The Body, The Soul

In “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation” by Natalie Diaz, we are forced through the harsh reality of living on a reservation, using the perception of others and what they have done to transfer over to the self in what we look like and what we have done. When Diaz talks about the body in her 2018 interview, she means both a physical body and the soul within. When asked about lexicon, Diaz retreats back to how the body is shaped by how it is, and how it is described. Both her poem and her interview work towards enforcing her view on the perceived self and how Diaz wants to have better control over her own being and how she is seen. Enjambment is used to represent the constant change that happens in everyday life, we are, to other people, one thing then the next which could be inaccurate, when what we want is to be known and accepted as who we intentionally are. Implied metaphors are used with owls, bats, and coyotes, these animals are representative of Native American Mythology, owls and bats are symbolic of death while coyotes are symbolic of trickery. Diaz uses this symbolism, combined with implied metaphors to talk about a few characters the speaker mentions, Gabe and the Preacher’s son. Gabe is stated to “have wings” and goes around sleeping with women, traveling with stolen vehicles. It is hard to determine whether he is a coyote, a trickster, or a bat, a creature that is within both groups, animals and birds, often able to switch sides within Native American Mythology. The Preacher’s son is mentioned to be the “angel” in a Christmas pageant that is held during December. The speaker gives us the reason of skin color for why the Preacher’s son is given the role of an Angel, a religious and mystical symbol of both holiness and peace. However, the traditional meaning of an angels and religion is juxtaposed when we are told of the “White God that floated along the ocean”. This quote mentions the British Colonizers, including the American Colonies. We are told an impertinent description of these people, “rich and fat and ugly”. Diaz uses enjambment, implied metaphors, symbolism and juxtaposition to flip the perceptions we had as readers and to compel us to view the rough life on the reservations, the perceptions of people on the reservations and how she has perceived herself and her people.

Roman Arroyo

Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Really?Because I Can’t

Ode 44 by Hafez has very little to do with love for a woman. The poem is very misleading by its use of language and its very specific descriptors of a lustful woman, but I find that the love is not so much for the woman but for primal desire.

Were this poem a sonnet, I would employ the use of the term volta because there very much is a turn, and a major turn in the subjectivity of the poem. This poem is about love, to be sure, but also about drinking, indulgence, and penance and the love or need for all the above. This begs the question whether the love for the woman in the beginning of the poem is really an implied metaphor for the love of sin?

The more this poem is read, truly I must ask, where is the love for this woman? In fact, where is the love for the man? If I were to look at the line, “Narcissus- eyes all shining for the fray” (l. 4) and draw inspiration from the Greek Narcissus, then this woman would have disdain for the man. It is very apparent that she is beautiful, apparent that she is in the act of lovemaking, but this does not mean it has to be with love. She is dressed to be sexy as stated by her shift or chemise. She is half-naked, sensual, but then she pours the narrator wine. The poem then proceeds to equate wine and love with each other as starting someone is mean spirited to refuse, “…wine poured out by such a girl” (l. 15).  One who does this is considered a double traitor, someone who would turn down these temptations. Therefore, love is a misleading metonymy here as it is generally understood to be romantic for another, but in this case it is not. It is a love for sex, beautiful women, and drinking alcohol.

The alcohol here is specifically stated to be not for the puritan, but for us. This us is for those indulging in this loose behavior, but more specifically, us is implied as the drunkard. But these actions are understood as a special privilege. I would say it is paradoxical to even consider someone as doomed but forgiven, but the actions are just that stated by, line 21, “Foredoomed to drink and foreordained forgiven”. This is to say that the drunkard is doomed to drink, but is also to be forgiven.

This idea of forgiveness is amplified by the final stanza. The word penitence is to show regret or sorrow. Penitence here is considered a very difficult promise to keep considering the distraction of, “…wine and women brimming o’er with laughter” (l. 25). This again brings forth my argument that there is no real love with the woman in this poem and that this is not a romantic poem about two individuals. This is a poem about the love for sex and drinking, or in other words, sinful activities that should illicit a feeling of penitence. Even the similes used in the poem imply sexual desire rather than romantic love. “Warm as a dewy rose” (l. 6) and “O knotted locks, filled like a flower with scent” (l. 27) are sensual lines. These lines evoke sight, smell, touch, not unforeseen in love, but given the context of the poem, these senses are used to tempt. The last line specifically calls towards the “knotted locks” (referring to a woman’s hair) have ravished this poor man who feels regret and sorrow. Though the narrator shows guilt, he is still not immune to temptation. Therefore, I feel as though it is safe to say that this poem is not about the love of two people, but the love for being non-abstemious with drink and to be morally loose.

—Joseph Rojas

(Side note for my professor and TA: No, the nationality of the poet does not compromise my interpretation. I really do not find that relevant at all. Surely it may provide reasons for use of content, but overall the message to me is quite clear, stated extensively above, and does not require other information. The source material was sufficient. Did not want to add this but I want full credit for answering the whole question. Give me my points!)