Magic Lantern
Monday, January 11, 2016
Jenn Mikitka 1/11
Originally I thought "An American Poem" was my favorite poem, but after listening to the poems again in class, I realized that I relate way more to "Aunt Anne" than the others. I, like Myles, am incredibly polish and my grandparents came to America from Poland and experienced that prejudice that Myles did. I know what it feels like to sit in a room where the people around you speak words of Polish, and say prayers in Polish. My mother's side of the family is Irish, so I understand the sarcastic, drunken Irish side of the family. While "An American Poem" was very intimate and she revealed a lot about herself, I feel that "Aunt Anne" is more honest and holds a lot more emotion. The thing that made me connect to this poem more than the others was that she chose a specific moment in time that she could draw memories and emotions from. It was factual, but also intimate and made me feel like Myles was letting me into her personal life. I want to take this exposed, yet factual approach with my story and tell of certain moments. For mine, I am thinking about taking the first moment when I realized what it meant to be a woman and be afraid and draw from that, because it's something I feel strongly about. I think it's something I can draw a lot of personal experiences from and also include some facts to make it personal but also applicable to many other people.
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I agree that this was my favorite poem that we listened to. My grandparents also immigrated to this country from Europe and received similar prejudice. I spent a lot of time around them growing up, so it seems we had similar experiences with our grandparents. I also really enjoyed how Myles let us into her personal life. She did this in this poem as well as An American Poem. These two felt the most real, as the reader can establish a connection with the author. Letting the reader into your personal life surely makes for a great poem.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of making your story about your experience as a woman. I think what made Eileen's poem Aunt Anne very effective was also her incredible use of detail. She describes her family members, she imitates their voices, and that really brought the audio alive for me. I think if you could do that with your story, sharing specific examples and experiences, maybe emulating voices of what people have told you a woman SHOULD be like, or how you SHOULD act could be really effective as well. I'm excited to hear your story though, it sounds super interesting!!
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