Blog #21

Earth and I Gave You Turquoise 

Suburban Indian Pride 

The poem "Earth and I Gave You Turquoise" is a poem in which the speaker is talking about his dead wife. He displays his sorrow with the words in the poem describing the sad songs they sing as he waits to see his wife again in the afterlife. The descriptions of the writer,  gave the illusion that the speaker would be an older man that speaks of his wife's death and how he prepares to join her after he too passes away. The second poem "Suburban Indian Pride" describes all the days in the speakers childhood when they had pride in their Indian culture. The child speaker is playing back these memories to her mother, these memories were strongly linked to their Indian heritage and pride. The poem describes that being part of the American Indian culture comes with pride as well as fear. It says "Be proud that you are Indian, but be careful who you tell." Which sends the main message to the reader that being an Indian in modern times is almost like living two lives and keeping one a secret. 

I preferred the poem "Earth and I Gave You Turquoise" because it demonstrated stronger voice and emotion within the descriptions. The theme made the poem more powerful to the reader by describing the strong connection that the speaker had shared with his wife that passed away. The words were not exactly straight forward and clear with the message that they were conveying. Instead the writer used figurative language and descriptions to explain the feelings and events. The poem includes the lines "we have not spoken of you, but our songs are sad." It explains that the man sings about the loss of his wife and how he misses her. I enjoy how the lines of the poems flow together naturally as one thought goes to the next, connecting the ideas.