Poetry Reading Response

Anna Dardia 804 Poetry Reading Response

It's hard to not take the privileges of living in a good neighborhood for granted. Especially so when the majority of us never have the chance to see true suffering and poverty. As Nikki Giovanni said in her poem Photography, “It’s easy sitting in the sun/to forget that cold exists.” In other words, it is difficult for us to take a different perspective on the good and the bad in our world, especially from such a privileged position.

The issue with living such safe, full lives is that it becomes hard to take a step back and look at our life from another perspective. For example, Giovanni states that, “It’s easy when thinking/we have the best/to assume others covet it.” This insinuates that just because others are not as privileged as we are doesn’t mean that we have the right to pity them. While it is important to not take our luck for granted, we should also try to see not only the bad, but also the good in he lives of others. This is supported in the lines, “both the surf and the sea have their lovers/and their meaning for love.” Meaning that everyone wants different things and we should not pity those who are satisfied (with what seems to us like) less

Another way to think about our perspective is by looking at the camera metaphor itself. Giovanni says, “the eye, we are told/is a camera/but film is the heart.” I took this to mean that while we can view images through our eyes (like through the lens of a camera) we will be unable to see the beauty of them as well as some one who has an emotional connection to the images. For example, to somebody from a more rural area a city may seem ugly and disgusting, but to me (as somebody who grew up in a city), cities have much more appeal. This is another example of how we should look at other people’s lives. If we look from another perspective we may find beauty in something “ugly.”

While it is important to not take things for granted, readers should still attempt to look at the world from someone else’s point of view. It is in no way easy to try to see from an opposite, or different perspective, but we should try to understand others opinions. It seems to me that by taking a different perspective on the relative ‘goods’ and ‘bads’ in our lives, we will be more able to become more flexible in our opinions, and more compassionate as well.

Creative Writing

GREY
I am the color of winter in the city
day old discolored snow
I am the color of water flowing from a broken fire hydrant
the shine of oil on the street

the sound of ice crunching underfoot
frozen branches dipping down under the weight of ice
the screech of tires on the roundabout
fat icicles hanging in a row

I am the color of smoke-stained snow
cracked slate sidewalk
I am the color of an early-morning sky
melting sleet pressed down by the footprints of strangers

an abandoned bike, falling apart
the glow of headlights reflected on a watery street
the gleam of faded light off a window pane
rust eating away at an old car on the corner

I am not beautiful, nor do I catch the eye
I am muted, the backdrop of the stage
the shades between the extremes
I am the soft touch of sleep
the first, unseen rays of morning
I am the forlorn and the unseen
I am the ruined and the unborn
I am grey

Independent Reading Response

     Imagine a world without choices. A world without the right to choose who we want to be and how we want to live. The book Matched by Allie Condie takes place in such a world. The government decides who you marry, what you do fora living, even when you die. Through the eyes of Cassia, this society seems like a horrible, horrible place. But I think that some level of control is very justifiable, even if it is not moral.

     For example, Cassia is "matched" when she is seventeen. This means that her husband is chosen for her, and she is allowed to meet him and get to know him before they get married. This may seem very impersonal for some thing as… personal as marriage. It seems odd to Cassia too when she is matched to her best friend. But later in the book, one of the Officers says, "how do you think we cured cancer? why do you think we are all so healthy?" By this the Officer meant that when the couples were being matched, they made sure to pair the right people together to ensure that mutations such as cancer, down syndrome, and other genetic diseases would not occur. It was a simple match of genes, and nothing more.

     Another example of the governments control over the people is that Cassia is not allowed to choose her own job. Nobody can. Everybody's job is picked by a test they must take. The people are then matched to their job based on natural skills and capabilities. This may seem to us like an injustice, seeing how it isn't always easy to love something just because you're good at it. But by making sure that the most skillful people get put in the jobs they are best at, more gets done. It is far far FAR more efficient than letting us choose.

     However, just because an action is justifiable doesn't mean it is definitely the right thing to do. While health and progress are important, they are worth nothing if nobody is happy. And Cassia is miserable by the end of the book. She must get married to somebody that she doesn't want to, and she is not satisfied with her life. I don't think that there is a definite answer to this dilemma. While control was clearly improving the health, progress, and safety of the people, it also made them miserable or unsatisfied. There must be a perfect middle ground; seeing as complete freedom is dangerous, and complete control is immoral.