Lost Alphabet

In Olstein's, Lost Alphabet, she depicts prose poetry in a strong way that makes the reader become one with the surroundings she is emphasizing.  Within my own writing, specifically poetry writing, I find that conveying those thoughts to my audience is what I struggle to do.  For an English teacher I am probably far more literal with my interpretation of poetry than I should be, and with Olstein's writing the poetry flows well and can be taken literally somewhat, but it's individual interpretation is open for each reader.  A story is being told and the devices she uses to get her point across about nature and what she observes there are clearly seen. 
For example, in [theory of clouds] Olstein states, "I am training myself to identify species solely by the sound of their wings" (84).  That powerful use of sound imagery is lacking in my own writing and by using the methods of Olstein I can learn to produce more powerful writing.  I often worry too much about making sure the poetry I write makes perfect sense and it takes away of it's inherent aesthetic value.  Getting ideas on the paper in the form of word vomit may be a better way to start than just agonizing over each minute detail.  Taking Mr. Keating's advice from Dead Poets Society could serve me well just like Olstein.  In the movie he speaks to his reluctant students about how poetry should, "Suck the marrow out of life" because of it's powerful nature.  My focus needs to be more on baring my soul in the text rather than careful word choice to get meaning across.

Verses on a Bird

I am a writer that completely struggles with poetry.  Most of the time when I teach it I am faking enthusiasm for it because I am much more of a fiction or drama reader because I feel like I can wrap my head around those concepts in a clearer manner than I could ever dream possible with poetry.  With that being said there are two main techniques that I wish I could pull from Er's poetry in verses on bird.

In the beginning portion of the book she has an absolutely wonderful way of using her language to appeal to nature.  Within my own writing I struggle with conveying thoughts and feelings about nature in poetic forms.  Looking at Er's writing helped me realize that I can take those risks and that not all writing needs to be in prose form for me to get my point across.  For example,  Er writes, "Stripped of leaves, only then does the tree belong to the bird.  Can the lead-gray sky stuff all ears with feather not to hear each beak clamor an existence you do not solicit?" (15).  The aestetic value she places on words emphasizes her closeness with nature that I want to use within my writing. Trees and birds must live together and the tree is the master with leaves but the bird can ultimately overtake the tree once they are gone.

Imagery is a crucial poetic element that I always second guess myself with within my own writing.  I wonder if the images I'm speaking of in the poem are coming off as vivid as they should.  In Er's Watermelon Juice, imagery is evident throughout.  The poem powerfully opens with, "You say you've never seen watermelon being eaten with way: held up to the face, drunk with sweat pouring down nose tip, forehead and back" (39).  I could mentally picture that very easily and hope that readers of my poetry can do the same.  The imagery of many of the sections within her book accurately depicts various situations that stimulate the senses and in my writing I try to emulate that as much as possible, even if I'm not always successful.

Building on an Adjective: Gross

Gross

A thick layer of dust on top of the television

A myriad of fingerprints all over a glass table

A runny-nosed brat sneezing everywhere

A clogged toilet in a Mexican restraint on dollar burrito night

An airborne amateur skateboarder about to impale a handrail of a staircase

A 4 week old Tupperware container left in the car with shrimp inside

A pile of chunky, orange vomit outside the door of your local sport’s bar

A guy driving next to you digging for gold

A used pair of underwear at a consignment shop

An overflowing ashtray

A freshly chewed piece of gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe

A rug burn on your cheekbone

A moldy piece of bread served at dinner

A mutilated body pulled out of a river

A nun’s nails on a chalkboard

The squeamish nature of this entire poem

A River Dies of Thirst Response

  
I found it challenging to fully get into Darwish's poetry and journal entries.  It seemed like I could never differentiate one entry from the next because they didn't have fully developed ideas that I could grasp, which may have been his intention.  Frustration truly set in when I tried to individually comprehend what his main goals for his writing were and I ultimately decided that it was not possible to view this work in that way.  A better reading experience for this work would be to isolate the entries and not try to bunch them together so each work could get more attention.  It's like I just forgot what I read after a few pages because they had minimal defining characteristics to differentiate between them. However, there were a few entries that once I took them in individually for what they were worth enticed me to continue on.

"The Mosquito" on page 14 was very well-written.  He took one of the most annoying pests and applied it to how some of the struggles his people were facing.  Even though he said it's not a metaphor, it can clearly be associated as one because of the comparisons that could be drawn.  His last line stating, "There's only one way you can bargain with it to make a truce: by changing your blood type" (14) gives a unique insight into the plight of Arabic people and what they need to do to endure some of the harsh situations in their lives.

"Cheated time" on page 44 focuses on an issue that affects everybody.  Death is all around us and people truly never know when it can come for you.  It definitely can "cheat" people if it comes early and it always leaves loved ones guessing what could have been.  The lack of respect for human life is terrible and unfortunately it exists, but you cannot hide from it.