Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Natasha Trethewey Is One Smart Lady

Natasha Trethewey’s reading at the H. Bruce McEver Poetry Reading offers more than poetry. She puts the poems in context by offering background about the topics in the poems as well as her experiences that helped the poems come about. Her first poem about forgotten soldiers uses rhyme and short lines to convey a haunting tale.


 A common theme in her work is race. She uses her poetry as political commentary. She discusses her family and miscegenation, which turns her life into poetry into political activism. She is also the current U. S. Poet Laureate.

 DO NOW: Please click on Comments and give your ideas about this poem.

10 comments:

  1. I found the Idenity Poems both interesting and confusing. Each poet we covered possessed a different struggle with his/her race, religion, ethnicity or sexuality. I found myself confused by " Facing It" although the speaker informed us that his face was black I wasn't able to connect that to his idenity struggle. I began to think that Vietnam or should I say Veterans face a struggle I couldn't even begin to understand it's a culture all it's own. Overall, this week was interesting and intriguing.
    Yvonne W

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  2. Identity poems make more sense to me than some of the other potry we have read. In my opinion it is easier to gleam understanding when you can read about the poet and try to find where they might have a connection to what the speaker is conveying. For example we know Julia Alvarez difficulties learning English so we were able to understand the speaker in "Bilingual Sestina' and the fustration of the speaker.
    Tiffany T.

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  3. Identity poems made the most sense to me compared to the rest of the poems that we have read. A mutual connection was able to be made for the majority of experiences expressed within these identity poems which may have lead to having such heartfelt discussions based on these poems. For example, to anyone who is bilingual, "Bilingual Sestina" was an easy transition to put yourself in her shoes as she experiences the difficulty of the language barriers that we, as many other, face today. To feel the frustration of the speaker was very real and was able to be really felt.
    Ray O.

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  4. After reading several identity poems, I realized that these poems are written based on the experiences of these people. By reading this theme of poetry I was able to gain an understanding of what these poets were experiencing through their eyes and from their point of view. For me identity poetry is the most relatable form of poetry because I am able to understand what the poet is feeling through their words.
    Ameera. K

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  5. I think identity poems give insight to an individual's struggle, not just a personal one, but one that many can relate with. In confessional poetry there is more emotion, one that relies on more individuality. I found identity poems easier to relate to, and their poems have a strong power. They can be sad, or empowering, and I found myself able to understand much more of the message that was coming through.

    Jessica F.

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  6. After reading these poems, they all relate to identity, struggling, finding, accepting, who they are, where they came from. These poets and their work relate to childhood expierences, concerning race, ethnicity, loss and discovering. They dig deep into their lives, and in turn create amazing pieces of poetry to be shared filled with many different feelings and emotions.

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  7. I enjoyed the poems this week especially " White Lies " being older I totally identified with not being accept by a white society. No i am not mixed raced but I also struggled with trying to find my place. I would think this poem would have fit much better in the identity category.
    Yvonne W

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  8. Natasha's "White Lies" spoke to me a lot in the mutual way how she speaks about her race. I was sort of, in some of the sense, the same situation as Natasha for I was the only few hispanics amongst the caucasian community. Not that I find any sort of differences though when your a child it seems as if there is no fine line. It's either your "this" or your "that". I just wanted to be a part of the community and fortunately I was accepted. It took some rough patches but it wasn't all that bad. I definitely carry the experience with me today.
    Ray O.

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  9. "White Lies" is a poem about a girl of mixed race and the challenges she faces and her internal struggle over wether she is black or white. It make sense to believe that the speaker is Tretheway being she comes from a mixed race family. I do think it was good of the mother in the poem to try and teach her daughter not to lie, although her method may seem extreme. She was trying to teach her to be porud of herself.

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