Finding Emphasis in "Slowly" by Donna Masini

              After reading the poem “Slowly” by Donna Masini, it bothered me greatly and caused me to be confused, having so many questions running through my head. One of the main concerns that I had with this poem, was the imagery the poet uses about a snake devouring a rabbit. How is this poetic in any way and what does it mean? These were the first couple questions I had.

               I started taking the poem piece by piece in trying to discover the meaning behind the nasty experience she had. The beginning describes what she saw taking place at the zoo in fourth grade and then Masini mentions the student’s reactions including hers. “All the girls, groaning, shrieking but weren’t we amazed, fascinated, saying we couldn’t look, but looking, weren’t we held there, weren’t we imagining-what were we imagining?” This of course brings in the question, what were they really imagining?

 Maybe she wonders why she watched the way she did when the others girl were disgusted. Her teacher tells the girls to move on, but the poet describes how she could not move and it was like “watching a fern unfurl, a minute hand move across a clock”. It was as if she was stuck in time just staring at this snake indulging a rabbit.

               Towards the end really told me that the scenario with the snake was maybe symbolism for something that took place in Masini’s life after her visit at the zoo or that it symbolizes her feelings of a precious life. She makes a significant remark about how the snake was still sucking the rabbit down “just so I am taking this in, slowly, taking it into my body: this grief.” This made me feel uncomfortable at first and a little confused as she tells of taking it into her body.

 I did a little research on my own to help understand more by looking up the definition of grief. Grief is keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.

               She then goes on with saying, “How slow the body is to realize. You are never coming back.” So from what I can understand is that it has taken her a long time of pain and sorrow to get through with whatever happened in her life after that day or that she is thinking of life altogether and how quickly it can vanish. Ultimately, the main question of this poem is hinted at the very end and that is, who is “you”?

               After looking over the poem several times and thinking about all of my initial questions, I think the writer is describing how fast life can come and go or how death can happen to anyone at any time. When she says that “you are never coming back”, it can lead to how once something or someone dies, they don’t get the chance to come back.

Another aspect I concluded from this poem was that maybe the poet had a tragic experience where she lost a loved one and the “you” that she refers to at the end is the one who died and the imagery of the snake and rabbit could exhibit how slow and painful it is to lose someone close to you. The grief you would have, the sadness and pain, slowly taking over your body and remaining there for the longest time.

               I know this feeling that Masini is describing along with many others, and how the process of accepting reality and the death of someone, is in fact painfully and extremely slow.

               However, I still have remaining questions about this poem, like who the “you” is and what exactly does she feel grief over? But after examining it by pieces and looking up definitions, it was easier to understand and helped me in trying to answer some of my questions.

              

 

"Ever After" by Joyce Sutphen

As I was searching to pick out a poem that caught my eye, this one in particular, gave me curiosity and a little bit of sadness. Now I’m not one to enjoy the feeling of being sad, but the way Joyce Sutphen incorporates her words and describes her situation, shows it written quite beautifully.

After reading the poem aloud several times, I noticed that it is talking about a previous marriage which ultimately did not succeed. This affected my response to the poem by leaving me left with questions about the marriage and wanting to know more about what happened.

What specifically happened in their marriage, or was it just simply not working? Why did they rarely use the words husband and wife? What do the layers of the cake represent? Did they get married too young? What was their ever after? All of these questions accumulated through my mind as I tried to comprehend what Joyce was describing.

In the beginning of the poem, she distinctively mentions that they are separate and no longer an “us”. Then it says “unrelated persons except for that ex that goes in front of the words.”… This obviously helps explains a marriage that fell apart. They hardly said the words husband and wife which tell that maybe they never really were prepared for marriage or it didn’t even work out from the very beginning.

Also, Joyce brings up the fact that when they were “young and hopeless”, they had to pose with both hands clasping on to a knife “that was sinking into to the tall white cake. All that sweetness, the layers of one thing and then another, and then one thing again.” Therefore, there is a note that they were young when her and her husband got married and maybe this was the reason for their marriage failure.

 

Divorce is especially common in our generation for many different reasons and one of them includes being young. Joyce described HER divorce and how she felt about it. She even asks a few questions herself which shows that she is still somewhat concerned about what happened and why. I love the imagery she gives with the cake, which refers to a wedding cake. The knife cutting deep into the “tall” cake equals to their life together as a couple. What once was together, is now broken into pieces like slices of cake.

 Taking into account, the layers of the cake, that sweetness, displays the layers of their marriage. To some extent, maybe the couple’s initial thought of marriage seemed to be such sweetness, however, it turned out to be something different; A different layer.

To tell her rather brief story, my guess is that the poet left out the information that she did in order to bring emphasis on the main points and show her feelings about the entire situation. This leaves me feeling frustrated because I want to know more of what happened in their marriage that led up to such crucial circumstances.

Something that really interest me with this poem was the title in which the poet chose. “Ever After” reminds me of the common phrase, “Happily ever after” and what Joyce did here was take off the word happily and leave the rest. This can conclude the whole poem by saying that this fault in her life had an impact on her and her husband for the rest of their lives, as separate individuals instead of one.

What are Stitches?

I really enjoyed reading the book, Stitches: A Memoir. I can honestly say that I have never been the one for graphic novels, but this one particular book caught my eye. I loved all of the techniques David Small had throughout the text, but one that stood out to me the most is the title and how it incorporates with the rest of the book.

Stitches. What exactly is a stitch? A stitch is where it mends, or joins (something) with like a lacey feel. It heals a womb, closes it together, patches it up, and helps cure. He uses the word stitches for when he had cancer removed from the side of his neck. At first, he thinks it is just a growing, from which Mrs. Dillon notices at one of Betty's parties, but once the surgeries take place, he takes a look in the mirror and doesn't believe what he sees. David traces his fingers back and forth on top of the stitches. 

 

Throughout the book, David is faced with hard struggles every day while being forced to surrender to each dilemma.

David lives in a family where his mother doesn't show him love or any nurturing as a mother should, he finds out his father gave him cancer by radiation from x-Rays, he had to find out this issue by finding a letter his mother wrote which showed no concern, but seemed to be cold to the core, and later he witnesses his mother in bed with Mrs. Dillon.

After the surgeries he had been in to remove his cancer, David loses his voice. So when he finds out he has cancer, David walks into where his mother was sitting and glares at her while touching the stitches. This was Betty's language to him and now he was giving her a taste of her own medicine.

Betty, his mother, sends David to a therapist, where he receives more care than his mother has ever given him. David is told that his artwork is fantastic, and that he is smart.

David's therapist also mentions to him that his mother doesn't love him. Think about this for a moment. His mother doesn't love him...

How would that feel if someone told you your own mother did not even love you?

That is a hard factor to realize and a depressing matter, but David comes to the realization that it is the truth. Can you imagine?

All of these things David is stuck with, he is desperate need of repairing his life. He needs help and to be healed; he needs stitches. In a sense, David's life is in deep need of re-stitching it back together, back as one. This symbolizes how David's traumatizing childhood reflects his crucial personality and that he is actually covered in stitches.

Not only is David in need of stitches, but the rest of his family is in need of stitches as well. Betty is fighting the fact that she is a lesbian and seems to be always angry because she can't love what she really wants to. David's father knows, but keeps his distance with Betty and eventually remarries once Betty passes away. When David is 16 years old, he moves out of his house. This is quite a big step for a sixteen year old, but it was a step that probably should have been taken. This was the start of his "stitches", his healing. He was able to get out and kind of start over with his new life and not be surrounded by his messed up family who didn't love him.

There is major emphasis of the title Stitches: A Memoir because not only the actual stitches David receives upon his neck, but it symbolizes the fact his entire life needs stitches, needs to be put back together again. I think each person at one point in their lives needs stitches. When I say stitches? I mean when life feels like it's falling apart, sometimes we need help to recover.