January 14

The mind recognizes:

love, trash, blood, gore, profanity, indoctrination, corruption, propaganda, conspiracies, idiocy, blasphemy, guns, hippies, young people, radical idealism, old people, politics, expectations, the west, arousing cars, war, filth, alcoholism, christianity, beer, trigger warnings, mcdonald's bacon chicken snack wrap, garbage, cover-ups, lawyers, sex, financial advice, dietary reccomendations, pacific dreams, middle aged people, high art, dull cars, cellular-telephones, online dating services, the chinese, dog the bounty hunter, the south, hockey, judaism, smut, reruns, conservative media, obituaries, homophobia, liquid crystal displays, racists, local interest articles, liberals, poison, photos by x, leather couches, nudity, islam, movie previews, unemployment, concerned parents, russians, laptops, banking solutions, hate

The mind is dead, long live the mechanical mind.

"January 14" is a free verse poem that contains no rhyme. The first sentence serves to introduce the list of maladies and constructed thoughts that are staved off in the middle section. These pumped into the mind through advertisements, television programmes, biased newspapers, peer pressures, guardians, and the like, an aspect that is hinted at through the justified form, much like a newspaper. Rather than address the death of any human being, the poem rather addresses the death of free thought, that has occurred after years of accepting what one's told. It is bookended by love and hate, two ideals that are often seen in direct opposition. The final sentence suggests that the mind never truly dies, but will continue to exist in bastardized forms of its original incarnation.

February 1, 2013

The tone conveyed in Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool" reveals much about the state of the narrators. The sudden shift in content as well as the form of the poem help to convey a sombre and regretful tone that forces the reader to reconsider the prior statements laid out in the other stanzas. While the narrators, known only as the Pool Players, put forth what seemed to be pride throughout the first several thoughts, but as the poem ends, the freedom evoked in the prior passages gives way fear before an abrupt death.

Throughout the poem, the narrators mention several actions in which they engage. These can be regarded as youthful hooliganism as they make seemingly minor infractions against the rules and laws that had been laid out before them. Brooks ends her poem with the line "We die soon." After reading this abrupt termination, the reader realizes that its through these minor infractions and youthful romanticizing of breaking rules that these people have damaged the memories of their lives, and quite likely have threatened the potential of their current lives. With this final thought, the Pool Players reveal that it is not with pleasure that they recount these actions, but shame.