Ya Suck: Poem Analysis

The poem Rebirth of Slick problematizes the universal belief of success in a way that it is not only achieved by an individual, but rather a larger group of people. They protect their legacy to preserve their interests, pursue their dreams, and to continuously develop existing ideas that will broaden their influence. According to the urban dictionary, the meaning of “rebirth of slick” is “the sudden epitome of rap and hip-hop. The most original and realization of what goes down in the "hood" or lower class urban environments. Also, shows how those who live in these places do not seem to care of what happens around them and just live their life a cool, peace, groove smooth, jive, and roll”. On the other hand, the rebirth of slick is also a song composed by a hip-hop trio, Digable Planets.

The main ideas that we have read in our readings covered what Women’s Studies is and Dominant Ideas About Women. Three passages that caught my attention out of the 32 passages were “A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy, “Gender Inequity in School: Not a Thing of the Past” by Karen Zittleman and David Sadker, and lastly, “Have you Ever Heard of Asian-American Feminists” by Stacey Yap. With these three passages, there was good information for me to interpret and to reflect upon in these readings.

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.

Baseball Dirt in the air, swirling Like a funnel cloud Cracks Everywhere Off the Bat they go Soaring slow Catching flight Flying high, like an airplane Hearing, the crack of the bat Seeing, it lifting up and taking flight

The Vacuum by Howard Nemerov talks about a widower and his late wife, and how he uses the vacuum as a symbol for her death. The poem expresses deep sorrow and sadness that derive from the loneliness of the speaker, after his other half’s passing away. Nemerov attempts to take his readers on a grief-stricken journey, by strategically employing figurative language (mainly personification, metaphor, simile, and alliteration), fractured rhyme schemes and turns in stanza breaks in the poem.

On a ordinary day, and a ordinary date, Zac was dating a girl and they just went out to dinner. He really likes the girl and he didn’t want to get married at the time, but she did. So when she got really personal and asked if he want to get married. Zac just said ‘’No’’ and was saying how he wanted to travel to mexico and go fishing with a pretty girl like her. So they just talked about what they wanted and she realized they both wanted completely different thing. So she just broke up with Zac. He decided to head to mexico that night as soon as possible. He packed up all his things and headed to the coast of mexico. When he got there he went and bought a nice little house just on

Countee Cullen was a famous African American poet during the Harlem Renaissance in during the early 1900´s. She wrote two famous poems called “Tableau” and “Incident.” These pieces of American literature, both depict the racial interaction between the blacks and the whites at this point in history. The interaction with the two is shown by the way they describe each other and the way that they interact. These poems both use many instances of figurative languages such as imagery, metaphors, and similes to develop the tone and theme of each poem.

Poetry is a way of writing that can be easy to very complicated to comprehend. Things that can affect the portrayal of a story through a poem can be determined by the rhythm and meter in how the readers read it, how the poem is structured, and also the use of syntaxes within its lines. All of these elements of poetry could aide in how us as readers portray the theme. In “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and “Sign for My Father, Who Stressed the Bunt” by David Bottoms there are several differences that reside between the two. The differences between these two poems regarding these elements of poetry are that they are structured completely different, display totally opposite rhythm and meter and the syntaxes they contain are reflected in each poem differently.

Poetry can be divided up into different forms, more easily expressing an author’s emotions and intent with their poetry. For analyzing purposes I chose the poems Self-Help by Michael Ryan, Ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali, Psalm 150 by Jericho Brown, and Emergency by Michael Dylan Welch.

First poem is Dream Variations, it says that the African American people “what to fling there arms wide in some place of the sun, to whirl and to dance till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening”. I personally can see that they are talking about that they have a desire for the freedom, but they can't get it, because it says at the end of the second paragraph,” That is my dream.''

“I too” by Langston Hughes and “Dreams” by Nikki Giovanni are poems concerning conformity and rebellion. I too was published in the 1926 volume of poetry by Langston Hughes. It is about an African American man, who is presumed to be a slave. This slave conforms to the ideas and traditions between black and white people. He does this, while quietly waiting for the day that he will not have to conform or “be sent to the kitchen”.

The narrator and the co host of the podcast ‘ How animal testing works’ tone of their voices are monotone and boring. Since the tones of the voices are un expressive it can easily be suggested that the podcast will be uneventful to listen too. The tone is one of the most important components during the first few minutes of the podcast to engage the audience to keep listening. From listening to the podcast early on it's is noticeable that the speakers are off topic and unenthusiastic about the material they are speaking and discussing about. This can be seen during the opening moments “ I have a bad cold, my brain's not functioning quit right.... But to make up for it, I have all my teeth.” At the very beginning of the podcast it is

Poetry is a reduced dialect that communicates complex emotions. To comprehend the numerous implications of a ballad, perusers must analyze its words and expressing from the points of view of beat, sound, pictures, clear importance, and suggested meaning. Perusers then need to sort out reactions to the verse into a consistent, point-by-point clarification. Poetry utilizes structures and traditions to propose differential translation to words, or to summon emotive reactions. Gadgets, for example, sound similarity, similar sounding word usage, likeness in sound and cadence are at times used to accomplish musical or incantatory impacts.

Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.