respond to a poem

RESPONDING TO A POEM



The poems I chose were, Immigrants in our own land by Jimmy Santiago Baca and The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window by Joy Harjo. Both of these poems are telling a story, and are very descriptive and filled with details. It is easy to picture the settings and emotions. Both of the poems are some what depressing but in my opinion the one by Harjo has a happy ending. I related to Baca’s poem more because he described how in prison certain races stick with each other to feel like they have to feel alone. This reminded me of high school, how every one was in a certain group. “My cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines my t-shirts, boxer shorts, socks and pants are drying just like it used to be in my neighborhood”(Baca 2). This line reminds me of my childhood when we had to use a clothes line.
Harjos poem starts out with a description of a woman who has hung herself, the title caught my attention right away. It was more metaphorical then Baca’s poem. I the woman was her. In my opinion she was talking about her life and all the hardships she had to escape. “She thinks she will be set free”(Harjo 1). In this line I feel she is talking about how people think that committing suicide will stop all of their problems. Saying that the woman hears voices and wants to jump could also mean that she wants to run away from her problems instead of dealing with them. But in the end Harjo writes “as she falls from the 13th floor window on the east side of Chicago, or as she climbs back up to claim herself again”(Harjo), she conveys that the woman deals with whatever the problem is. The woman reclaims her life and keeps on living. Both of these poems were very interesting to me because they told stories and had good details.