I personally love reading poetry, so I was extremely
excited to see that our reading for this week was a book of Poetry. “Rookery”,
written by Tracy Brimhall and published in 2010, Is a lengthily book of poetry,
which was split up into three chapters. Each chapter of the book has a title
that is one of the definitions of the word rookery. I thought this was a
brilliant idea and extremely in place being used for a book of poetry. It
highlighted the play on words as well as the complexity of the English
language. The first chapter was entitled “1.(n) A colony of rooks” I really
enjoyed how the author kept the format of a definition. In the poem Aubade in
which the Bats tried to warm me’ The Author writes “You
put sugared hands on my neck and kissed my forehead. No, it happened like this.
When you fucked me, I could feel how much you hated me. “ I felt as though the
poetry contained very real emotions and intricate thoughts. That added
to the authenticity and uniqueness of the book itself.
I particularly enjoyed
“2. (n) a breeding place” While writing about sex and lust can sometimes be a
cop-out. In this case Tracy Birmhall did a great job of talking about sex in a
unique way. She comments on lust, love, sex and desire and manages to do so in
a unique way. Personally this really inspired me in relation to my own writing.
I enjoy writing about sex and relationships however I know that I need to learn
to consider what to say and what not to say. Tracy was a great inspiration for
brevity and the power of what is not said. One word that kept going through my
head as I thought about writing a response to her writing is the word “raw”.
Especially in the second part of the book, the emotion and thoughts really
resonated with me. As I flipped though I felt as though I kept thinking to myself;
that this is my favorite poem, and I though it over and over again as I read a
new poem. She captures the struggles of women and the general. The third
portion of this book was entitled “(n) A crowded tenement house. While his was not
my favorite section I still enjoyed this portion of the book and after reading
it felt very inspired to work on my own writing. Reading this book really
pointed out different things I need to do in order to improve my poetry. I
love poetry and really enjoyed this book.
Works Cited
Brimhall, Traci. Rookery.
Carbondale, IL, USA: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010. Print.
Hey Amy!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how Traci Brimhall uses three different definitions of the word rookery as title/introduction to different chapters. I thought such strategy worked well, as it set the tone for the poetry that followed them. I also appreciated the way she talks about sex. Especially the lines you mention (“You put sugared hands on my neck and kissed my forehead. No, it happened like this. When you fucked me, I could feel how much you hated me.“) are so raw and passionate. It kind of reminded me of your poem we read in class last time - which was pretty cool!
I completely understand what you mean about love, sex, and lust all being difficult topics to write with originality, and I agree that Brimhall does it in a way that is fresh and separated from the usual tropes and clichés of traditional love poems - because she's not exactly writing love poems, she's writing experiences that happen to be rooted in romantic/sexual interactions. (Which could help you in your own writing - reframing the way of thinking about your topic goes a long way!)
ReplyDeleteThat said, do you think there's ever a way to exhaust a topic in writing? Love, war, family, etc... as we discussed in class, these are all themes that come up again and again. Will it ever be possible that everything that needs to be said has been said? And even if this day were to come around, does that mean that people should stop writing about these topics, or should they just learn to write the same thing in different ways?
I also really enjoyed Brimhall’s use of the definitions of the word rookery as the titles of each chapter. I thought it was a good way to introduce the material she was concerned with in each chapter and that it was very original. The poem “Aubade in Which the Bats Tried to Warn Me” was one of her poems I enjoyed reading very much as well, and I loved the line that you quoted. That line really does show how intense some of her poetry is. “2. (n) a breeding place” was my favorite of the three chapters. I thought it was great how she was able to talk about lust and sex without seeming vulgar or unnecessary and while staying within her own unique brand of poetry. The word “raw” really is the perfect word to describe her work. She tells it the way it is and is a good example of how it is possible to discuss reality in an uninhibited way without losing the poetic and beautiful feel of the piece.
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