Poetry in Motion- What Do You Believe a Poem Shd Do? By: Ntozake Shange

My initial reaction reading the poem for the first time was, why did the author abbreviate some of the words?, but at the same time I thought the idea was brilliant. The poem talks about what you should feel while reading a poem and how that poem should make you feel while reading it. In the poem the speaker sounds like he is kind of trying to direct you in the way of where the poem should make you feel something and where the poem should take you. For example, ” a poem shd happen to you like a cold water or a kiss” (Line 8-10), the speaker is saying that a poem should either shock you,make you feel good, feel bad, bother you or soothe you, all of which happen to you when you drink water or kiss someone or something.

In the poem there is a big visual piece of art that looks like the moon or earth accompanied by the rest of the other planets, i.e (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune). Those are the planets that the visual art looks like most and they are circle shaped and colored blue, yellow and orange. This poem was chosen for subway riders to read because on your way home or to work or wherever you’re going the poem is not something that is too emotional but its a quick read especially if you are on the train with nothing to do.

 

1 thought on “Poetry in Motion- What Do You Believe a Poem Shd Do? By: Ntozake Shange

  1. adamjr98

    As far as the visual, I agree that it interprets a universe. But also, just like the poems them the poems visual could be filled with whatever you want to make it or based on its parameters of being a universe you can fit whatever planet you want into the description just like you did in your blog post. I really love how unique this poem is as far as its overall theme and message, and it was interesting how as I was reading it my brain was automatically able to pattern the letters given and be aware of what the missing letters are, and what the overall word is.

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