Echocardiogram by Suzanne Cleary

In this poem, who Suzanne Cleary wrote, describes the heart and its many ways that we can observe it. The poem tells us the many different ways we can view our heart, whether it being by feeling it or by actually watching it. The title of this poem tells us, the reader what exactly this poem is going to be about. It is going to be about observing the heart by watching it on a television screen. In this poem, I get a sense of being in an operation room watching open heart surgery being performed and watching the person's heart. You can get a sense of all these images of seeing a heart, "this in-and-out, this open-and-shut in the dark chest of me."

An interesting part of this poem to me is, "then snapping shut, shuddering anemone entirely of darkness, sea creature of the spangled and sparkling sea, down, down where light cannot reach." I found this interesting because when you say this line, you can visually see the heart and all of it's movements. I like how they compared a sea creature to the heart and the sea to how the heart can function.

This poem, to me, was rather interesting because it made sense; also, I understood everything that was happening. I could concretely see these images of the heart and picture this in today's society. "On the screen I see a part of me that always loves my life." This quote really shows us that the heart is filled with love and the heart will always be part of life. When I first thought that this poem was about open heart surgery, this line made sense because even though you g o through a lot during heart surgery, you wil always have a heart and it will always love your life.

Chicken Killing by Mary Mackey

As we sat in class and listened to this poem, I found it to be rather funny, but yet rather weird. This poem was filled with many different images that you could relate to. In the first line it states, "I was five and the chickens were my friends." Right in this sentence, we can relate it to our own life. When we were younger, I am sure that we were always with our friends, whereas in this poem, this child has chicken who are friends. We can assume that the child is lonely because he has chicken for friends.

In this poem, we see a literary device that is used. It is personification. Personification is when you give nonhuman things, human qualities. "... and stagger around laughing at chicken jokes I laughed at their jokes, I partied hard with those hens." This is showing that hens told jokes and that hens know how to party. Another example from this poem would be, " when the crabapples rotted and fell off the tree into the yard they would gobble them up and get drunk." Once again Mackey is given chickens real human qualities.

This poem has shown me that you could be having a great time, but the next thing is that you could not be here just like the chickens. The chickens had great friends, but before they knew it, the uncle killed them. You're the one who gets to make the choices and you are the one who has to think ahead. Unfortually the chickens did not get this previlege, but they were still dancing because no one really told them they were dead.

Goodbye, New York by Deborah Garrison

In "Goodbye, New York," written by Deborah Garrison, we get the image of something breaking apart a girl and the Big Apple. We get a sense that this girl is leaving all of her memories that she had previously in New York. We cannot tell if a relationship has been broken, but we do know that something has happened causing the girl to leave New York.

In the title, "Goodbye, New York (song from the wrong side of the Hudson)" shows us that the girl that telling us her story is looking at New York saying goodbye. "Song from the wrong side of the Hudson" is explaining that this girl is simply on the other of the Hudson river taking her final look at New York. This girl throughout the poem talks about all the memories that she had while living in New York. An example would be, "You were the balcony bar in Grand Central Station/ the blunt commuters and their destinations."

When reading this poem, we can see the specific images from New York. After visiting New York many times, this images feel so concrete. I think New York is the best place to be and for that reason everytime I leave, I feel like I am missing something, just like how this girl feels. Even though she lived there, and probably had a very hard time saying goodbye, the memories live on. In the last stanza, it states, "now you're the dream we lived before." This is stating that these were just memories that we just dreamed of and they really never happened.

Into The Lincoln Tunnel by Deborah Garrison

Deborah Garrison, who wrote this poem, is talking about a typical day in New York City. The Lincoln Tunnel, as we know is located in New York. Garrison describes how she hopes nothing bad will happen while she is traveling through the Lincoln Tunnel going to a destination. Garrison states, "I was whispering a prayer/ that it not be today, not today, please/ no shenanigans, no blasts, no terror..." While on the bus, in the Lincoln Tunnel, she prays to someone in hope nothing bad will happen.

The background of this poem is an ordinary day when people go about there normal activities, and they think that something bad was going to happen. All the people on the bus, pray that somthing will not happen. "Yes, please smile upon these good/ people who want to enter the city and work./Becasue work is good, actually, and life is good..." We also see a coffee simile, "a cup of coffee, a modest thing to ask/ Abe for,/dark, bitter, fresh,/ just as an ordiary morning." This simile is refering to the day. It could also contrast the construction you can see all around the city.

This poem can relate to September 11th, 2001 because when everyone was heading off to work or traveling to a destination, just like any ordinary day, the event of 9-1-1 happened when we witnessed planes crash into fields and into buildings and towers. The setting of the poem, New York is exactly like what happened on that horried day. We saw people praying while they were on the planes and trying to get in contact with love ones telling them they love them and will miss them and that they will die. The poem fits the event of September 11th exactly.

After Dinner by Philip Levine

In this poem, Levine talks about dinner where everything was going peaceful. After cleaning up after dinner, the lady reads a book and begins to fall asleep. Rather than going to bed, she goes out to the porch on the front of her house. The lady walks out to the lawn and finds her shadow with the silence of the house behin her. When she is out in the middle of the lawn, her shadow and her are there together.

In this poem, we see a theme throughout the poem. We see a theme of loneliness. The lady talks to her television set while she is eating dinner. She goes out to the lawn when it is very dark to find someone. She is tring to find herself or someone to talk to so that she is no longer lonely. The lady taught me that if one loses valuables, you should never give up to find it. "She could keep going into whatever the darkness brings, she could find her presence there." This quote states, that as she walks deeper into onto the lawn, the more you can find of yourself.

This innocent lady who's lonely, and tries to find your ability to be with someone. She walks towards the night, she knows everything until something happens. She is being removed and is lonely. She is walking away from her house to go into the distance and find someone. This reminds me of Peter Pan when he looses his shadow and he goes to find it in the house. He tries to find what he is missing, this is like the lady is doing in the poem, she is in search for a person or searching for someone to cure her loneliness.

Praising Manners by Robert Bly

This poem, was an interesting one. We always see in society that people do not use there manners. They always say "I want" or "Give me" instead of please and thank you. From this poem, I believe that everybody could have learned a valuable lesson, which is to start using your manners or the door will close. "The moment that foolish angel felt insolent, he heard the door close." Bly teaches us to praise, and he tells us if we don't then the door will close. Teaching us to praise, Bly tells us if we don't the door will close.

In this poem, this is stated. "The sun became full of light when it got hold of itself." The light in this statement is saying that the light is the goodness which is equal to using manners and being polite to everyone. Bly teaches and tells us to praise. When we praise, we can keep the door open between God and us. Bly thinks that praise is necessary to keep the door open.

In stanza 3, the shoplifter is a metaphor to when you praise is a payment from God. A payment could be a talent or a special gift that God gives you when you are born. Throughout the poem, the angel is refered to God. In today's society, many people want to offer help to others who are in need, whether it be volunteering or giving up some time you offer help. For many of them who really do not want the help, they are being insolence to God and the world around them.

Bypass by Susuan Kelly-Dewit

In this poem, I felt as though I was listening to a newlywed going through a surgury which happened only a few weeks after there marrige. This poem described the procedure of the man while the wife waited for the results. Waiting in the lobby, the woman was nervous. Throughout the poem, the wife was praying to God for a very successive surgury on the love of her life, especially to the fact that they just have got married.

In this poem, distinctive images are given. They are there to represent what the wife had to go through as she saw her husband getting torn apart. "Craked open your chest, sawing through your ribs, stopped your heart beating, your torso swabbed a hideous antiseptic yellow around a raw black ladder of stiches, you did the death rattle." These images might be disturbing, but yet they really do have important meaning. Imagine seeing your love one in this position. This really happens everyday. At the end, we notice the husband passed away.

"I had not yet kissed into memory those places they raided to save your life." This quote from the poem has significant meaning. The wife did not get to live a long enough life to where she could spend time with her husaband. They had only been married for five weeks and come to find out that he had to have surgury, which he died. The wife did not get to do things that they probably planned for them to do in the future. The wife did not get to enjoy the many memories that were going to come in the future. This just go to show you that you should not take life or time for granted because the next second you might be in a life changing situation. The wife I am sure was not expecting for this to happen to there relationship within such a short time. Many people take life for granted but you never know when it is going to end, so we should all enjoy what we have.