When I Thought About Poetry

The poem I ama choosing to ask myself ten deep question about today is "Black Woman" by Georgia Douglas Johnson. This was my favorite of all the poems because I seem to be really partial to rhyme schemes. I think I like to read rhymes because I imagine that I am a slam poet in my head when I am reading them and making a lot of low flat hand gestures. I'm pretty sure this poem is about not wanting to bring a baby into the world. Or like the anxiety you might have when you pregnant because you are going to like give something life. And being alive and living in the world is kind of scary.

Number One.

The title of this poem does throw me off a little. I don't know why it would have to be the feelings of a black women, but even as I started typing that line I totally realized that it probably was way worse to be alive and be black back then. So I'm guessing that this poem is no the writers personal experience with being pregnant and having fears for her child. This poem is written from the perspective of a pregnant black women. If it didn't have this title it might be harder to tell who or what she was writing about. If it was like "Talking to My Fetus" then umm, well you'd probably think it was Johnson writing to her own child.

Number Two.

I know all of these words. I had to re-read the "of turning deaf-ear to your call" line a couple time through at first. It's just a hard cluster of words to grasp. Especially when the rest of the poem has such a flow.

Number Three.

Yep. I think this is really rhythmic. It seems like each verse is almost broken down into four lines and each one these has a definite flow. She also seems to end each verse with a really strong sentence. She uses an exclamation mark, so it's important.

Number Four.

So in this poem I think a women in talking to her unborn child. She seems to be having anxiety about bringing it into a "world that is of cruelty and sin." And since we know from the title that this women is African American she is probably having heightened anxiety because there were many more obstacles in the way. And I just realized that Johnson was half African American and half Black. I was going to go back and change what I wrote earlier before I knew that, but I figured it helped show the journey. Anyways. So the main character in this story very well could have been Johnson writing about her own personal experience or the ones of close family members. She actually wrote this peace after being accused of not being race conscious enough in her first collection of poems. Johnson had two sons. Even though we don't know if this women is Johnson or a fictional character, we do know that the two main characters are the black women and her unborn baby. This poem also talks about monster men inhabiting the earth, who I'm assuming would be most of the white population. I imagine this is happening in private, most likely in her head. It seems almost like a prayer.

Question 6.

She is a women.

She is black.

She is either pregnant or thinking about having a baby.

She doesn't have a very positive outlook on the state of the world.

She is fearing her child's future.

She is conflicted.

She is of child bearing age.

She is probably not wealthy.

She's had a hard knock life.

She is poetic and I know that probably seems like a no duh, but I mean if she is at a disadvantage she at least seems to have a way with words.

Question 7.

I think that her town is really full of love. At the same time there is this like desperate pleading and extreme sorrow. It seems to a little dark as well. She is not super excited about having a baby. This poem has a really simple element to it. It sounds like it could almost be a prayer or a lullaby. The words are easy to say and remember. At the same time I could also imagine this coming from a woman who is not pregnant and that takes on a whole different tone. Like it could almost be more powerful. If she was like, "I know this world is not a place to be having a baby. So i am just not going too." If I take it from that approach it does seem to be more like sassy. I imagine even then she would have some inner conflict about wanting to have a baby maybe and some anger towards the fact that society can't get its act together so she can do it.

Question 8.

Yes, I think it has a pretty formal structure. A couple times while writing about the poem I have written song. I don't know if that is because I usually talk about songs not poems or if it just really does remind me of a folk song. It rhymes but not in a "Cat in the Hat" book sort of way. It seems more complicated and I wonder if it has something to do with the syllables in each line. Hmm. Well I'm not a syllable counting expert, but I seem to be getting like a 8,6,8 pattern but sometime it will be 7 or 5. I think this structure helps carry it, if you will. It sort of makes it easy to read.

Question 9.

I think there is tension in this poem. There's definitely a conflict in the women's mind. There's sort of a panic in the tone that makes tension. She seems really confused about what to do. She doesn't want to bring a baby into a cruel world and she is obviously upset about it when she says, "Don't knock at my heart, little one, I cannot beat the pain of turning deaf-ear to your call, time and time again". But she is probably a kind women who would make a good caring mother. Or maybe not. Maybe she would make a terrible mother, maybe she's addicted to drugs. Regardless the tension lies in that baby (is most likely) coming and the mom wishes it would just stay in the womb forever. Right away this poem seems full of tension just the first line, "Don't knock at my door, little child, I cannot let you in." Just the words "don't" "cannot" are tension words. She is telling someone no, which is sort of like denying them something they asked (wow, that is a lot of words for one little idea). I feel like because this poem feels like a prayer to me it sort of has that natural tension of pleading. "You do not know the monster men inhabiting the earth. Be still, be still my precious child. I cannot give you birth!" This sounds like she is trying to will her energy and thoughts into her babies mind or something.

Question 10.

I picked to analyze this song because out of all the ones I read this one was the most moving in my opinion. Some of my favorite lines are, "Wait in the still eternity" I think that is a really neat way to express being unborn. I also really like the line, "Don't knock at my heart little one" I like the mental image of her little fetus knocking on her heart. I know that's not what she means, but its what I imagined. I also enjoyed the mental image that came with the line, "You do not know the monster men inhabiting the earth." I imagined a tiny globe with cave men dragging their fist all over it. Once again, not what she meant, but where my brain went.

The first time I read it "Black Woman" was just so like quick and mysterious. Now I feel like I could have a discussion about it. I still feel like it is about the same thing as the first time I read it. I think the most helpful thing was reading about Johnson's personal life. That really put the poem into context. This poem deals with several rather big deal issues. Such as race and motherhood. These were things that Johnson was very passionate about. I think that fact that she was mother of teenagers probably is where she drew the inspiration for this poem. I'm sure she worried about what her boys. It seems like her childhood might not have been so great. Her parents got divorced and little is known. Perhaps she faced a lot of obstacles in her lifetime and that's what has lead her to her glass half empty take on things. For having such a light easy flow to it, it sure has some real dark aspects.