McDaniel and Jackson Blog -Raven

 Raven Taliaferro


    In the poem “Anthem for my Belly After Eating too Much” Kara Jackson is talking about her body and comparing it to Americas standards. She starts the poem off by looking in the mirror and noticing she’s gained weight in her stomach. In the first 1-4 lines, she tries to love her stomach for what it is, but in her head she’s conflicted by the standards of society to have a flat stomach. In lines 11-14 She points out how Americans love greasy foods and how the trend of being “thick” is more desirable. She calls extra weight “excess” and most clothing brands do not make clothes in bigger sizes to fit these women. In lines 17-20 she is saying that her belly is suffocating my being shoved into these too small tight jeans. She’d rather “wear a house” for her belly which I took as wearing bigger clothes that are more comfortable so that she can embrace her stomach for what it is. In this poem I never saw her as being insecure about her stomach, but I noticed that in the act of loving her body, she had inner conflict with the image that society ingrains in our minds as to what a desirable body is. 

    In the poem “The Church of Michael Jordan” the narrator is a basket ball player who believes in God. He believes that his success and wins are directly correlated to how much he prays to God. In lines 1-3 I think he is saying that his ability to shoot the ball and make the shot is a gift from God. In lines 4-6 he’s saying that the praise and chanting his name are distractions from his gift. Some people may get caught up in the money and fame that their gift brings and they forget about or put themselves above God. He could be saying that those things were just the devil tempting him to get sucked into the fame and money. In lines 18-23 when he says “I let faith roll off my finger tips” he is saying that he does not hide his faith and belief in God regardless of what nonbelievers say. When he says “The lord’s truth is visible for an instant, converting nonbelievers by the bushel” I took it as him knowing that the lord shines through him when he’s on the court and his gift is enough to for people to see and know that it is really God.

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