Gluttony
Part of Speech : Noun
Definition: Excess eating or Drinking
Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary
Found In: ” Choi Jeong Min” line 35
I chose the word Gluttony because i was not sure of the meaning.
link: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gluttony
Smoldering
Part of speech : Verb
Definition: to burn sluggishly, without flame, and often with much smoke. another meaning is to show suppressed anger, hate, or jealousy
Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary
Found In “Choi Jeong Min” line 13
I looked up the word smothering because of the way it was used in the line. in the poem it seems like it was used to describe a feeling.
Reclamation
Part of speech: Noun
Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Definition: The act or process of reclaiming something
Found in spoken word poem “Hair” by Elizabeth Acevedo : ” Hair, a reclamation”
The definition of the word reclamation helped me understand what was trying to be said. In the lines, after “Hair, a reclamation” it states : ” how I will break pride down their back, so from the moment they leave out the womb they will be born in love with themselves.” In other words, their hair shouldn’t define who they are. They shouldn’t have to change it to satisfy anyone but there own selves. To stop living up to others peoples changes and embrace yourself.
Prior to taking this class, I was familiar with spoken word poetry. It’s actually the only kind of poetry that I enjoy. I’ve gone to an open mic night at the Nuyorican Cafe in the Lower East Side a few years back. It was definitely a unique experience that I would like to repeat. The passion the poets speak with is something that the audience can feel, I certainly felt it. I enjoy spoken word because I feel like there’s more feeling or emotion in the poem. There’s something about a poem being performed that makes it different to me than one that is meant to be read. My least favorite poems are those written in Shakespeare’s time. I find them extremely difficult to understand as the English language was different then. I particularly enjoyed Franny Choi’s “Choi Jeong Min”. This poem spoke to me because I can relate to it. As a minority and being raised by immigrant parents, I can relate to the difficulties she experienced with her Korean name. My parents thought carefully about the names they gave me and my siblings for the reason of not being discriminated against. They knew we’d face enough difficulties being minorities and dark skinned, they didn’t want to add to that by giving us a traditional Dominican name difficult to pronounce in English like Nicaury.
She also speaks about American’s stealing our culture and selling it back to us for profit. This is something I feel strongly about and was happy to know that another minority group experiences the same as us blacks and Hispanics. Another reason I enjoy spoken word is because it reminds me of my favorite music genre, hip-hop. In hip-hop music, artist not only rhyme words but speak about real life issues. Rappers like Tupac, Common and Mos Def use a style of rapping that sounds very similar to spoken word poetry. Songs like Dear Mama and Ghetto Gospel by Tupac are indeed rap songs but have a different flow or tone and its delivery is more like spoken word poetry. I personally don’t write poetry. I tried when I was younger but wasn’t really interested in it. Although I enjoy spoken word, I don’t listen to it or watch it often. I really enjoyed the film Louder Than a Bomb because it broke the stereotype of who or what a poet should be or look like. I love that those kids used poetry as a therapeutic tool to deal with their personal issues as well as a hobby. Some even their poetry a little more seriously than others, which to me is amazing because where they came from I can imagine is very easy to get caught up in negativity.
Blog Post #3—My Thoughts on Spoken Word Poetry
Must be posted by Mon, December 17, 2018 by 11:59 pm
Assignment: Write a blog post of about 200 words (at least 2 strong paragraphs) in which you react to studying spoken word poetry. Here are some questions you might consider in writing your post. Here are some questions to help you write a focused post. You don’t need to answer all of these questions, but a strong post will respond to a few of them:
Please title your Post, My Thoughts on Spoken Word Poetry and choose Blog Post #3 as a category when you post.
Remember to comment on at least one other student’s blog post by December 19th at 11:59 pm.
Hammerhead
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: It’s actually another term for hamerkop; a brown African marshbird related to the storks, which has a crest that looks like a backward projection of the head, and constructs an enormous nest
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Found in ” Choi Jeong Min “, line 4
I looked it up because I was sure that it had nothing to do with the hammerhead shark and wanted to clarify what it is.
Default
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition 1: failure to fulfill an obligation
Definition 2: a preselected option adopted by a computer program or other mechanism when no alternative is specified by the user or programmer
Definition 3: something that is usual of standard
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Found in ” Poet Franny Choi pictures a world without police “, line 14
Chosen because I wanted to know what a ” default human ” was.
Reclamation
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition 1: The process of claiming something back or of reasserting a right
Definition 2: The recovery of useful substances from waste products
Sources: Both Oxford Dictionaries and Collins Dictionary
Found in ” My mother tells me to fix my hair “, line 24
Chosen because I plain and simply didn’t know the word before now.
Spiraling
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: In the context of this poem I believe the speaker to talking about downward spiral; which is a situation that gets worse because of bad events.
Source: Cambridge Dictionary
Found in ” My mother tells me to fix my hair “, line 8-9
Chosen because I want people to understand it’s context within the poem.
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: A distant view through or along an avenue or opening
Source: Merrian-Webster
Found in: All American Girl (Line 27)
Meaning in Context: “I couldn’t keep the southern continent / out of the northern vista of my eyes, / or cut my cara off to spite my face.” It is trying to convey that she couldn’t forget where she came from. She is not literally looking at the continent but she sees it in her mind while looking forward towards the future.
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