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I chose to do my found poem on an article regarding the events that transpired at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.  A horrific day in history that seems to happen far too often nowadays.  It seems as if a tragedy like this event happens every other day and we’ve become so numb to these horrific murders.

My poem highlights the different aspects, both supposedly good and bad, that contributed to the killing.  Starting with religion, the poem begins the same as any major historical event begins.  One of my favorite quotes regarding religion comes from comedian Jon Stewart, “Religion. Its given people hope in a world torn apart by religion.” In world run by hate, the only justification that people have is faith.  The opposing word from religion is in fact Hate.  I wanted there to be a divide in designing my paper to show the many divisions of this country.  Within the poem it divides “good” terms and “bad” terms, however as a whole it represents the division within our political parties, religions, race, sexuality, genders, etc.  The words underneath Religion and Hate then tell the rest of the story that is American society.  The term “Jews” represents more than those who follow Judaism, but any minority group as well.  Minority groups are being labeled as “invaders”, humanity is injured, Police aren’t keeping us safe from firearms, Liberty comes with a gunshot/bullet, free expression to people means having a handgun collection,  law is relying on killing in order to punish those who kill,  and history of the United States is forever wounded by these horrible acts of violence.  The hate list then continues on much longer due to the representation of hate being the controlling factor of modern day society and it’s future.  In the bottom middle of my poem it shows 2 quotes for our President, of course not offering condolences, but instead stating it was a “terrible, terrible thing” and that an armed guard would have stopped the gunman.  I don’t know why he believes this considering if you add gasoline to a fire you get more fire. I conclude my poem with the number “11” representing the 11 humans who lost their lives in the Tree of Life massacre.  Take note that I said humans and not people, our government doesn’t view us as people.  Their bullets have proven that to us.

For my found poem, I was inspired by a song called “U.O.E.N.O” By Rocko featuring Rick Ross and Future. When this song was first released, there was a lot of controversy surrounding a line in the song that glorifies date rape. The simple fact that the artist assumed that it was okay to lightheartedly condone this violent behavior angers me. As a young woman in college, the fear that this could  happen to me is ever present. Music is highly influential on culture. This is both positive and negative, because while happy music may spread contagious bliss, violent music may incite violent behavior.

In analyzing the poem, I noticed some descriptive language and alliteration that had potential to transform a hideous line into a great story. In the song, Molly is used as slang to reference the substance that is sometimes used to drug an unknowing victim. In my poem, Molly is the name of a girl that the narrator is hopelessly in love with, she invades both his dreams and his reality. Instead of using  Molly to obtain and assault a woman, Molly the nae of a woman who is unattainable.

Link to the original lyrics: https://genius.com/Rocko-uoeno-lyrics

Found Poem (1)

I was having issues converting my poem into an image file, so I put it in as a PDF instead.

I chose to do my found poem on Bruce Springsteen’s Backstreets. This song was a huge part of my life growing up. Anytime I hear it, I remember sitting on the back porch on warm summer nights with the radio playing softly, watching fireflies and heat lightening crack across the sky.  This song would bring me instant peace, and help take me back to a time when I had no worries or cares at all.

The reason I decided to do a found poem with the lyrics to Backstreets is because, over this past summer, the feelings this song used to illicit were thrown into confusion.  I was going through a period of uncertainty with my future and myself: I was transferring colleges, my friend’s and family were moving hundreds of miles away, I was experiencing severe writers block.  My reality was very quickly shifting away from the norm that I had long since established.   And so, when I listened to Backstreets, instead of being brought peace, I would feel a sort of nostalgic loneliness, no longer having the components to any of the memories that I associated this song with.  Instead of bringing me catharsis, I just became more aware of the things I was losing.

It is for this reason that I decided to black out the lyrics to Backstreets instead of simply erasing them.  This past summer, I didn’t erase the happy memories that defined this song for me.  Rather, they became clouded to me; defining themselves on what I had lost in the process of getting older, instead of simply just fading away.  The presence of these covered words, of these covered memories, is what makes the feelings that this song would illicit over this past summer so impactful for me.  It helps remind me that, even though that uncertain period of my life perhaps shaded my perception of the song, and the memories associated with them, the true memories are still there.  All that’s left to do is uncover them.

I created my found poem using the lyrics from the song “Glitter In The Air” by Pink.  I love Pink as an artist and ever since this song came out, it has been one of my favorites. I personally chose this song because it made it easy to pick out the lyrics for my found poem to describe the way I felt when I was going through a tough time last year.  I transferred from community college and I felt lost at first, with no one to turn to.

For the reader to better understand, I kept the lyrics: “the breath before the phrase”, “walk before the run”, “the fear before the flames”, because I felt that it described how there is always a starting point in whatever you choose to do. The only way to move on from that starting point is to push through and try new things. For a month I was set on transferring back home, and one day I decided to start getting involved with school activities such as speech club, and my sorority, and met so many people when doing so.

Another part of the song I kept for my found poem was: “There you are, Sitting, Clutching, Calling”. I was hoping for the reader to read this part slowly, showing more depth into the feelings I had when I felt like no one was there. My favorite part of the found poem is the last part to this song where it says: “Held your breath..asked yourself will it ever get better”. I chose to keep this for my found poem because when I once felt like I was drowning in my emotions, I always wondered if there was a better feeling than that way.

I really enjoyed creating this found poem and think M. NourbeSe Philip’s, ZONG!, did a great job emphasizing important points to the reader by choosing words that held the most meaning. I have never seen anything like her writing and as we read the book, the way she arranges the words are perfect demonstrations of the close reading we do in class and finding hidden meanings.

For my found poem, I chose to use an article titled “Liberal Professor Wants Activists to be Considered Veterans, Afghanistan Veteran Responds” from Dailywire.com. I chose this article as my subject because of the fact that it really got me very angry and annoyed that any professor would think that this would be a good idea to say. The professor had put this thought out on Twitter, and when people got wind of it, it went viral.

A USMC veteran who lost both of his legs as a bomb technition in Afghanistan responded to the professors thoughts, echoing what I think most people thought about what the professor said. The vet was clearly annoyed at this thought, calling it “Pretty laughable”. He also stated “These men and women — these GI Joes, GI Janes — they are regular people. They didn’t go to private school, they didn’t get their feelings hurt at the unfairness of things, they chose to serve their country, and they chose to do something that truly transcends these tit for tat politics that we play here in this country. To say this term applies to everyone who might get upset and hold up a sign somewhere, that doesn’t make any sense at all.”

What I included in my found poem are little important bits from the article, somewhat out of order, just to give the reader the things that really popped out and evoked a reaction out of myself and others who read the article.

If you would like to read the full article, here is the link:

https://www.dailywire.com/news/36618/liberal-professor-asks-activists-be-considered-kassy-dillon?fbclid=IwAR24L6o9w5VZoTSAyGo6WZ367tmeegBE2jyFMCnJuGeXMChQc6GuOzNDVKs

 

Hearing Chen Chen read his poems aloud gave me a whole new take on his writings. I studied his poetry in my Intro to poetry class, specifically his poem titled “To the Guanacos at the Syracuse Zoo.” Studying his writing of this poem, I expected him to be an outgoing sarcastic individual. However, when I actually heard him read his own poems he was very soft spoken and almost shy seeming. His poetry is much more subtle in its sarcasm in his own reading versus when one reads the poem themself. The subtle sarcasm and humor add to the uniqueness and cleverness of his work. This technique was very apparent in his second poem he read about angels. He repeatedly contradicts himself in a comical way stating how he isn’t religious, yet talks about god and an angel consistently. He says these figures are “creatures he made up” yet he “misses them.” These slight sarcastic contradictions make the poem innocent and humorous.

In addition to his subtle humor and sarcasm, Chen Chen’s incorporation of outside references including movies and songs. He incorporated coldplay songs and ideas to add to the sad melancholic tone of some of his poems. He also uses movies, but not as much for tone but for references and ideas. He used references from both Home Alone as well as Buffy the Vampire Slayer to his works. These allusions make the poems more relatable and familiar for readers. These references help to make his works so unique and interesting for readers.

I found that watching and hearing Chen Chen read his work created an entirely different view of his works. I feel that his works hook the reader and keep them interested the whole way through the poems. I really enjoyed seeing him in person and hearing the writer himself reading his poems the way he wrote them and intended for them to be heard.

Tonight I went to see American poet, Chen Chen, who came to visit SUNY Cortland to read some of his work in the Jacobus Lounge. I was unsure of what to expect because I had never heard of him, but when he started reading his poems, so many emotions jumped out at me. These emotions included sadness, anger, confusion, and some humor. He wrote a lot to his childhood, how grew up, his Chinese background, and his current relationships in his life with his family and significant other. One specific line that he read that really stood out to me was “….Aren’t all great love stories at their core mistakes”-Chen Chen. This jumped out at me because I took it with sarcasm and thought it was humorous. Overall I really enjoyed going to listen to Chen Chen read his poems and would definitely go to listen to another poet sometime soon!

Chen Chen’s reading of poetry from his work, When I Grow Up I want to Be a List of Further Possibilities was very intriguing and thought-provoking.  The poems he read were honest, brazen and powerful.  They are sassy in that they serve as a critique of social standards.  Chen Chen’s poems include himself as the subject and develop around the circumstances of his life.  The first few poems that he read described his life in a rather sad way.  For example, “First Slight” tells the story of his family leaving China and coming to the United States.  Although he does not remember much of the immigration, it is told through his mother’s viewpoint.  Chen Chen explained that after some time of writing, he became sick of writing sad stories and decided to change his methods of critiquing injustice.  In his poem “Eulogy for my Sadness”, he turns his sadness into angriness.  I felt that the works of Chen Chen could be related to some of the works we read in class, including “Feminist Killjoys (And Other Willful Subjects).”  Each of these works draws on unfair aspects of society and yearns for its readers to consider change.

My personal favorite poem read by Chen Chen was “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party.”  In this poem, Chen Chen explains how he invites his parents to dinner with his boyfriend.  They have met his boyfriend before but this is the first time they will be seeing him with the knowledge that he is dating their son.  Chen Chen’s parents are not supportive of his homosexuality.  I really like the way that this poem is told from the perspective of Chen Chen and invites the readers into his mind.  It helps readers to see the struggles that gays face and the personal adversity Chen Chen experiences in dealing with his strict, Chinese parents.  This poem reminded me of The Woman Warrior because it reflects the difficulty the speaker faces in discerning between Chinese and American ideals.

Overall, I really enjoyed the poetry reading by Chen Chen.  It undermined my understanding that poetry (and other literary works) can be used to make individuals reconsider widely and personally held beliefs through viewing society through the perspective of another.

I attended the literary lecture on 10/30 in the Jacobus Lounge. Walking in, I had no idea what to expect. I actually had the idea that I would be quite bored; I expected the lecture to be an hour long. I was surprised at how interesting the talk was. Chen Chen read some of his poems out of his book called “When I Grow Up I want to Be a List of Further Possibilities.” His writing was very playful, sassy, and emotional all wrapped in one. One of his poems called First Light explains his memories of his home, China, and his journey to the USA. He used a lot of imagery in this poem. His mother explains to him their family’s departure from their home was a “chance at first light.” He leads us to imply that “first light” in this reference is a miracle. A chance. A chance to leave the life they had for a chance at a better one. Then later in the poem, he illustrates the experiences of hearing his grandmother had a stroke. His mother feeling sad, scared, and guilty feels bad about “not leaving here at once..” The poem ends with a deeper interpretation of the usage of here. How the imagined tone of his mother is the voice of someone who views their actions as unforgettable.  Not only did he write poems with a mood of sadness and despair, but he wrote more playful poems.

In another piece, Chen Chen writes about an experience in Starbucks. There have been some political issues regarding services provided by workers, mostly racial. A common mistake workers also make is the mispronunciation of customers names. He was called many wrong names including Chung and Chang. He was once called Che and the workers assumed it was short for Sharon.  This section of the poem is playful and easy to laugh at. Then he switches the tone and concludes with the expression, why do I feel the need to have someone like you acknowledge someone like me. This adds a twist to how the piece begins into how it ends. He separates races and makes us dive into the view Chen experienced the situation. This lecture was very interesting to listen too. Hearing Chen read his work with the tone he wished the reader would read it in, allowed me to interpret it in a different way. This was a great overall experience.

At first glance, the arrangement of the words in Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip may seem like a jumbled mess. The pages may at first seem unorganized and confusing, but the words represent something much greater. The words on the pages flow like the sea, rolling left and right and breaking in certain places like waves. The seas are rough, therefore the words flow like aggressive waves, back and forth unpredictably. Water is the continuous enemy throughout the text. Zong! #1 represents the passengers still on board, begging for water but too delusional to successfully ask for it. They are so thirsty that they are dying from thirst, but are not being provided any water to drink. They can’t formulate sentences, saying gibberish like ” w   w  w                 w                 a    wa /  w                a                 w    a                   t / er”. (3) Apart from the lack of drinking water, the sea water is the largest enemy to the slaves.  They are thrown overboard by the captain and left to drown in the waves in a state of disarray. Zong! #5 shows the intensity of the situation by arranging the words in a very disorganized order, representing that the storm has gotten really bad. The narrator describes “of / water / rains & / dead / the more / of / the more / of / negroes”. (8) The waves are rushing everywhere, bodies are floating dead in the water, and the storm is raining down on the remaining slaves who are suffering.

I also believe that the arrangement of the words represent the confusion felt by the African passengers being thrown overboard. They are thirsty, tired, and dying. They don’t know what’s going on or how long they’ve been at sea. In Zong! #6, the passengers use the age of an infant to try to determine how long they have been at sea, saying “question therefore / the age / eighteen weeks / and calm / but it is said… / – from the maps / and / contradicted / by the evidence… / question / therefore / the age”. (14) It can be assumed that the baby was born on the ship or right as the ship set sail, so they are using the age of the baby to explain how long the duration of the voyage has been. However, they are not completely sure, due to the endless waves in the vast ocean surrounding them (the maps contradicting evidence of correct time). The slaves have no clear answers for anything, not even why they are being thrown over. They ask questions such as “the when / the which / the who / the were”. (15) The sad reality is that the captain throws them over to avoid having them die from “natural causes”, but they are not given the right to know that because they are treated like cargo rather than humans.

Questions:

What do you think the author was trying to convey with the placement of the words throughout the text? Use examples from the text to support why you feel this way.

How does the opening quote by Wallace Stevens “The sea was not a mask” (2) relate to the text? Explain how using textual evidence.