Slow Death

While reading the book of poetry 180 more the poem “Slowly” caused me to feel a little uncomfortable and confused.  The poem basically describes a young child and her classmates watching a snake eat a rabbit. Also the poem describes how fascinated the children were by how slow the snake was swallowing the rabbit. The author is a woman that may have lost a family member or she might have issues with death.  By the way the author is expressing how amazed she was by the death of the rabbit. My first thought while reading this poem who would write a poem about a snake eating a rabbit? Maybe the author scared by this odd childhood memory? Or does the author have these vivid memories because she was shocked by the sad reality of Mother Nature?  The fifth stanza states “saying we couldn’t look, but looking, weren’t we held there, weren’t we. . .” She describes not wanting to watch but not being able to look away. She was almost stuck in a daze by watching the snake slowly devouring the helpless rabbit. Maybe the author was emotionally damaged by this experience? To some people watching a snake eat might be fascinating, but to me it is sad and not something I would want to watch. Reading this poem reminded me of an old childhood memory of my dog eating a cat. I was only five years old and I remember how upset I was and how it scared me. Maybe the author was scared by this experience?

In addition, a couple of negative aspects that bothered me were the author’s visual details on how “Its head clenched in the wide jaws of the snake, the snake sucking it down its long throat.” This made me cringe to think of a little rabbit’s head inside the mouth of a creepy snake. Why is the author writing a poem about death? Is the author an animal lover? Or does the author feel bad for the rabbit? On the other hand she seems to be almost intrigued by the gruesome sight of the snake swallowing the rabbit slowly. I understand that it is a neat experience to watch a snake eat, but to be fascinated by it is going too far. I did not understand why the author was an intrigued at first but then sad when she realized the rabbit was dead.

Overall, my understanding of this poem is that the young girls were captivated by the snake’s natural instinct to attack and swallow their prey. In a way the girls do not like it, but still stared with interest. In the poem the author states “. . . The way that snake took its time (all the girls, groaning, shrieking but weren’t we amazed, fascinated. . .” This depicts that the girls were mesmerized by the snakes natural ability to swallow their prey whole.  However, the last stanza in the poem the author portrays she may feel “grief by how slow the body is to realize. You are not coming back.” This also shows that the author felt sorrow for the rabbit after she realized it was dead and not coming back.

Why So Slow

While reading the book of poetry 180 more the poem “Slow Children at play” stood out and sparked my curiosity. The author of this poem could be a man or a woman.  The poem has a great deal of mystery because the author leaves you wanting to know more. The end of the poem states “. . . These are my children, thinking, where is their dinner? Where has their father gone?” My thoughts about this poem were that it was about children and their home life. Or was the poem about a bad mother? Did something happen to the father?  Did this mother lose her husband, and now cannot afford to feed her children. This was interesting that the narrator leaves it up to the reader to have several perspectives about the poem.  Is this poem about the children or is the poem about a mother who is realizing she has neglected her children and husband? This poem stuck out to me the most because it left you with the unknown, we do not know why the father is missing, and we do not know why the children are slow.

In addition, the first stanza in the poem states, “All the quick children have gone inside. . .” This depicts that the quick children go inside to eat dinner and spend time with their family. I think maybe the slow children do not have a good home. Or maybe the slow children have an abusive mother, who does not cook for her children. While reading this poem over and over I still have the same thought that the slow children come from a dysfunctional upbringing. The quick children have a good home with a caring mother; on the other hand the slow children do not. The quick kids are in a hurry to go inside their homes, and the slow children take their time. Maybe the slow children do not want to go home? Maybe their home is a nightmare full of neglect and mistreatment. While reading the poem I am puzzled as to why the narrator leaves you asking what happened to the father.  Did this mother lose her husband, and now she cannot afford to feed children? In the poem the poet calls the mother of the slow children slow as well. Maybe something is wrong with the mother? In the poem it states, “And their slow mothers flickering. . .”       Overall, this poem leaves the reading wondering why the poet left out so much information. This poem is different because the narrator leaves out what happened to the father? Also what is wrong with the children’s mother?  Why are the slow children not like the quick children? Do the quick children have a loving home with a mother and a father? The poem has several aspects you can look at, maybe this is a mother just now realizing she has not been the best mother to her children, or maybe she is not financial stable to take care of her kids? It leaves the reader with their own idea of why the slow children are slow and, the quick children are quick.

Clear View

While reading the novel Stitches: a Memoir by David Small, I realized that it is human nature to find inner peace while dealing with hard times and dysfunction. People have different ways of dealing with their hardship. As a result they become stronger individuals. In this book the character David finds his voice after losing it. Throughout David’s life he lived with his mother who had a mental illness and grew up in a dysfunctional household. David’s mother and father neglected and deceived him by not informing him that he had cancer. Thinking he was only going in for surgery to remove a cyst, he later discovered that it was thyroid cancer. Both of his parents kept his cancer a secret; however David was finally able to see the reality of his situation after battling his cancer.        

There were a couple of aspects in the book that caught my attention from the secretive nature and silence characteristics of Betty (David’s mother), the abusive and violent environment David lived in, and David’s use of art and imagination as forms of escape. Davids’ dysfunction allowed him to undergo self discovery and find his inner voice. This trapped my interest because it shows that the trials and disappointments of life give us the strength to be able to change.

In addition, David’s mother Betty also captured my attention with her strange parenting skills and quiet personality. Betty’s silent and secretive lifestyle leads David to discover his mother’s true identity, allowing him to choose a different path in life. Betty was far from a good mother, she did not show love and affection to her children. Betty was a mysterious woman battling a mental illness passed down by her mother. She never explained her mental illness or the reason for her madness so she would voice her anger by slamming kitchen cabinets and coughing. I believe she would slam the kitchen cabinets to relieve some of her built up anger. Never explaining to David what was really wrong caused him to grow up a confused and awkward child. He would escape his mother’s mental breakdowns by getting lost in his imagination to break away from the hostile environment. In addition to her mental illness and extreme outburst Betty was also living a secret life as a lesbian. Secretly having a relationship with her friend Mrs. Dillon, caused David to feel confused and betrayed. Finally, her odd behavior started to make sense to me; she was living a lie and she was unhappy with her life. Betty was born with her heart on the opposite side of her chest maybe that caused her to be a cold hearted woman? After finding out his mother was really lesbian and overcoming his own struggle with thyroid cancer, David slowly started putting the pieces to his puzzled life together.  Although David was following in his mother and grandmothers footsteps with the mental illness, in the end David chose his own path not to follow in his mothers footsteps.