My Papa's Waltz

My Papa's Waltz

The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.

     When I first read this poem i have to say that i was confused. First off people had different opinions on what the poem was about. Some said that this poem was simply about a young boy playfully Waltzing with his father. Ohters however argued that this poem was not about a young boy Waltzing with his father but instead it was about the young boy being abused.  Both points cant be aregued. It all depends on how you personally interpet the peom.
  
    First of all we can clearily see that the father is drinking at the time because of the line "The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy" The father was obviously intoxicated at the time . Some might think that this man must have an problem with alchol while others might say that he might have just had a hard day at work and come home and had a drink. You must also take into consideration the time at which the poem was written and realize that people were experiencing hard times during this time peroid as a result of the great depression.

     This is where i can see people saying that they think the young boy was being abused " We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf ; My mothers countenance / Could not unfrown it's self" when i first read this poem i simply thought that this meant that the mother was unhappy the the father and son were playing rough and making a mess in the kitchen. Another line that might give people the insentive that the young boy was being abused is " You beat time on my head/ With a plam caked hard by dirt" . I personally thought that this just meant that the father was patting his son on the head as that waltzed around the kitchen . Others though might think that this meant that the father ws beating his son hard on the head . 

   In conculsion I do not think one can fully argue that one opinion is either right or wrong. It all depends on how you interpret the poem yourself. Arguments can be made for and against the abuse and vice versa. This was one of my favorite poems after reading it the second time and understanding what was going on. In my opinion this poem was simply about a sonand father playing and being a bit rough as the father was waltzing with his son and not about the boy beign abused. However i could be wrong. What do you think?

Paperweight

    When first reading this poem I had no idea what this poem was about . I could not wrap my head around the symbolic meaning of a paper weight .  I had no idea why anyone would write a poem about a paperweight or what they were trying to tell the readers. It was not until my teacher took the time to explain the story to the call did I fully understand. 

   After my teacher explaining the poem to the call i came to understand that the poem was about the relationship between two people. I  also learned that the paperweight was a metaphor for a person. This made more sense because I could then understand why the poet was referring to their partner in such a manner. A paperweight is an object that holds paper down and keeps it from moving. It keeps the paper from moving and nothing else. The poet was trying to tell us that they feel their partner is a paperweight in their life. They feel their partner is holding them down. The poet says " As I come to realize that you can't do the job i need done" . This meaning that their partner cannot give them what they need.  They are unhappy with their partner.

   The lines"Nothing personal/ You're just too flimsy/ to lie heavy down the length of me/ keep the edges from curling / and hold me origami heat under the fold". The poet is expressing their feelings towards their partner. I think the poet is trying to convey a message that their partner is not strong enough to hold them together such as a paper weight would do to  piece of paper. The poet wants to be happy and feel loved and protected all of which are feelings that their partner does not provide for them .

    I think many people can relate to this poem. We all have been or are experiencing a relationship like this at some point. I know I did. That time when we feel alone in our relationship and like we are not loved as much as we love our  partner  In a relationship you are supposed to be there to support and care for each other. However when only one partner takes the time to put effort into a relationship and the other does not then the relationship will fail.

Death Of A Young Son By Drowning

DEATH OF A YOUNG SON BY DROWNING
He, who navigated with success
the dangerous river of his own birth
once more set forth

on a voyage of discovery
into the land I floated on
but could not touch to claim.

His feet slid on the bank,
the currents took him;
he swirled with ice and trees in the swollen water

and plunged into distant regions,
his head a bathysphere;
through his eyes' thin glass bubbles

he looked out, reckless adventurer
on a landscape stranger than Uranus
we have all been to and some remember.

There was an accident; the air locked,
he was hung in the river like a heart.
They retrieved the swamped body,

cairn of my plans and future charts,
with poles and hooks
from among the nudging logs.

It was spring, the sun kept shining, the new grass
leapt to solidity;
my hands glistened with details.

After the long trip I was tired of waves.
My foot hit rock. The dreamed sails
collapsed, ragged.

I planted him in this country
like a flag.


   Although i did like this poem the visual imagery presented to the readers is horrible. The tone of this poem is very sad. I cannot imagine having a loved one drown and having to burry them. If any of you have had to go through loosing a loved one and witnessing the funeral you can relate the the mother of this child. This young boy lost is life far too soon because he drowned. In my opinion that is one of the most horrible ways to die because of how much suffering he must have had to endure when he died.

"His feet slid on the bank,
the currents took him;
he swirled with ice and trees in the swollen water"

  I can only imagine how terrifying this must have been for the young boy. When told what the boy looked like when they found his body we are told "They retrieved the swamped body" . This tells us how the young boy appaeared when he was found.  I can only imagine how horrifying this must have been for his loved ones. The last line in the poem reads "I planted him in this country
like a flag" . This shows the mothers pride she had for her son . Even if you have't lost anyone you love to drowning when reading this poem I think we can all relate to how this mother must be feeling over loosing her son.

My Son My Executioner

   When i frist read the title of the poem i have to say i found it to be rather disturbing. I Found it odd that a father would refer to his own newborn child as an executioner. An executioner being "one who kills" is not something you would expect a parent to refer to their child as. After reading the title i expectecd the peom to be disturbing and dark.

   However after reading the poem and gaining a better understanding of what it was about i came to lean that the peom was not distrubing nor dark. The poem was sad. The father was refering to his son as an excutioner because his son reminded him of his own mortality. At the birth of his son he comes to realize that he is growing older and eventually he must die. This new life will live on long after he has died and the circle of life must go on to repeat it's self. The father says he is "starting to die" he is refering to the fact that he is aging .
 
   The two main themes of this poem are aging and death along with life and death. This poem reminds us all that we cannot live forever and one day we must die and a new generation will live on in our place. I think it teaches us that we should appreciate every day and make good use of the time we are given on this planet.

   In conclusion i think most people might have had the same reaction when first reading the title of this poem. From reading this i've learned to fully examine what i am reading before passing an opinion without knowing what it is truely about .

The Woman In This Poem

     Although i do feel some pity for the woman in this poem i do not like her. In my opinion it's wrong to commit adultery no matter the reason. The woman should be ashamed of herself for ever having a lover while she has a spouse at home . The woman is a married mother with children. By cheating on her husband she is also cheating her children. In my opinion it is wrong regardless of the reason.

   If the woman was so unhappy in her "perfect life" she should have made the better choice to leave instead of being dishonest to her family. I realize she felt guilt and her motherly and wifely duties were restraining her from leaving with her lover . However it still does not justify having and extramarital affair. She is feeling guilt because she knows what she is doing is wrong. She is worried that if she leaves she will hurt her husband . How though is it any better to be dishonest to him and cheat.

  The woman feels trapped and bored with the life that she has . We are told that " As she stands there in the middle of her spotless kitchen we can see her growing old" . The spotless kitchen is symbolic of her life. It means that her life is so "perfect" that nothing new and spontaneous happens. She is bored and feels like she is waiting time in her boring life while she could be taking advantage of the time she has left.

  In my opinion she should have gotten the need to be carefree and spontaneous out of her system when she was younger. She is now a married woman and a mother and has responsibilities to accept. I am not saying that she is not entitled to make choices for herself, work in whatever type of job she chooses or do other things. However when she chose to have children your life is no longer just about you . There are children now involved and how horrible would it look to her children to find out that their mother is cheating on their father?

   Personally i do not like the woman in this poem at all. I do completely support woman being strong and independent but cheating is wrong . That does not make you strong and independent that makes you dishonest not not worthy of trust.

Writing My First Research Paper

   I don't know about the rest of you but personally trying to write this research paper for English class in the most frustrating experience of my life! I don't know where to start. So far i have a book and a story that we've read in class but i need to find at lest three academic journals. The only problem is i forget how to find them. On top of that when i do find them how do i pick out which information will be useful to use in my paper. There is so much you have to make sure you do right when writing a research paper. You have to be careful is spelling mistakes and punctuation which i am horrible at . On top of that all of the topics you choose to talk about have to be able to relate to each other and make sense.

    I'm worried that i will not be able to find enough information so that my paper is long enough to meet the required number of words. I'm sure there is plenty of information out there but how can i be sure what i am finding will be sufficient for me to be able to draw on something that i want to write about . I want to do well on this paper but I'm so unsure of what i will need to do to get that grade that i want.

   This is definitely a learning experience for me because of the difference in expectations in comparison to what you were  expected to write in high school . Being a first year student it's kind of intimating because your so unsure of you self . I don't know about everyone but that is how i feel personally . I'm hoping that putting this paper together won't be as difficult as i am expecting it to be .

The Red Convertable

   After reading this story i found myself thinking of how it was similar to "Stones". Both of the stories share with the readers the effect that war has on a family. This story is written from 1st person from the point of view of Lyman except for the first paragraph which is written in third person . Lyman has no problem making money and is a short order who owns a restaurant called Joilet and works on a reserve. Lyman does not go to war however his brother Henry does. Lyman describes his brother Henry as "Built like a brick outhouse" this gives us some idea as to what Henry looks like. Before the war Lyman and Henry purchase a red convertible together  when they are on a road trip. When Henry leaves for war he gives the keys to Lyman and tells him that the car is his now. Henry just says he will keep the keys in case he needs them and does not agree to take ownership of the car.

   While Henry is away at war Lyman buys a color TV set for his family and himself. When Henry returns he spends most of his time in front of the TV. Henry returns a changed man and is very much a "loner" according to Lyman. Lyman says the "change was no good"  in his brother when he returned . Henry was now jumpy and mean instead of the man Lyman knew before the war.

   One day while Henry is watching TV Lyman has enough of Henry sitting in the house being a loner so he goes outside and does a number of the red convertible. He purposely does this so that he can get his brother to focus on something other than sitting in front of the television all the time. Henry spends so much time working on the convertible in order to get in back in perfect shape. Throughout this process Henry becomes somewhat himself again and him and Lyman take a drive to go see high water.

   After a short fight between the two they both laugh it off and drink beers together. Afterwards Henry tells Lyman he needs to cool off and jumps in the river. Henry did not come back out of the river . After Henry drowned Lyman drove the red convertible into the river so that the car could go with his brother. Some think that Henry committed suicide because of the psychological effects war had on Henry. Others say he his death was accidental. What do you think?