Analysis of "In the Pinewoods, Crows and Owls:The commanalities between human nature and nature.

"Great Bumble. Sleek Slicer." As the vented out words of Mary Oliver roll down the page the reader gets a feeling of heated hatred and bitterness. Although the poem "In the Pinewoods, Crows and Owls" can be interpreted in many ways I saw the poem as being about power. The crows in her poem represent the people and the owl represents the figure of power.

It is clear to a reader with this interpretation to see that the owl is in control. Oliver refers to the owl as the "Pine God" and the "Prince of dark days" obviously stating the owl's status as a more powerful creature. One way to see the crows as a representation of the people would be to closely examine the line, "Flying against shut doors". The crows have less power than the owl, and are being oppressed. The crows are being threatened with fear and they despise the owl in every way, much like the people of a country with a dictatorial ruler. Oliver's perspective on power and the feeling of oppression are accurately explained. for instance, a suppressed group of people have an uncontrollable hatred towards their dictator and they also may feel and longing to be like them in order to gain their acceptance. Actual nature is very similar to human nature, " you are their dream, their waking, their quarry, their demon". Oliver catches the simple truths of power and explains that just as the power structure in the natural habitat of the pinewoods in unalterable the power structure among people is mostly unalterable.

The structure of the poem is unique because there are no stanzas and rarely does Oliver choose to use periods. The poem reads more like a rant than a thought or reflection. The structure is what makes this poem so full of bitterness and anger.

Extended: Picnic, Lightning and American Primitive

I started my poem with the first line out of "Some Days" by Billy Collins

Some days I put the people in their places at the table,
their faces glowing,
laughing,
they are all eating and clanking their dishes with delight.
What makes the company of friends feel so warm?
The women's glimmering jewelry sends prisms on the walls,
their dry and pungent perfume soaks the air.
And the men, with their pressed and crisped jackets croak and grunt at conversation.
Each person seems to be tailored for the night,
locked in and completely in place.

Extended: Persepolis

I made a poster about the ancient city of Persepolis that I will be bringing into class.

Waiting: A poem depicting the feelings of Mark Doty in Heaven's Coast

What time is it?
What else can I do?
Time never stops
for you,
these days keep on fading
they keep wasting away.
We could sit here together,
we could loose this today.
It's not what the doctors tell me,
it's the silence I won't take,
it's your hand held in mine,
it's the feeling you can't shake.
I stand here alone,
watching waves roll by,
it's like watching a clock hand,
it's like watching your eyes.
I have some decisions to make
and I know you do too.
Time will never stop,
it won't stop for you.

Heaven's Coast: Reader Response

Mark Doty’s Heaven’s Coast is one of the most touching memoirs I have read so far this year. In the beginning I found it difficult to follow along with Doty’s style of writing because there was absolutely no organization to the book. He would start the setting in one place and jump to another without any reference to time. The book was mostly a collection of thoughts and memories and perhaps that is why it did not proceed in order. Mark Doty, who is primarily a writer of poetry, composed his memoir so that it reads like prose. It took me a least twenty pages into the book before I could follow along with Doty’s rhythmic story telling.

Heaven’s Coast is the first book I have read that involves a homosexual couple. Personally, I hold a liberal view when it comes to politics so the situations didn’t bother me one bit. However, I was surprised that Doty was able to erase my perceptions of gay couples and show to me that love is still love no matter who you are with. I cried many times while reading this book, mostly because I became attached to the characters and I became accustomed to Doty’s reflective writing. When Wally’s death is described by Doty I instantly found my self tearing up. I could connect with Doty because I work at a senior living community, and although the two situations are much different, I still have to deal with death each and every day. The way he describes his grieving process holds true to the way other people grieve. For example, when Wally died Doty immediately returned to an old apartment building where he and Wally used to live. He takes his time and tries to re-live all the memories that were associated with that place. When a resident passes away at the senior living community you will often see family members re-visiting the old apartment or the home of the person that passed away, just to reflect and come to terms with their death. Doty uses countless metaphors to describe the way he feels about life and death. After reading this book I learned so much about life and peace from the way Doty describes it that I feel as if I experienced everything Doty did as it was happening.
Not only did I learn so much about life and death I learned about the disease AIDS and the hardships that patients have to go through. I never imagined the lack of caring the doctors would have for patients with AIDS and the lack of information they have about the disease.

After reading this memoir I felt anger and pain in my heart towards the patients with AIDS that can only sit and wait for the disease to take apart their body. My heart goes out to the family and friends of people with AIDS because never have I realized the multiple lives affected by the disease. I am truly glad I read this book because it changed the way I look at life.

American Primitive and Picnic, Lightning: Reader Response

When reading American Primitive and Picnic, Lightning I couldn’t help but appreciate the different styles in which they were written. American Primitive by author Mary Oliver consists of shorter stanzas and choppy language while Picnic, Lightning, written by Billy Collins consists of elongated phrases that flow together. I felt myself becoming entranced with their poetry because of the vivid imagery used. Although I found both books to be concentrated on nature I found American Primitive to be concentrated slightly on sex and struggles in history. Out of the two I would have to say that I enjoyed Picnic, Lightning the most. I enjoyed the easily flowing stanzas that incorporated ideals of the east, (Buddha and Japanese culture). From the references of Buddha I can infer that Billy Collins appreciation of nature could have something to do with the Japanese culture. A few of my favorite poems from Picnic, Lightning are: What I Learned Today, Splitting Wood, Moon, and The Many Faces of Jazz. Moon reminds me of when I was a child because I used to stare out my window at night and watch the moon. I love the way Billy Collins describes the night, “dark roses wave against a stone wall,” he made me feel like I was actually in the dark with him looking at the moon and becoming a child again. The Many Faces of Jazz also led me to a vivid picture in my mind and the meaning of the expressions. “Where the fixed grin joins the menacing stare, especially suitable for long drum solos” (Collins 72). Collins describes the different faces that I felt mirrored the Jazz music itself, and it almost seemed like Collins wasn’t talking about faces at all but of the melodies. Although I enjoyed many of the poems in Picnic, Lightning and could pull some sort of meaning from them there were a few poems that I found to be hard to analyze. Victoria’s Secret and Taking Off Emily Dickenson’s Clothes are among the poems I had a hard time understanding. Besides being slightly sexual it almost seems as if Collins is poking fun at the models of the VS catalog and the ways of women in the 16th century. It was an interesting approach to getting at the message Collins wanted to readers to have, unfortunately I was unable to grasp that message. In the book American Primitive I enjoyed such poems as: In the Pinewoods, Crows and Owl, Tasting the Wild Grapes, and Honey at the Table. In the Pinewoods, Crows and Owl is a poem filled with hatred towards power and made me feel disgusted at the idea of prey. The owl and the crow are in a mind battle with each other in a fight for survival. Mary Oliver writes mostly about nature but sometimes I think she is referring so something more sexual. In the poem The Honey Tree, Oliver’s descriptions seem a little too heated to be talking about a tree, “I clamber like a bear to the nuzzling place, to the light salvaged by the thighs of bees racked up in the body of the tree,” (Oliver 81). The words she uses such as clamber and racked up seem as if the tree could represent something else perhaps even another person in my mind. Overall I enjoyed reading poetry although I haven’t read much of it before so it took a little getting used to.