Michelle
It's hard for me to “rate” poetry, as it's not a medium that I visit often or have much expertise in. My usually barometer is “did you understand what this poem is saying?” In the past, I haven't understood poetry unless the language was more accessible to me (e.g. Langston Hughes's poems about poverty, identity, love, etc.). This collection of poetry is very accessible. Even if you don't understand something, there are end notes that will give you more context and explain what the author is trying to convey with their work.
There are a lot of Christian biblical references laced throughout this work. That may be a turn off for some people, but it actually didn't bother me. It didn't come off as pretentious. Instead, it references many events in the bible juxtaposed with current events. It questions God sometimes in how “He” seems to just allow terrible things to happen, but then in the future there is hindsight. I don't know what the hindsight will be to the atrocities we witness today (soneta 369)...but I guess we will see.
Among my favorites are Soneta 386 that references Maya Angelou's statement “God put the rainbow in the clouds, not just in the sky, so that each one of us in the dreariest and most dreaded moments can see a possibility of hope”; Soneta 400 deals with having conflicting voices that make it difficult to know when to yield and when to resist; Soneta 378 that basically restates “there's nothing new under the sun” from the bible and the warning that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.; Soneta 384 about black fatigue/white exhaustion “I'm sorry I bothered you with my troubles, clobbered you with my endless foibles. Faulted you like you were the riddle to my struggles...”
There's a couple of non-political Sonetas that I also enjoyed: Soneta 398 “I've loved you with the darkest and brightest blues of every ocean. Shall love you still, if you choose...”; Soneta 399 “I return to you like a child lost and in need of love. Not that I've found a world without its flaws, summer without its frost...”; Soneta 391 “April is the truest month, the fullest song from Nature's lungs, springing far and wide with psalmic tongue...” a contrast to “April is the cruelest month...” from another famous poem...
I highlighted whole poems while reading with my kindle. There are too many to name. I enjoyed reading this. I want to pick up a physical copy so that I can spend a bit more time with these poems and do some annotation.
It's hard for me to “rate” poetry, as it's not a medium that I visit often or have much expertise in. My usually barometer is “did you understand what this poem is saying?” In the past, I haven't understood poetry unless the language was more accessible to me (e.g. Langston Hughes's poems about poverty, identity, love, etc.). This collection of poetry is very accessible. Even if you don't understand something, there are end notes that will give you more context and explain what the author is trying to convey with their work.
There are a lot of Christian biblical references laced throughout this work. That may be a turn off for some people, but it actually didn't bother me. It didn't come off as pretentious. Instead, it references many events in the bible juxtaposed with current events. It questions God sometimes in how “He” seems to just allow terrible things to happen, but then in the future there is hindsight. I don't know what the hindsight will be to the atrocities we witness today (soneta 369)...but I guess we will see.
Among my favorites are Soneta 386 that references Maya Angelou's statement “God put the rainbow in the clouds, not just in the sky, so that each one of us in the dreariest and most dreaded moments can see a possibility of hope”; Soneta 400 deals with having conflicting voices that make it difficult to know when to yield and when to resist; Soneta 378 that basically restates “there's nothing new under the sun” from the bible and the warning that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.; Soneta 384 about black fatigue/white exhaustion “I'm sorry I bothered you with my troubles, clobbered you with my endless foibles. Faulted you like you were the riddle to my struggles...”
There's a couple of non-political Sonetas that I also enjoyed: Soneta 398 “I've loved you with the darkest and brightest blues of every ocean. Shall love you still, if you choose...”; Soneta 399 “I return to you like a child lost and in need of love. Not that I've found a world without its flaws, summer without its frost...”; Soneta 391 “April is the truest month, the fullest song from Nature's lungs, springing far and wide with psalmic tongue...” a contrast to “April is the cruelest month...” from another famous poem...
I highlighted whole poems while reading with my kindle. There are too many to name. I enjoyed reading this. I want to pick up a physical copy so that I can spend a bit more time with these poems and do some annotation.