Blackberry Eating by Galway Kinnell

I have just finished reading "Blackberry Eating" by Galway Kinnell. If there's one thing i notice about this poem, Kinnell's topics of choice to write about are almost as obscure as him name. He uses such vivid imagery to describe these blackberries he's so infatuated with. He describes them as "fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries"

One specific comparison he draws in his comparison of the consumption of the blackberries to the expelling of words, drawing a relationship of simplicity between the two when he says "the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do." I find this metaphor to be compelling in that one action involves taking in (eating) and the other involves expelling (talking); two opposing actions to describe the same sense of feeling he gets from the two.

Riprap by Gary Snyder

I have just finished reading "Riprap" by Gary Snyder. Snyder seems to be describing life and how we somewhat rush life by without really taking time to observe our actions and make conscious efforts, rather we just follow our instinct and what's said is done. As shown through the very first two lines in the poem "Lay down these words Before your mind like rocks" Snider demonstrates his stand point on how we just rush life by. Snider uses rocks as a simile to represent immobility. These "rocks" placed before our minds through our words and actions act as an obstacle that prevent us from accepting new ways of acting and feeling. We must chisel these rocks and break our obstacles to recognize the world for what it really is, the ever changing reality around us.

America by Allen Ginsberg

If there's one thing that stands out to me about Ginsberg's poetry if anything else is that his poetry is unnecessarily LONG! I don't understand what message he's trying to get across by his overabundance of repitition in his poems, hence making them almost essay like. Don't get me wrong, Repetition is a great way to emphasize a strong feeling towards something but when you say "When will you take off your clothes? When will you look at yourself through the grave? When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites? America why are your libraries full of tears? America when will you send your eggs to India?" I mean sure, if that was the only portion of severe repition in this poem it'd be great, but it keeps lagging on and on and on. You lose interest half way through.
However, there's a contrast in this poem, while it can be very redundant and boring due to the longevity, at the same time it can be VERY compelling due to the controversy it beholds. Two lines that completely blew me away with their derogitory word choice is "America when will we end the human war? Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb." And what is most compelling about it is it happens so early in the poem; IN THE FIRST STANZA! And this is only one of many controversal lines in the poem! Ginsberg is one sick fellow! lol

"Prisoners" by Denise Leverton

I have just finished reading "Prisoners" by Denise Leverton. One thing i notice about this poem is her imagery in the use of food. It seems as if she is relating food to life. For example, when she says "We taste other food that life, like a charitable farm-girl, holds out to us as we pass—but our mouths are puckered, a taint of ash on the tongue" it seems as if she means that though the many different joys and explorations of life are put before us we still insist on "puckering" our mouths and not accepting what is potentially out there for us. We still insist on "the old apple of knowledge." Though many people may want to take a bigger "bite" out of life we find ourselves often scared to take that risk which will cause potential change. This concept is what labels us as "Prisoners" as the title exclaims. The metaphorical sense meets a more literal sense in the last stanza when Leverton explains that "The ashen apple of these days grew from poisoned soil. We are prisoners and must eat our ration." In prison you are served the same meal day in and day out, everyday. There is no exhileration; no change. Just as waking up everyday and taking a bite of that same apple, following the same routine...with no change.