April 18, 2013

John Updike's "Separating" doesn't mean much to me, since my parents aren't divorced, even though they almost did about 7 years ago. At that age, not knowing there wasn't any tension between my parents, all I remember is that it was such a shock to me, and I was confused, to say the least. I can somewhat empathize with Richard's children, and understand where each of them are coming from in their confused states.
Now, I can actually relate to Phillip Roth's "Defender of the Faith," and I think, to a certain extent, everybody can. I've known lots of people in my short lifetime that have used Christianity to do something so ridiculous, such as skip class or wear something out of dress code at school. I believe that anyone that exploits their religion for selfish purposes has achieved an all-time low. That's something so wretched and disgusting to me, and to be frank, I'd like to slap some of those people a few good times.
I thoroughly enjoyed Billy Collins' poems "Forgetfulness," "I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of 'Three Blind Mice'," and "The Night House," not only because they were easy to read, but they each evoked a very specific mental imaged and caused me to genuinely think about the aspects of life – memory, purpose, and the mind. I actually listened to Art Blakey's "Three Blind Mice" as I read Collins' poem. The entire song is instrumental, so Collins obviously knows the poem by heart as he writes about it, questioning the mice's purpose and motives. I personally love to see people think on a deeper, more critical level, such as this, even if it doesn't relate to anything going on in their life. Thinking is always good, and all three of these poems from Collins think deeply about various topics.
Just like with Collins', I was also fond of Li-Young Lee's poems, "Persimmons," "Eating Alone," "Eating Together," and "This Room and Everything it It." "Persimmons" gives great imagery, along with feelings of calmness and nostalgia. And as cliché as it sounds, his poems involving his father made me appreciate mine more. As my family and I are growing older day after day, the reality of death is becoming more evident to me.