Black Friday

I’ve had the enigma of the red character shoved down 

my throat for longer than I could talk.

People–old people–cats and dogs–

dock their boots before his ubiquitous throne.

A happy young boy, smile stretching from ear to ear,

Sports the character’s chapeau, ready to fire off His list;

He’s only been waiting this whole year to

let this stranger know what His exact demands are,

one by one.

(Another boy also had a list of his own,

but the sandman had decided differently,

That he was to feed the worms before they went hungry,

And before the red character could ever get rid of the sand)

Who would have thought that 

the simplest method to get something 

Was to just wish for it?

Review

Having already invested a great amount of time into this poem, it only seemed obvious for me to rewrite “Buttons” by Carl Sandburg. Originally, that poem focused on the travesties of war and what the true cost of engaging in wars was, using some very graphic imagery and a spiteful, sarcastic tone to deliver its poignant message. In my rewrite, I decided that it would be fitting to talk about Christmas, specifically focusing on how people have become ungrateful during the holiday season. 

The sarcastic tone that was present in Sandburg’s original poem is the one element I decided was also really important. Given how Sandburg’s original featured sarcasm as a method of mocking those who turn a blind eye to conflict, my use of it in “Black Friday” is intended to “mock” those who worry more about their material objects while other, less fortunate people do not get the same privilege of having their wishes fulfilled. While Sandburg’s poem is meant to reflect opposition to a bloody conflict, “Black Friday” is intended to serve as an opposition to the mass consumerism that has overtaken our society, along with the externality of materialism that arises because of it.

Both poems are meant to attack a certain aspect of societal thought and behavior, so it was important for me to include some symbols of Christmas into the poem, albeit in an implicit manner. While the main symbol of Sandburg’s poem, the buttons, are repeated throughout the length of the poem, I decided to abandon this repetition in my rewrite; there was not one specific word I could think of that would serve the poem the same way “buttons” did. 

Towards the end of “Buttons”, on the second to last stanza, Sandburg does not hold back on his imagery and, while Christmas certainly isn’t as graphic as war, I decided to use this same “idea”. The second to last stanza on “Black Friday” is meant to demonstrate that not all wishes will come true, that for some reason one boy gets to have a new toy while the other can’t even wish for more time. Again, this serves to illustrate society’s tendency to focus on the wrong things, such as materialistic things that we, for some reason, hold to a high value.

-Luis Huerta

School for Grownups

Claude MacKay’s “The Tired Worker” and “Outcast” are both driven by the same idea that the working-class citizens are being stripped of their humanity by working the worst jobs imaginable, essentially giving their lives to their jobs for the lowest possible wage. In “The Tired Worker”, the speaker of the poem is done with their day and just wants to rest, especially considering that work days at the time this poem was written were considerably longer. With lines such as “O dawn!/ O dreaded dawn!/ O let me rest”, it can be said that the protagonist of this poem views work like a child views school; it is the worst possible place to spend the whole day at and it’s worse because they have to wake up early. They are still innocent to the idea of despair since they know school will eventually end and they just want to rest before going again.

The “innocence” found in “The Tired Worker” is then lost in “Outcast”, a poem in which the speaker is fed up with being a tired worker and instead speaks out against the system that has allowed for the burden of the workers to continue. Continuing the parallel of the child and school, “Outcast” reflects said child maturing and realizing school transforms into work, and they’re stuck their for the majority of their lives. The despair continues to build as the worker stays at their job; since they desperately need the money, they have no choice but to continue working.“Outcast” does a great job of “maturing” the idea of “The Tired Worker” in the sense that the protagonist realizes they will be a tired worker for the majority of their lives, in which case hopelessness and despair arise since workers feel as though they have no life left to live. Even if they save up, these working-class citizens will probably have little time left to truly enjoy it as most of their time has already passed by.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Shakespeare’s “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” is an interesting poem in the sense that it does the complete opposite of what a Shakespeare poem is thought to do, which is indulge in poetic devices to describe the love of the protagonist in said poem. In this poem, the speaker details some negative aspects they find with their lover: “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red” and “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun” are some of the descriptions that come to the mind of the speaker. These lines wouldn’t necessarily be found in the “world’s best love poem”, however, once the speaker reveals that he finds his love to be “rare”, the negative descriptions of the lover found in the beginning of the poem don’t necessarily mean anything anymore. 

The sequence of events paralleled in the previous paragraph can also be found in the BBC Comic Relief video featuring Catherine Tate and David Tennant. Tate portrays an unruly and seemingly dimwitted student while Tennant portrays the lecturer of Tate’s character and things begin to spiral out of control as Tate’s character continuously interrupts the lecture. When the professor threatens to fail her, she erupts in sudden chatter, ending her rant by perfectly reciting the aforementioned poem. The parallel between this sketch and the poem relate to the fact that most would not make out the student to know the poem, given her actions in class, while most would not want to fall in love with the subject of Shakespeare’s poem. They are both underestimated because they do not fit the ideal representation of what they are “supposed” to be, but that does not matter because the student knows what she is capable of while the speaker of the poem knows that their lover will bring out their happiness.

Even with the parallels between both mediums, the meaning of the poem certainly takes a different meaning once recited by Tate’s character; her character’s irate state can also be seen through Shakespeare’s point of view. In a time where love poems were filled with all different sorts of beautiful words, one can see this as Shakespeare becoming irate at the idea that poetry should be limited to describing just the beauty in things. Instead, his poem becomes a “rant” to his audience in an effort to set forth the idea that said audience fails to see the beauty in the mistress because she is not described as so, the same way Tate’s character rants at her professor for underestimating her true potential because she does not fit the description of the perfect, model student.

Heroes Cross Borders

Crossing the US-Mexico border is a challenge that many citizens from Central and South America knowingly risk their lives for. Their desire for a better life in the United States is enough for them to walk thousands of miles of hostile terrain with very little food or water, certainly a traumatic experience given how high the probability of death is. Javier Zamora was one of those who completed the dangerous trek, at age 9; it is because of that experience that he wrote the poem “Second Attempt Crossing”. The words of the poem describe his personal experience through “the middle of that desert that didn’t look like sand and sand only” and the fear of being caught by “La Migra”, only to be saved by his guardian angel known only as Chino. It is important to note the italization of the name Chino; in general, words are italicized when they can stand by themselves, as to draw attention to it. This is the case with Chino as, in Zamora’s point of view, there is only one Chino, the same one who is not only responsible for him making it to the US, but also for having kept him alive in a dangerous situation. The same gratitude that Zamora expresses in his poem translates to the oral version of the poem, however, in the oral version, Zamora’s tone is reminiscent of speakers at a funeral. He describes Chino as though he is a superhero and instantly becomes saddened when he begins the farewell section of the poem, since he knows he will never see his hero again since he was only one of a kind. The oral version of the poem has that feeling of loss that one hears when the loss of a family member occurs, as opposed to the written version which has more of a reminiscent tone to it.

An Angel’s Hell

Before delving into Natalie Diaz’s poem “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation”, it is important to pinpoint to a specific quote of hers included in her interview for Sampsonia Way: “Oh the pen is my hand. It’s my body. And even though these are just thoughts or wonders, it’s the energy of my body that I am trying to put on the page.” It is with that same energy that Diaz wrote the aforementioned poem, one that does not hold back in her “demonization” of those who have not only hurt her, but also her ancestors.  The angels mentioned in her poem are not a symbol of peace and grace, as is their common symbol, instead they personify the Eurpoean whites who landed in the New World, to which she simply states, “They’re no good for Indians.” Running concurrent with the current backlash on Columbus Day, Diaz’s poem expresses the newfound idea that those who settled into the “New World” were not the saviors history portrays them to be. Her “returning to her body” illustrates the action of her poem, to be able to criticize those who have wronged her ancestors and are now placed high on a societal pedestal. To say that she hasn’t seen angels is not to say that they do not exist, rather it is her interpretation of that Christian symbol, that angels to her do not signify the same as they do to Christians; those angels only worked to keep Native tribes in control and then to further the agenda of Manifest Destiny.

The Soul of a Stone

It would be an understatement to describe George Herbert as a devout Chrisitan; his poems are filled with all types of religious themes and imagery that allude to his personal relationship to God. However, the one that really stands out the most would have to be his poem “The Altar”, a statement from Herbert affirming the glory of his Creator. The poem begins with the protagonist offering his heart, which he initially describes as a “broken altar”, to the Lord, the same Lord who created the heart that “no workman’s tool hath touch’d the same”. The protagonist acknowledges that while his heart may be broken, it is a divine creation that no human can come close to matching, even if it is “broken”. The metaphor between the heart and the altar becomes even more reinforced when the shape of the poem is taken into consideration; the poem is shaped like an altar, a place biblically known for sacrifice. Herbert wants to offer his broken heart to God in an attempt to receive His blessing, which, in the Christian belief, is the ultimate result of worship. The interpersonal and reflectional themes of the “The Altar” differ from the theme of forgiveness found in “Easter Wings”, which I believe offers a more powerful Christian message due to the fact that the basis of most religions, including Christianity, is to help the individual find out more about human nature and navigate the paths of life. The ultimate sacrifice of the heart, a heart as invaluable as a precious stone, to God in “The Altar” demonstrates the protagonist’s full commitment to his relationship with God, a relationship that is seen as the most important thing in the world within many different religions.

Underdog v. Monster

Roses have always had the pleasure of being connotated to feelings of love and care, and while to many they make for great late Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day gifts, writers and poets from around the world have began to challenge the rose’s long-standing symbol. Of the two poems assigned this week, “Sea Rose” by H.D. does a better job of challenging the current status of the rose than does Adrianna Puente’s “The Rose and the Poppy”. The reason for this conclusion comes to the fact that while Adrianna Puente’s poem continues the tradition of a “beautiful rose”, she also champions for the beauty of the poppy. The poppy in Puente’s poem is clearly the underdog against the mighty rose, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its own unique characteristics that makes it beautiful in its own right. While Puente makes it known that the poppy is beautiful, the rose in H.D. is a complete monster, her first description of the flower being “harsh”. This rose is “marred and stint with petals”, a “meagre flower, thin”, the complete opposite of how roses are usually described. Even though this monster of a flower might not be everyone’s cup of tea, in H.D.’s view, it is no more different than a regular, “beautiful” rose due to the fact that beauty is not limited to that of physical characteristics. By stating that a monster flower could replace the traditional rose, H.D. makes a more effective argument over Puente, who more so wants the “underdog” poppy to replace the mighty rose.

A drunken sea is better than a stormy one

Love is a very complex human emotion; some people find it simple to express their love while others might struggle to express said emotion. While most people would find themselves at odds with their inner self on how to approach a love interest, the protagonist of “Ode 487” by Hafez can be characterized by his courage; he expressed his love to his interest (in this case the woman working at the tavern) and not only did he get rejected, she “mocked [his] foolish hopes of winning her”. According to her, the protagonist deemed him not worthy enough, stating that “too high the Anca’s nest for [him], my friend”. The waitress of the tavern clearly has high expectations for her own romantic love interest, which probably means she most likely does not want a drunken vagabond as a date. While the protagonist has an unpleasant time with the “stormy sea” of a waitress, the same cannot be said for the alcohol that he is drinking. It seems, actually, that he is more in love with the alcohol than with the woman he intends to ask out, decreeing that “there is no answer to it but this cup”. He speaks highly of the alcohol, deeming it as “holy”. In times of trouble, most would turn to holy/religious beliefs in order to get them through whatever dilemma is troubling it. When it comes to this poem, however, the promise of sweet alcohol, in the event that he is rejected, is enough to get him through the stormy sea that the waitress put him in.