Wow—sounds like us today.

Captured—imagining a world outside of their own.

Interesting choice of words...especially considering what it takes for the people of Omelas to have this “joy”

A crazy reversal of the treatment Black women have suffered for hundreds of years.

For an analysis of this poem:

https://books.google.com/books?id=nInDF5hSgMEC&pg=PT132&lpg=PT132&dq=what+is+this+a+reference+to:+one+day+I+will+take+my+teenaged+plug+and+connect+it+to+the+nearest+socket+raping+an+85+year+old+white+woman+who+is+somebody%27s+mother+and+as+I+beat+her+senseless+and+set+a+torch+to+her+bed+a+greek+chorus+will+be+singing+in+3/4+time+“Poor+thing.+She+never+hurt+a+soul.+What+beasts+they+are.”&source=bl&ots=5QTu-OjoG6&sig=ACfU3U3Y5lOjht_esKj7enTTVr__smnK_g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQypCN6LjlAhWI2FkKHTSGAqUQ6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20this%20a%20reference%20to%3A%20one%20day%20I%20will%20take%20my%20teenaged%20plug%20and%20connect%20it%20to%20the%20nearest%20socket%20raping%20an%2085%20year%20old%20white%20woman%20who%20is%20somebody's%20mother%20and%20as%20I%20beat%20her%20senseless%20and%20set%20a%20torch%20to%20her%20bed%20a%20greek%20chorus%20will%20be%20singing%20in%203%2F4%20time%20“Poor%20thing.%20She%20never%20hurt%20a%20soul.%20What%20beasts%20they%20are.”&f=false

Disgusting—not the first time in history a white man has forced, I mean “convince” a Black woman to do something she did not want to do, or knew was wrong.

Blacks are guilty until proven innocent; and when proven innocent the response is “oops, my bad;” but it’s always too late. Whites are innocent until proven guilty; and when proven guilty, the response is “boys will be boys,” “what did the Black boy/girl do?” Paid administrative leave

Wow.

Interesting use of words. One may have thought the writer was going to say, “make an opponent out of me,” or something of the sort. I like the poet’s choice of words, though.

Proverbs 18.21, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” (New International Version)

James 3.5, “The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” (NIV)

Although it might be scary to bring children into this cruel world, life is a beautiful thing. Although you bring children into this crazy world, you aim to protect your children as much as you can, and try to keep them from unnecessary struggles (for example, warning them of the dangers they may find themselves in and telling them how to avoid them—because you would not want them to experience pain you already know lies ahead). “This place” can be beautiful, but (in the words of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes), “it won’t won’t get no better if we just let it be; we gotta change it, just you and me.”(“Wake Up Everybpdy, Part One,” 1975).

Various broad questions in this poem.

Comparing a pregnant woman’s body to a house. Possibly a poem fighting for women’s right to choose [regarding abortions].

In what tone do you read this opening question? How does it affect your understanding/reading of the piece?

Apparent change of focus—questionable at first, but makes sense in the next and last stanzas.

The idea that the use of a passive voice in writing denies the literary artist the power that is naturally theirs through their pen and paper. It, instead, gives the power to the story and characters, themselves.

The poet takes on multiple voices

Common phrase in movies and books

“A covering or coating on a structure or material.”

“A very steep rock face or cliff, especially a tall one.”

Light is a concept often taken for granted because it is all around us, but and we see it all the time. However, the intricacy of light is out of this world (literally). Just think of the power of light—its visibility in even in the corner of the darkest of places. I could not imagine the amazement of experiencing light from an atrium.

Golden as an adjective and then a verb

We cannot break national cycles without breaking lethal habits, false doctrine, hatred, and terrorism that was birthed from this nation. But how do we break those? We recognize that America is in us, and that if we work at tearing down the American walls in our minds, we will see change. It starts in the mind! “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23.7).

“That’s not the standard. You already are the standard. What are you trying to fit into a standard for? We were each created to be individual standards, you know. And we’re trying to fit into a standard? It doesn’t make any sense, you know. There’s all this social doctrine that says, you know, that the infinite God, with all this expression, Who created every single one of us, absolutely different, on purpose, wants everybody to fit into the same suit. But like, you know, that’s deception. That’s deception.” —Lauryn Hill (Interlude 5, MTV Unplugged 2.0, 2002).

After centuries of writing, there are still restrictions and limitations on who is permitted to write about certain topics.

A response to a piece by Whitman?

An America where its people are focused on the wrong issues

Satire(?)

Wow! Just wow! Is all I can say. If you do not understand this poem, or nothing about it resonates with you, allow me to translate. Imagine: it’s 3am, and you hear the loud crash of someone who has broken into your home. There is more than one of them, they are coming through doors, windows, sky-lights. They are bearing guns, batons, stones, chains. They snatch you and your family out of bed and force you outside. You look up and down your street and see all your neighbors outside, screaming, crying. Children in one section, mothers in another, and fathers in another. They separate you and your family in the same fashion. They force the fathers to watch as they violate their wives and daughters. They say to sons, “Your father cannot protect you, he can’t protect your women, he can’t even protect himself!” Then, when they are done violating, killing, and battering the many people in your neighborhood, when they feel they have “made their point”—whatever point that is—they ship you all off in separate directions. They don’t care where you go, or what happens. They don’t care if you die, but you are worth more alive—so they won’t kill ALL of you. That’s bad for business. They take you to a new place, where you do not know anyone. You are a million miles from home, from family. You do not understand this new tongue. You are stripped naked and inspected (from head to toe) by other human beings, just like you, but a different shade. And you are given a price tag. You are bought and sold and bought again. You are forced to work tirelessly, until you physically can’t—you are at their service, whatever service they require. Where is your voice? Imagine, after all this, after a few decades, they release you in the middle of nowhere. They release you into a society that is not your own, and tell you to go back to where you came from, as if that were even an option. That place is not the same home you left. The people are different, your home is not there, you wouldn’t even know where to go if you could. You have been uprooted, assaulted, shipped off, sold, insulted, degraded, and nearly-broken. Are you still with me? All this, and those who did this to you, play the victim—as if it hurt them to starve, rape, whip, work, shoot...I mean lynch your families. They play stupid, like they don’t know what you’re talking about, like what you went through, was simply a bad dream, or a horror film played for Halloween. Now, imagine those few decades were 400 years. How would you feel?

Keeping something special a secret, so as to protect it.

Often we hear of issues and large deaths tolls in countries outside of America. In response, we are either eager to discuss them and pray, or we see the distance between the occurrences and our own country and take them with a grain of salt. I took these lines to be the poet’s way of saying that there’s re issues here that we should be paying attention to—they are not elsewhere and avoidable. Tearing down and destroying the property “where the grass grows uphill” and it’s inhabitants are being destroyed is a detrimental occurrence within the walls of her own country.

The speaker has a connection to this mysterious place.

A sense of wonder. What is this place? Where is this place? Why does the speaker not reveal it to us?

Angelou has endured much in her life—from racism and sexual abuse to success and triumphs. Here, she speaks from a place of desperation. She speaks from the hearts of those who have been oppressed and long for freedom. Most importantly, she and her poetry embody the understanding that, sometimes a song is all a person has to offer of themselves. When someone is down their last drop of will to fight, and everything has been stolen from them, It is their voice that they hold on to. Their song holds the hope.

Reminder of Negro Spirituals—sang for hope, as well as to convey messages (land routes to freedom) between slaves.

The passion in this description is mind blowing.

Wow!