America’s Moses Defies God

Claude McKay’s poem “Enslaved” and “I Shall Return” both express the oppression of Blacks by White supremacy in which the speaker seeks freedom for his people through a spiritual pilgrimage to find a communist home; to be freed from classism and exploitation of labor in which Blacks were subjugated under through racism. “Enslaved” reads as a retelling of Moses freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and the pilgrimage with his people to the “promised land” in Canaan.

Moses in the Old Testament defies King Ramses II, who enforces slavery using religious beliefs would be considered “pagan” to justify the exploitations of labor and classism on the Israelites. The speaker in “Enslaved” is a Moses-figure, who uses Christianity to display the hypocrisy of this White society. The speaker remarks how Blacks are “denied a human place in the great life line of the Christian West” (McKay 3-4). The speaker’s usage of the word “human” creates the image of African Americans being seen as an Other; being less than humans and instead objects within the Christian West. They are commodified for America’s production, “enslaved” for America’s production where the speaker confronts the irony of America’s “life, liberty, and justice for all.” 

He also remarks that “the Black land disinherited, robbed… my race… has no home on earth” (5, 8). America is a colonial power that seeks to exploit other lands for the means of production. This is furthered to reflect Egypts colonial power as they enslave the Israelites. With there being a lack of home in America, the speaker calls down upon the “avenging angel” like Moses to “consume” the White colonialism imposed by those who hold political authority (10). Consumption is ironically used as Marxism views consumption as a force that alienates people, furthering them from being humans, in which Others the Christian West. This consumption returns with the speaker wishing the Christian West be “swallowed up in earth’s womb,” implying that capitalism’s insistence on the exploitation of labor is consistently consumed to the point where the speaker uses poetic justice for capitalism to consume itself as an abortion back into the agricultural womb where labor is birthed, in which capitalists erected its ideology.

“I Shall Return” also brings in the theme of home and questioning the racial disparity existing in America, but the speaker in this poem has a home, creating a foil between both poems. The speaker reminisces of home that is filled with “laugh and love… my thousand dreams of waters rushing down the mountain pass… the fiddle and fife of village dances… hidden depths of native life” (2, 7-10). The speaker speaks full of positive descriptions of his native home, where one can embrace and express their cultural identity. In opposition to a revolution in America, there is revolution at home by standing united outside of America and Blacks representing themselves. The poem is paganistic also by defying to incorporate any Christian allusions, where the last poem uses it to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Christian West. As the sonnet form, music is brought up which represents the cultural music of Blacks, reinventing the sonnet to become a symbol of Black revolution to White oppression. Revolting through the sonnet’s form is also seen by the mention, “the brown blades of the bending grass” (6). Enjambment exists within this poem, mimicking the bending of the grass, but destroys the conventional rules of the sonnet. It is home for the speaker to “easy my mind of long, long years of pain” (14). It is a Shakespearean sonnet because the volta occurring in line 13 contributes to how home is a sedative to the years of oppression that Blacks endure. Nonetheless, the enjambment in combination with the longing for home reflects the sonnet’s form attempting to reach out to return too. The repeat of “long, long” reflects the long years of suffering it took to create the poem to reflect Black repression. However, the home that the speaker creates is one driven by communism, with no classism and where everyone may live in harmony. 

Although both contend with there being a home, both poems thematically present a communist home freed from the oppression of White supremacy.

-Phillip Gallo

For the Love of God!

“Like This” by the poet and Sufi mystic Rumi, is a sensual, heart touching, and an open poem that holds a beautiful and loving tone through its English translation. It clearly tells the loving relationship and admiration of the poet to their object of affection through varying literary devices most notably through allusions/ metaphor.

Allusions seen within the poem pertain mainly as a tool to compare the love felt towards two people with that of miracles performed by Jesus from curing a blind man to rising from the tomb. The use of religion in this aspect, from the translation, shows minimal input of the Islamic religion but more so of Christian references. I would be lying to say I am well read and informed about the Islamic religion but unfortunately I am not, which would be helpful in this case, but after reading the article “The Erasure of Islam from the poetry of Rumi” I was able to look online for other translations in English of the poem and saw how religion is actually heavily added to the poem when comparing each one from the other. One I found online was actually longer and had in almost every stanza a mention of some divine being or act to compare with love. But going of the poem assigned, I see the allusion of religion as a comparison of the nature of existence and human experience to that of Jesus resurrecting (coming to life) to even alluding to a possible one sided love of two biblical figure, (to note again I am not well versed in the Koran or even that well with the bible, I could be wrong with this second take). The poem also holds plenty of metaphors comparing the lover to many varying objects from the night sky, the moon, and the spirit/ soul but also, for the most part, comparing the love found within each other with that of miracles and religion.

The comparison of the resurrection of Jesus to that of the lovers kiss is a pretty solidifying in showcasing religion and the acceptance of Islamic spirituality as seen, “If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead, don’t try to explain the miracle. Kiss me on the lips. Like this. Like this.” (line 21-4) this is a sweet line that interlocks Islamic spirituality with that of love, and that attributes much of the openness and acceptance of spirituality to this love with ties to embracing all aspects of life, negative and positive , joyful or challenging, and overall the understanding of all experiences and richness that life has to offer. 

Alondra Garcia

Pretty Women and Wine

In Hafez’s poem, “Ode 44”, figurative language is used to depict the dangers of temptation to the religious man by utilizing a continuous metaphor to compare temptation, the tenor, to a drunken woman, the vehicle.

The poem’s first stanza describes a woman who is wearing very little,” With tilted glass, and verses on her lips,” (line 3). This line utilizes a metonymy to establish that the woman is drunk. The “tilted glass” connotes a glass of alcohol that has been drunk and the “verses on her lips” mean that she must be singing or maybe even mumbling. Drunk people are known to slur their words and speak incoherently. So, the narrator chooses these words to establish the fact that the woman is drunk. This line creates an image of a drunk woman, who we know is half-naked from the previous line, singing a song. Later in the stanza, the woman, “slips into [the narrator’s] bed,” (line 7). This hyperbole creates a comedic effect and further emphasizes the fact that the woman is drunk because drunk people often stumble around and lose their bearings.

In the second stanza, the narrator uses irony to express his rationalization for being tempted. In lines 20-21, he says, “Yea, by the special privilege of heaven/ Foredoomed to drink and foreordained forgiven,” (Hafez). The irony here is that heaven is supposed to be a perfect holy place, yet the narrator believes it is heaven’s fault that he is tempted. If the heavens didn’t create wine, he would not be so easily tempted. This is further emphasized in line 26 where the narrator says, “O knotted locks, filled like a flower with scent,” (Hafez). This line uses a metaphor to compare his penitence to a “knotted lock” and then uses a simile to compare his desire to a “flower with scent”. How can a man not be tempted to bend down and smell a delicious rose? This is his rationale for wanting to be with a woman, especially if she offers him wine.

I believe this poem, in its original language, would have reflected an acceptance of Islam. The narrator clearly wants to be a sinless man, but the temptation is just too hard to resist sometimes. However, when the poem gets translated, it is hard to realize it was written by a Muslim. I would still know that this was written by somebody who followed a religion, but I would have guessed Christianity because of words like “Puritan” and “penitent”.

By: Tierney Bowden

Conflicting Between Religion or Desires

The poem that I chose to read and analyze is “Ode 44” by Hafez. This poem has a lot of romance/lust involved, but at the end of the poem you will see the regret and pain the speaker experiences for committing a sin: “How have you ravished this poor penitent,” (line 27). Some may see the relationship between the two people as love, but in my opinion it was pure lust. The speaker was very conflicted between choosing to follow his religion or follow his desires.

The speaker is religious by mentioning the “verses” in line 3: “…verses on her lips.” This line is considered as a metonymy because “verses” are short lines in the bible, but also the writing is arranged in a way that has rhythm. Considering this poem, the speaker was stating how not only they are religious, but the words that come from the woman’s lips flow enough to catch his attention. The speaker mentioned how her eyes are like the eyes of Narcissus: “Narcissus-eyes all shining for the fray,” (line 4) which is a metaphor. Narcissus is a figure from Greek mythology. He was known to be so handsome that he fell in love with his own reflection, which connected back to how the speaker is describing her beauty. He says how her beauty is immaculate, and she is too good for the “fray.” 

The speaker was so attentive to her beauty that he was so ready to break the promises he made, which were to give him “the special privilege of heaven,” (line 20). He even did feel guilty for going against his religion, but he was trying to convince himself why you shouldn’t reject the woman: “Who refused wine poured out by such a girl,” (line 15). Right after he stated that, he came to the realization of the sins he made for drinking and making love with the woman. In lines 22-24, the speaker is speaking to himself trying to convince himself that he is not alone and that there are many more men that broke these promises right after declaring them. Also, how they can’t keep these promises since he considers them to be hard. He caved into the woman’s beauty that he easily broke the promises. Lines 22-26 are a metonymy because he is stating how keeping these promises are difficult when he can’t resist the woman’s beauty.

I think the love in this poem is represented as a rejection of Islamic spirituality because the speaker started off with caving into the woman’s beauty and breaking the promises he made for heaven, then realizing his mistakes and asking for forgiveness, but he starts to convince himself that keeping such promises are impossible since the beauty and looks of the woman are so intoxicating that it makes him desire her. He comes to the conclusion stating how he wants the feeling of the pain and guilt of committing this sin to be “ravished” because when he wants her. 

Gurranvir Kaur

Ode 44

The poem I chose was Ode 44 as seems like the poet is telling a story about the love between two people, it focuses on one night with a woman. As well as the poet, Hefez portrays this story through figurative language that helps to picture the stunning women, and it appears that he is religious due to his references to “The gods above Ordained this wine for us” (Hafez). It showed the readers that he was instantly taken by her and was intrigued. I also found that the poem seemed to focus on the idea of temptation and love. There is a lot to unpack within this poem as I’ve noticed that there can be different interpretations of what the poet’s true intention was. 

It seems that almost immediately the poet uses a metaphor, “Narcissus-eyes all shining for the fray, Filled full of frolic to her wine-red lips,” (Hafez).In this line, the poet appears to be using personification as well as a simile to portray the woman’s lips and how they may have looked attractive in a way. He chooses very specific words to describe the woman as he seems to compare her to the wine that they are drinking, which I found to be quite an interesting comparison. It also appears that the woman looks to be initiated as her body language says so, “Sudden she slips Into my bed – just in her little shift” (Hafez). Immediately after this happens the poet seems so excited to proceed with their relationship or what he believed was to happen. “ ‘ Oh my old lover, do you sleep or wake!’ And the instant I sat upright for her sake And drank whatever wine she poured for me-” (Hafez). It seems as though the poet hints at the idea that the two of them appear to be intoxicated as he mentions that he “drank whatever wine she poured for me”, which can insinuate that they weren’t sober as the poet had initially been talking about wine. 

I found that this poem did seem to surround the idea of temptation as well as his religion and how it appears that he may be talking more specifically of the temptations that he faced with this woman as well as how alcohol became a key factor within this temptation. It appears that both of these things combined created a huge temptation for the poet which can contribute to something that his God may not believe in. I’ve noticed how the poet also talked about his God throughout all of this, more specifically Islamic spirituality. As well as how the poem seems to embrace this spirituality. 

I am quite interested in what the poets initial intention for this poem is and what he actually wants us to interpret from it. I liked reading and analyzing this poem as it appears to be quite open to different interpretations.

Yue Wu-Jamison

The Night, the Temptress, and the Holy Drunkard

There is much figurative language to be found in Hafez’s poetry, specifically Ode 44. In line three, after a woman has slipped into the speaker’s room, the speaker says she has “verses on her lips”. This is a metonymy. When one hears the word, verse or in this case, verses, their mind automatically jumps to the Bible or other religious texts. The purpose of this statement might have been to hint at her drunkenness. (She was also noted to have been carrying a tilted glass which further drives this point) When one is drunk, they often slur their words, or mumble. The verses the speaker is speaking of, can perhaps be this slurring or mumbling. In the next line, the speaker says the woman has “Narcissus-eyes”. This is a metaphor. The speaker is comparing the woman to Narcissus, a character from Greek Mythology, known for his beauty and obsession with his looks. Since the speaker is talking specifically about her eyes, he might be implying they are enticing and all consuming. Her eyes hold power over him. They entrap him. In line 5, the speaker compares her lips to red wine. This is another metaphor. The most obvious interpretation is that her lips are red. Perhaps stained from the wine in her glass. But I think the speaker is also implying that her lips are delectable. They are something he wants to taste. . . something he can get drunk on. In the next line, the speaker says she is as “warm as a dewy rose”. This is a simile. The speaking is comparing the warmth from the woman’s body to the dew on a rose. Dew is another word for water. This can imply she is sweaty, and her skin is glistening. This adds to her seductive allure. In line 9, the speaker says the woman sighed between “each lazy word”. This is personification. He is personifying the word, word. This sounds ridiculous, but if you think about it, he could be referencing, once again, her drunkenness. Her insobriety is causing her to speak slowly. Nonchalantly. In a lazy manner. In the last stanza, he states her hair “filled like a flower with scent”. This is a simile. The speaker compares the smell of her hair to the scent of flowers. This implies her smell is intoxicating, and sweet. Based on the figurative language present in the poem, I believe it to be about temptation and the dangers of alcohol. The speaker is religious, evident by the references to verses, Heaven, and the gods above. Yet, he is tempted by the drunken woman who has climbed into his bed in only a shift. I would not say there is love between the man and the woman. I would argue there is lust. The speaker goes into great detail on her scent. How she sounds. On her shift and nearly naked body. I do not think the speaker is rejecting Islamic spirituality. I think he is warning his readers to be careful of temptation. Of alcohol even and how it can hinder one’s decision making. Hence the woman offering him wine. If the speaker were of clearer mind, he would know to turn her away. But he gives in to temptation. He drinks her wine and attempts to justify it by saying the gods above “ordained this wine for us”. As in, it was God who gave wine to mankind. That to refuse it, would be to refuse God. In this way, the speaker is shifting the blame from himself onto God. In Islam, alcohol is prohibited, as are sexual relations outside of marriage. This is the speaker advising his readers to be wary and cautious of such temptations and does so, through the nuanced relationship between the man and the woman.

Bella Cortez

A Love “Like This”

Coleman Barks’ translation with John Moyne of “Like This” by Rumi rejects Islamic spirituality although Rumi’s original work embraced it. People deserve the opportunity to read Rumi’s work with Islamic references (as he intended). Rumi uses an apostrophe for the speaker of the poem to address their lover (or general lovers). The speaker repeatedly gives their audience instructions like “lean your head toward him or her / Keep your face there close” and “Kiss me on the lips”. This apostrophe makes the poem more intimate because it places readers in the perspective of someone receiving these instructions from their lover. As Rumi describes all the ways love is a “miracle” or close to experiencing God (seen in lines 11 and 12), the reader can picture the passion between these two people. Rumi wrote “How did Jacob’s sight return?”. Based on my limited research, Jacob was blinded due to his sorrow upon losing his son, Joseph, and his sight returned once his son’s shirt was on his face. He recognized his son’s scent from the shirt. The line “A little wind cleans his eyes” appears to be personification. The wind is not literally cleaning Jacob’s eyes. Some Qur’an websites explain this to be a miracle due to Jacob’s patience and trust in God. The line “the breeze says a secret” is another example of personification conveying something that is not physically possible. The speaker appears to feel a closeness to nature that influences their view of love.

Despite the beautiful spiritual imagery that Rumi uses, some of the Islamic context was lost in translation for the first three lines. The “perfect satisfaction of all our sexual wanting” does not necessarily convey the same meaning as being surrounded by houris (beautiful virgins) in paradise. Merriam-Webster defines houri as “one of the beautiful maidens that in Muslim belief live with the blessed in paradise” (Merriam-Webster). The translation of this line has completely removed any religious connotations. Rumi’s original writing compares love to beautiful women and paradise itself. Rumi describes this love as transcending human experience. This love is so powerful that it is similar to the afterlife. “Perfect satisfaction” hints towards the importance of this love, but it does not fully encapsulate the depths of the original meaning of houris. Throughout the poem, the repetition of “Like this” comes after each image that the speaker offers. Rumi uses similes to compare love (or the tenor) to spirituality and nature (or the vehicles). The original comparison to houris is a transfer of the sexual and paradise elements. However, Rumi probably did not intend to reference the fact that one would have to be dead to reach this paradise. Overall, the comparisons are only “like” this love (that is the closest experience to a miracle) because the speaker has not actually seen the miracles or died for love.

By removing islamic references, translators are “sanitizing” the content and removing important context. Although translators may claim to not intentionally remove islamic context, their unconscious biases may be influencing their decisions. Media without mention of any religion can play for a wider audience. Some religious people feel alienated when their religion is not at the forefront of the media that they want to consume. People may find Rumi’s translated poems (without the references to the Qur’an) and appreciate them more because it does not conflict with their beliefs. Later in the poem, mentions of Jesus, Joseph, and Jacob are still intact. Due to the initial omission of Islam, people might mistake the lines “Jesus raised the dead, / don’t try to explain the miracle” as a reference to Christianity. 

~Miki Chroust

Being Paved Over

Gentrification is a truly nightmarish process that uproots communities and culture to lay way for big tech, rich usurpers, and the veiled notion of “progression” under a capitalist society. It’s another example of the great divide between those up above and those down below, where the lower struggle so the upper can take more for themselves. In this small collection of poems, Antonio Lopez demonstrates three perspectives of the impact of gentrification in his life: first on his father and family, then the impact on the community around him, then finally the contempt and snide remarks from Lopez himself as he fights back against dais gentrification in later years. However, out of the three poems the second poem, Triptych of the Adobe-Cotta Army, this divide is divide and suffering from gentrification is put on display the most, showing the negative impacts gentrification has on people who do not even feel they are allowed to survive in where they live anymore.

The poem begins with a powerful depiction of contrast between the two worlds that Lopez finds himself in while his town is being gentrified: “My Fingers are desperate\ to unearth the ruins\ of my countrymen.\ Only to find a Tesla\ on the second floor\ of our apartments\ -now a parking garage.\ The Amazon logo\ smirks above me\ like a biblical cloud” (Lines 1-10). The choice to emphasize that the parking garage is now above the apartments he now lives in help drive the image of the old land and culture being literally paved over in place for someone else’s. Lopez is trying to find his culture and heritage outside, only to see that his culture and land has been literally paved over and forgotten about, the overlords of capital and big tech smirking down on him; Amazon is depicted as being on a biblical cloud, giving them a religious undertone of being all-powerful and domineering on him and his community, like the settlers or colonials during Manifest Destiny, claiming land that they see as theirs in the name of “helping” the people already residing there while also fulfilling their own interests.

There is then a vivid description of the people that this gentrification produces, growing up in extreme poverty while surrounded by the lavish lights of the wealthy. Lopez speaks of the life that these people live, what they wear, how they act, their culture that has adapted to this new life, capping this section off with the end of the person he’s describing: “until the asphalt swallows\ him again. And Marias\ now mourn Jesus\ outside a sagging fence,\ wreathe his chain-\ link with lit candles,\ cardboard sign saying\ “We miss you”, streamers\ without the heated balloon\ that promised flight” (Lines 41-50). The person Lopez has been describing is given the name Jesus in this section, giving him the religious property of sacrifice and crucifixion: Jesus has been taken by the streets, born and died tragically in poverty, with the surrounding community mourning his lost in the only way they can. He’s not given a lavish sendoff, only a cardboard shrine remembering him, something that many people including myself have seen many times before. This gives weight to the story of not only Jesus, but also the many people that we the reader have seen in similar shrines; the many faces we have passed by that struggled in the same way Jesus did in this poem.

The poem ends with calling back to the asphalt, with Lopez writing “And so Father cradled my head\ inside asphalt. Prayed\ for our rite\ to simply wade” (Lines 67-70). This brings the messaging of the poem to the forefront at the very end of the poem, showing the feelings and emotions of Lopez and the people in his community about gentrification: They pray and pray to be allowed to simply survive and live in the communities that they have built up and lived in for years, hoping that the powers that be that have been pushing them out will allow them to simply survive, to wade in the waters of life. There is also a connection to the religious aspect of the poem in using “rite” instead of “right”, making this plea a holy one, circling back to the images of big tech being religious figures in their own way, giving more weight and scariness to the powers they use to destroy these communities.

Sky Miller

A new challenger has appeared!

The process of gentrifying existing communities allows for mass amounts of people to be displaced without their consent. Once city officials decide that a neighborhood needs to be upgraded for economical reasons, residents of that neighborhood are forced to leave their homes. This is because the upgrading that is happening is converting residential areas into commercial areas in low income neighborhoods where residents do not have a say or financial power to tell the city otherwise. Poet Antonio Lopez is one of many victims of gentrification, and illustrates its complications in his book of poetry Gentrification. One particular example, Triptych of the Adobe-Cotta Army, uses unique poetic elements two discuss his experiences with the topic. Similar to Natalie Diaz’ Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Reservation, Lopez attempts to challenge traditional poetry and creates an obvious disconnect in familiar themes. 

In her poem, Diaz plays with the traditional symbols of angels and Heaven, manipulating their importance through her poetry to achieve a definition opposite of it’s typical meaning. By the end of her work she successfully replaces these traditional religious symbols of angels and heaven into devils for hell through situational irony. While Antonio Lopez may not experiment with the exact same themes or topics, he manages to create a similar disconnect using his phone devices and themes of his work Triptych of the Adobe-Cotta Army. One of the most striking examples to me was on line 4 where the speaker states; “The Amazon logo smirks above me like a biblical cloud”. Here Lopez challenges traditional religious symbols by explaining the Amazon logo sign as a religious or biblical figure in itself and a satirical way. This is very similar to Diaz’ efforts in her work. The final line of the poem, “And so father cradled my head inside asphalt, Prayed for our rite to simply wade”. This challenges traditional religious symbols as instead of father blessing him in a church or temple. Instead he is blessed inside asphalt which is typically used to construct roads and challenges traditional religious symbols as instead of father blessing him in a church or temple, he is blessed inside asphalt which is typically used to construct roads, being the physically the lowest point of society. This is to create a juxtaposition between heaven, which is itself supposed to be viewed as ascended or high in the sky, completely opposite of a dirty asphalt road. Additionally, he is also depicted praying for the right to Wade which is the antithesis of the way one might righteously fly or run to freedom. Overall, we can see that Lopez uses his poetry to challenge traditional uses in poetry in attempts to illustrate gentrification, similar to how Natalie Diaz challenges traditional aspects of poetry to illustrate the mistreatment of Native Americans on their own land.

Materialism through Poetry

Gentrification is often disregarded as individuals rarely discuss the topic, and it occurs more frequently than people may discern. This is a notion that students learn in an economics class. Families and communities are engaging in a losing battle to infamous industries, and memories are being lost. Triptych of the Adobe-Cotta Army by Antonio López crosses the traditional borders of English poetry to resist the horrendous politics of gentrification through allusions, imagery, and similes. 

Imagery plays a significant role in López’s poem, serving as the skeleton where the other figurative language can branch off and become independent. In the first stanza, the speaker says, ““Only to find a Tesla/ on the second floor/ of our apartments/ —now a parking garage” (4-7). López illustrates to the reader the frustration that exudes from this depiction of losing one’s home and memories to billion dollar industries. Not only is the speaker telling you his experiences, he is showing you them as well, which crosses the tangible and intangible border of poetry and real life. López continues to write of the negativity that accompanies gentrification, “Out here, hooded saints\ tore the covenant\ of earthly silence” (11-13). These veiled saints conceal themselves. López alludes to the bible in many ways, allowing the reader to infer a religious presence or factor is present. Even in the lines above where the simile, “like a biblical cloud” (10) preceeds that of the hooded saints, it is a clear indicator. The speaker continues to tug on the reader’s emotions through these references and imagery. Later in the poem the speaker states, “My chest is flushed\ at watching boys bronze\ into adobe-cotta” (23-25). Appealing to the readers’ emotions through imagery is a common tactic for writers, and López is able to extract memories from his life and relate them back to the present day where the environment has drastically shifted. López, as well as other communities, flourish within their homes of memories in comparison to being encompassed by corporations. The desolation of his home has had great influence on many individuals, and helps others continue to break these borders. 

Emily Pu