and put my hands in your tracks. For the first time in a long time I don’t doubt. Now I know I always knew you were here.” (Traxler, 1) The first sentence really caught my eye but reading it again it really hit me. That this was a poem about someone lost to her now found again in sprit. My favorite word from this poem was Diamond. I can just imagine the flowers rising out of the melting snow water beads shining like diamonds in a forest clearing. Lastly, I read The Lanyard by Billy Collins. I found this one to be funny when read in the author’s voice but when reading it on my own I found it sort of condescending. As a kid, I am sure he gave his all to make that Lanyard, but I am not him so maybe it was just boredom. It is true I agree that one may never repay their mother for giving them life, but I am sure that our happiness gives them equal joy. Anyhow my favorite line was “I was as sure as a boy could be that this useless worthless thing I wove out of boredom would be enough to make us even.” (Collins, 1) This really settled my nerves while reading it honestly, I do not know why I got so heated but alas he is a great poem writer, and I am not. My favorite word from the poem was archaic which is a vocabulary word that I am fond of because I am used to seeing archaic things and appreciating them. To conclude my favorite poem was the Last Hike Before Leaving Montana. I really caught on to the lost loved one theme and It was cool to almost stumble upon it. I really liked the inclusion of the name of the stream which had a rattlesnake in it reminds me of Texas. Furthermore, the phrase “Up high the air is thin and hard, roars in the ears like love.” (Traxler, 1) I thought that this line was also great, and it really helped me further this subtle theme of a lost loved one.

 For the tie-up to Cisneros, my favorite chapter, in the end, was The Three Sisters. This one came to me as very powerful and I believe this because their appearance in the book not only coincides with a somber event, but they almost remind me of some sort of wise women coming to foreshadow Ezperanza’s closing chapters in the book. This was also the first time that Esperanza experienced death “I had never seen the dead before, not for real, not in somebody’s living room for people to kiss and bless themselves and light a candle for… It seemed strange.” (Cisneros, 104) This chapter left an impression that would last until the end of the book. It struck me because it was so interesting to think back and remember that this was Esperanza, not Clarett. Who are both so similar yet so different?

This is the Spark plug airplane that was given to me after my step-grandfather on my mother's side passed. I always remember the holidays going up to see him and my grandmother it was always fun.