Wolves ---Mary Oliver style Poem

The moon is full tonight.
Wolves dance playfully
in the white shadow of the evening.

They prance and pounce
and roll down the green feathered hills,
unconcerned with the passing minutes.

Their smaller friends,
the rabbits and squirrels, and raccoons,
live in meek anticipation,

waiting for a fate
that will hopefully not come
but still might...

Maybe in the shadow of a tree,
or beside the stream,
but always in that brief second

between existence and mortality.
That second, it seems,
is what some must fear, but

others, like the wolves,
continue to prance playfully
beneath the glittering moon.

Poetry Reader Response

Mary Oliver’s American Primitive and Billy Collin’s Picnic, Lightening are both great collections of poems. While one focuses more on nature and the other on more day-to-day things, they both caused me to look at ordinary things in a different way.

One of the most interesting poems that I came across was “Paradelle for Susan” in the Billy Collins collection. It was written in a form that I have never seen before. At the bottom was a note explaining that it is a demanding French fixed form. It is structured so that the first sets of two lines are identical and the following are jumbled lines using the words from the proceeding ones. This is a very refreshing way to look at poetry since all of the other poems have basically the same structure.

American Primitive seemed to have main topics and themes throughout the collection. For example, I noticed that many of the poems were about either ponds (water), honey, and dreams. As a whole, it is concentrated in nature poetry. She seems to enjoy summertime as many things such as blackberries and honey are related to happiness itself. For example, in the poem, “The Plum Trees,” Oliver writes, “the only way to tempt happiness into your mind is by taking it into the body first, like small, wild plums” (84). It almost seems that the plums are a metaphor for happiness. In the poem titles, “Cold Poem,” it seems that the poet is trying to say that winter exists so that we can better appreciate summer. This seems evident to me in the part that reads, “Maybe what cold is, is the time we measure the love we have always had…” (31). As for the subject of ponds, two of the titles include the word, pond, in them, and many other poems involve ponds or water. “White Night” begins with “All night I float in the shallow ponds…” (54) and “A Poem for the Blue Heron” has the line, “Now the Blue Heron wades the cold ponds of November.”

A question I had specifically about a particular poem in the American Primitive collection is that I want to know what Mary Oliver is trying to say about time in the poem, “Blossom,” where it is written, “…into the night where time lays shattered, into the body of another” (50). I cannot fully grasp the meaning here.

I thought it is very interesting how Billy Collins writes about the most random topics. It makes the poetry relatively interesting to read when there are titles such as, “Taking off Emily Dickenson’s clothes,” and “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey’s Version of “Three Blind Mice”.” I found some of them to be comical because of the subject matter and how they were written. Overall, I think that Billy Collins is my favorite of the two poets.

Since all poetry uses a lot of creative language devices, I think it is important to comment on some of the ones that I found in the collections of poetry. A personification that I really liked was in American Primitive: “The rain rubs its shining hands all over me” (45). In “Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes,” there are a few metaphors at the end: “Hope has feathers, that reason is a plank, that life is a loaded gun that looks right at you with a yellow eye” (75).

Overall, these collections caused me to have a greater appreciation for poetry than I did before. Billy Collins and Mary Oliver both create an interesting atmosphere with their writing and I enjoyed that the poems were relatively easy to follow and obtain their meanings.

Japanese Face-White Face

The mask that sheilds him from others
presents his purpose to be a killer.
How could someone of this descent
not be our suspected blood spiller?
All thanks to his guilty Japanese face.

The other man's identity fits in with the rest,
except for the one that he wants to embrace.
How could a minority woman love a man
that is not of her same race?
All thanks to his forbidden white face.

His distinguishment prevents him
from obtaining his one true desire.
How could someone sell their land
to a man with his facial attire?
All thanks to his unworthy Japanese face.

Our Caucasian will never succeed
in the marriage to his secret amenity.
How could society ever accept a couple
that doesn't share the same ethnic identity?
All thanks to his unfortunate white face.

Both men have downfalls
because of the way that they look.
If only they could have somehow switched,
and grasped what the other took.
All thanks to his Japanese face...
All thanks to his white face...


I decided to write a poem about the two main characters of Snow Falling on Cedars for my extended journal. Kabuo (Japanese face) and Ishmael (white face) both experience many problems because of their race. Kabuo is on trial for murder, and also loses the acres of land his family had worked towards obtaining. Ishmael is turned down by the Japanese Hatsue, and he is bothered by it throughout the entire novel. I just wanted to show how each of them had different problems because of their ethnicity, and how if they had switched, they would have received what they wanted. If Kabuo was white he would not have likley been put on trial for murder and would have been granted the land. If Ishmael was Japanese, his love with Hatsue would never have been forbidden.

Snow Falling on Cedars -- reader response

Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson, is one of my new favorite books. It takes place around the time of World War II on San Piedro Island. This novel is about discrimination, war, and justice. I think that it has a very good structure and that it has an interesting plot.

Guterson did an amazing job organizing the time periods and flow of his novel. He begins with Kabou’s court case and then goes back in time to explain the background of the characters and the events leading up to Kabou’s accusation of murder. Periodically, the author will return to present time to describe what is happening during the case. One thing that did disappoint me, however, was the ending. “The heart of any other, because it had a will, would remain mysterious” (460), is something that Ishmael is typing up at the very end of the book. It is after Kabou is found innocent and Hatsue is returning to him. I felt that there was just so much leading up to this moment that it was frustrating that Ishmael and Hatsue did not end up together. We learned of their love story, their past, and it seemed that they should end up married. I was not sure why Guterson chose to have it be that Hatsue was never as in love as she thought she was. It almost seems pointless for there to have been a past with those two because in the end, Hatsue and Kabou remained in love and together.

I really enjoyed all of the characters. This book is similar to The Things They Carried because of the many references to the effect of war on a man: “He had not been particularly happy in this time period, but in that regard he was like other veterans. He was keenly aware of his pinned up sleeve, and troubled because it troubled other people. Since they could not forget about it, neither could he” (31). I think that there is a meaning behind Ishmael’s name. Ishmael Chambers. On the last sentence of the book, it says, “…That accident ruled every corner of the universe, except the chambers of the human heart” (460). I am still trying to discover its complete meaning, but I do think that it has something to do with Ishmael’s name. I think that it symbolizes how deeply his heart aches for Hatsue.

I found it disturbing how the people of Japanese origin were discriminated against. “It was also a matter of having to go because his face was Japanese. There was something extra that had to be proven, a burden this particular war had placed on him…” (92). Many Japanese-Americans felt that they had to go to war or they would be thought of as spies. It did not seem to matter anyway as many were put into internment camps. This was a very troubling part because a few years of their lives were wasted in camps. Ishmael and Hatsue were separated; Hatsue eventually marries Kabou in these camps. No one was actually a spy, and no one deserved to be treated as such. The fact that Kabou is Japanese made him nervous about his court trial. He felt that he was going to be discriminated against and therefore found guilty. Fortunately, Nels Gundmundson, his attorney, was able to prove everyone wrong.

I think that it was very impressive that one book could include love, war, discrimination, and a trial all in one. It was very involving and I learned a lot more about the Japanese internment camps.

Persepolis extended journal

For my extended journal, I decided to attempt to write a poem about the veil that the women of Iran had to wear. I wanted to emphasize that many wore it to avoid harassment or punishment or because they believed they were doing it for religious reasons. Others felt shame in wearing this veil, as if it was like they were submitting to the government. It took me about an hour to develop the idea, experiment with different lines, and attempt to make a pattern for it to follow. I decided to create it from Marji's perspective, in a way, to show what her feelings were about wearing the veil:


"THE VEIL"

It clings to my fear and shows my surrender
And it hides the essence of my very gender
Made of cloth but woven with doubt,
It makes one appear to be extremely devout

Without it I am exposed to utter contempt
But with it, from punishments, I am exempt
Should I wear it to avoid confrontational insults?
To face this situation like an adult?

Is opposition worth this absolute fret?
The hassle, the fear, the incoming threats?
It seems that one must make a choice
A decision between safety and having a voice

Persepolis Close Analysis

Marji Satrapi was a young girl at the time of the Islamic Revolution. Her story shows what she saw through her own eyes, and by following her changes and reactions throughout the story, one can obtain a greater sense of what was actually going on with the people of Iran in the early 1980s.

It is clear that Marji, or anyone really for that matter, did not know what was really going on during this time. She was born a religious person, and aspired to become a prophet. Despite the discouraging reaction of her peers and teacher, she spoke with God on many occasions about becoming this type of leader. Marji also put extreme importance towards having a hero for a father. When it says, “The battle was over for our parents but not for us” (44), it is referring to the battle between the children about who’s father killed who or who had a heroic family or not. There are a number of references to people’s confusion throughout this event. One example is when Ramin tells Marji that his father killed communists rightfully. Her mother reacts with, ‘”My God! He repeats what they tell him! He will understand later…”’ (46). Marji seems to obtain most of her opinions from the television and other sources of questionably reliable information. She tries explaining some statistics to her uncle and father, in which her mother has to respond with, “Calm down, Eby. She’s just a child who repeats everything she hears” (62). Interestingly enough, when she is saying these statistics, the box reads, “Sometimes, I even formed my own opinion” (62). Clearly, what she heard on the TV was simply something that she only adopted as her own opinion because she did not really have one of her own.

Following along the same lines as the issue about having a “hero” or not in the family, Marji was one of the worst at this. She made up things about how her father had been tortured to try to induce him into confession. Unfortunately, her friends were unimpressed. “And I had a hero in my family…naturally, I loved him immediately” (64). When she says this, she is referring to her Uncle Anoosh who had been in prison. She instantly formed a connection with this man and respected him. Later on in this graphic novel, however, Marji finds that being a hero is not necessarily, what she wants. When Anoosh is executed, she demands that God leave her and never come back; a sign of remorse. It was interesting, however, that before he was actually executed, one of Marji’s thoughts were, “Nine years! That’s more than Laly’s father…” (60).

Another way that Marji changes “with the war” throughout the novel is in the way she dresses. Obviously rebellious, there is a point in the book after her parent’s vacationing, that she is wearing “inappropriate clothing.” She was walking through the street singing “Kids in America” while wearing tight jeans, “punk” shoes, a denim jacket, and a Michael Jackson pin. One of the Guardians of the Revolution tells her, “Lower your scarf you little whore!” (133). Later on, Marji is caught wearing a bracelet to school. When the instructor sees her wearing it a second time, she attempts to confiscate it. Marji ends up hitting her and is expelled from school. People wear bracelets in America all the time, but in Iran at this time, it was a risky endeavor.

Marji Satrapi lived during the time of the Islamic revolution, and proves that she had very strong resisting opinions and actions against what was happening around her. Because of this novel, a greater understanding can be found as to why some people were religiously wearing their veils and following the new rules. The reader can now know that there were many dissenting opinions, even though opposition was almost impossible at times.

Persepolis Reader's Response

Marjane Satrapi’s, Persepolis, is one of the most interesting “books” I have ever read. Because it is a graphic novel, both the graphics and the text must be interpreted. It is interesting how such a serious topic could include as much humor as it actually does.

“To die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society” (115). This is probably one of the most important quotes of the novel. It is brought up on two different occasions, and each time it had a large effect on me as a reader. The first time this quote is introduced, the graphic is of a man with blood being taken from all over his body. This was hard for me to look at, but it fit with the text. Translated into simpler terms, the quote basically means that to die for your beliefs is to feed into society and motivate them. No deaths are in vain, essentially, because society benefits from it in some way. It does not seem, however, that the students of the school at least, respect the martyrs. They mock them and make fun of them on page 97.

The topic of social classes is obviously a prominent theme in Persepolis. In the beginning, Marji is with the maid, who is sent away. The text reads, “We were not in the same social class, but at least we were in the same bed” (37). The main character seems to be noting the fact that class really does not matter. It does not keep two people from having a relationship, or even sharing a bed. The higher the power, it appears, the higher the amount of evil. People with power take advantage of it and run away with it. When Marji says, “Back at home that evening, I had the diabolical feeling of power” (53) while looking in the mirror, she has devil horns on her head. She does not say “a” diabolical feeling of power; she says “the” diabolical feeling of power. This indicates that power can only come in the form of evil. Something that relates to the lower class, is the part of the novel that reads, “the key to paradise was for poor people. Thousands of young kids, promised a better life, exploded on the minefields with their keys around their necks” (102). The poor people did what the higher people told them to do. They fought for something that they didn’t necessarily believe in because they were promised of a better life, or a “key” to a better life. So many young men died with the “keys to freedom” wrapped around their necks.

Many things happen do not essentially make sense. Towards the beginning, Marji says that it was actually, in fact, “our own who attacked us” (39). Her mother had slapped her and the maid for being gone for too long. She felt like she was being caged, and their marks remained on their faces even after they left the scene (each has a black hand print on their face). This, in a way, marks them. They are marked as “punished.” Father on, on page 117, Marji smokes as “her own rebellion against her mother’s dictatorship.” In a way it seems that her problems at home, to her, are almost as bad as the problems within the country. When Marji’s mother says, “now that the devil has left” (43), it is somewhat ironic, because in the picture, there is a devil illustrated surrounding her with its arms reaching out; I am unsure of why this is so.

Some questions I still have involve Marji and her family’s trip to France. They are floating on a carpet for some reason, and I am wondering who the woman is beneath them that is floating in the wind. I also want to know why, on page 132, it displays Marji with two faces, and also the man with two faces. It is possible that it is supposed to suggest that they are shaking their heads “no” but I cannot see a reason why they would be doing that by looking at the text.