McDaniel, Jackson, & Getachew

           In the first poem, “The Church of Michael Jordan,” Jeffrey McDaniel connects the sport of basketball to religion. He starts off by comparing the arms of God welcoming prayers to the basketball hoop ready for the ball. This comparison between basketball and prayer is something that I would never think of. McDaniel also makes a comparison between the defenders in the game to obstacles or temptations in life that keep us away from God. Finally, in the last paragraph, I like the connection made between basketball fans and nonbelievers. They both sit around watching everyone else hoping that at some point a miracle occurs in their favor.

          My favorite poem that we read for this class is “Anthem for My Belly After Eating Too Much” because it discusses topics that are important to me. Jackson discusses parts of her body that she is not in love with and brings light to them at the end of the poem. As someone who has suffered from body image and eating issues, I admire the way the poem progresses. She begins with “I’m not trying to be all sad and sorry/ about my body, but I looked in the mirror/ and all the chips I’ve eaten this month have accumulated like schoolwork/ at the bottom of my tummy/ my belly, a country I’m trying to love” (Lines 1-6). I think these opening lines hold great power and accurately explain how it feels to suffer from body dysmorphia/body image issues. She doesn’t want to acknowledge the bad in herself, but sometimes it is inevitable. However, she does mention that she is trying to love all of her imperfections. Towards the end, the author develops an admiration for herself and expresses a love for her body the way it is.

            The last poem, “Flight,” is a beautiful poem that discusses distance between people. When Getachew begins to talk about his mother and his grandmother, I related to this portion the most. My late grandmother, my mom’s mom, fought through her life fighting against major obstacles to give her daughters the best life. She experienced poverty, domestic violence, fatal accidents, and cancer; however, she never stopped fighting. I have always admired my mom and I desire to be exactly like her when I grow up. However, as I got older, I started learning more about how she was raised by her own mother. She introduced me to my mom mom’s life story and opened my eyes to all she experienced. She walked through hell and back and still managed to raise the woman I admire most. After spending 14 beautiful years with my mom mom, the sky now separates us, dividing us from being together. One day I will see her again and celebrate this reunion. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leonidas Tsirigotis Date And Time

Leonidas Tsirigotis   Prof. Ellis   14  September  2020   English 101   Personal Blog 1   I personally enjoyed  On Starting  because it seems inspirational.  The idea that a stream flowing with many fish and each fish is an idea and if you catch it, you receive an idea is  as rewarding as a “wide eyed and fat” fish. The idea of catching fish with your bare hands is also cool, since it brings the  idea that you are independent and work for your ideas . At the point of reading the poetry compilation /book, the motif that Kaye is trying to show is to go after what you want.  This is further supported  by  Strength, In Four Parts  where at age 30 he says  that he feels like whenever he does weight  training,  he keeps failing . But later  he  states,  “fitness is not a success but rather a constant state of failure a despair so basic the organism has no choice but to grow”. Meaning the idea of the beginning of Kaye’s book is finding one’s  self and growing from the failures that one would
Read more

Poem Analysis (Jackson and McDainels)

Ainsley Jodlbauer English Dr.Ellis 11 November 2020 "Anthem for My Belly After Overeating" by  Kara Jacksons' is a poem meant to emphasize the societal outline that is given to women, particularly black women, on their self image. She discusses the problems that arise with where we are at today in regards to one's self esteem. Women today are told that to be wanted, to be pretty, to be valued; they must fit into the cookie cutter shape drawn up for them. Jackson uses the metaphor of a full stomach to bring awareness to the expectation on women to have the “perfect body”. Always remaining slim and fit, a thin waist yet thick thighs; using this as if all women’s bodies are the same and have the ability to shapeshift to these standards. Jackson writes this poem to shed light on the effects these standards have on women emotional, mentally, and psychically. When women are told that their bodies aren't “up to par” with what's expected it destroys their self confide
Read more

iExamen 2

  Well I learned that throughout the day if I start off in a good mood what I say to others is for the most part kind or useful. I know that this morning I woke up with a bad migraine and I looked outside and it was rainy and I was super tired. I decided to not go on my phone right away because I knew that if my head was hurting and someone texted me, my text would come off annoyed or angry. Throughout my day I really haven’t interacted with that many people, I dog walked twice during the day and I talked to the older lady and the people I passed by. Overall I didn’t think that my communication was that different except for at night when it was time to go to work. I work at a very small restaurant that has some policies that many customers don’t like. This being said, on a normal day there are always rude and mean customers. I told my co-workers that for English I had to only say kind, useful, and truthful words and they just laughed. I knew the minute I told them that they would laugh
Read more