A Peculiar People

When I think of Mormon poetry, I typically think of traditional poems that worship and praise God, such as those we find in our hymn books. These kinds of poems are safe and authors know that they will be accepted by the general Mormon/Christian audiences. Because of that assumption that I had formed, I was pleasantly surprised to find some poems that explored other topics, topics that are still Mormon in nature but are not discussed as openly among members of the Church.

My favorite poem from this section is entitled "The Excommunicate" by Danny Nelson. Nelson's sarcastic and bored tone fits his topic well as he paints the image of one going to church and being approached by the bishop and other members but not being able to connect to them on the same spiritual level. He uses a very strong diction (one that is full of anger, hunger, confusion) which well exemplifies the attitude of one who is falling away or has fallen away from the Church. The end of the poem quotes a beloved hymn: "Oh Savior, stay this night with me! Behold, tis even'tide." The quote from the hymn surprised me because the overall tone of the poem wasn't one of adoration. But when I went back and listened to the poem again, I heard the words of the hymn and of the poem as a pleading tone, a plea for help and guidance again even if the speaker didn't know that was what they were initially looking for.

Another poem that I enjoyed that followed this vein of untraditionalism was "Bless Our Tacky Chapel" by John Sterling Harris. This poem was a breath of fresh air as it described some unique characteristics of Mormons in a humorous manner, both for members and non-members alike. The poem started by briefly describing some aspects of our usual chapels (the crappy carpet and cheap fixtures), which would help any readers not accustomed to our churches understand the rest of the poem. Then Harris started listing off further descriptions of the most minute details of a chapel- the pulpit, the wood, the cords connecting the microphone and sound systems, etc. But he made it comical by placing the descriptions in the context of a prayer- "Bless the pulpit made of beech..." This made me think of prayers where people bless everything that they possibly can, no matter how small or silly they may seem. Then he ties it all together in the end by describing the "aluminum steeple" that "has no bell." When most people think of churches, they think of stain-glassed windows and bells calling the people to mass. Our churches, however, are as unique in regards to the outward structure as they are to the inward beliefs.

Overall, I enjoyed reading these poems and gaining new insight both to ways in which Mormon poetry can be written stylistically and how unique Mormonism is in itself. 

Things Discovered in "Things Missed" by Simon Peter Eggertsen

I was lucky to find this poem within my section to which I felt that I could relate.  Simon Peter Eggertsen’s poem, “Things Missed” is basically a descriptive narrative of a trip that he took to Giza in a sort of independent self-discovery attempt.

            I went to Giza once this way, entered the wind-dusted

            space, dodged the thronging hawkers, slid sideways

past the harried shirtsleeve tugs of the pleading guides,

as they offered to sell me a day or two of knowing.

It was not only my personal fascination with pyramids and archaeological sites that called my attention to this essay, but also the way that the author begins by reverently stating the themes in the first stanza, and then describes an experience using imagery for the rest of the poem.  He spoke of shuffling in the sand, exchanging smiles with camels, and squinting into the west-leaning sun, in a vivid way. 

I have had similar experiences.  I am always dodging the tour guides as well whenever I visit an archaeological site.  There is something majestic about being alone in places like these, with the possibility of finding or seeing something that perhaps no one else has ever seen.  It can make that place sacred to you.  But what the author was really describing in a metaphorical way was his experience of finding truth on his own.

           

            Every now and then I make it a point to go

            without knowing to these places, try to discover

            a view of my own, be surprised, have

            an experience uncluttered by history or the facts.

This is something that we all do as Latter-day Saints.  In the church, especially while young (in age or in the church), we seem to be constantly bombarded with the idea that we need “to discover a view of [our] own.”  We are regularly reminded to obtain our own testimony.  We all wish to “have an experience” which allows us to “imagine [our] way to a bit of truth.”  Luckily, we do not have to go all the way to Egypt to find it.

The Silence of the Innocents in Neil Aitken’s “The Art of Forgetting“

During the journey through life we have experiences, some are good others are not so good and some are consequences of our own choices. Those bad experiences are often responsible for our negative emotions such as stress, anxiety and sadness. Nevertheless, we still feeling responsible for what we could have done differently, which drags us even further into desolation.

Thanks to my Psychology background, the analysis of this poem might be biased due to the “women oppression” sense I perceived in the lines of this poem. Similarly, my interpretation could have led me to describe the consequences that result from rushed marriages.

When I started reading “The Art of Forgetting”, I immediately felt a genuine empathy for the character and the way her feelings reflect despair. The poem starts with repetitious phases of “how to swim, how to ride a bike… how to voice my own name”. This motive might be expressing a strong desire of seeking ways to overcome a bad experience…an unhealthy marriage.  I was impressed after I read the last line of the first paragraph: “I marry to my teeth, but cannot break open”. This metaphor invoked for explaining the oppression this woman is experiencing in her new life after marriage. Women in particular are unable to practice activities they used to enjoy when they were single; even today some of them still experiencing male domination.

Moreover, the shift in tone goes from hopelessness to honoring her grandmother’s example of how she was able to forget her own life in pro of her family “wipe clean the first two years of married life, the loss of her world, my mother’s birth”.

This last sentence seems to reflect how women in previous generations were able to fulfill a unique expected mother-wife role, assigned by society. Although, some of them were not pleased with this duty, being a submissive wife required women to not resist their husband’s will.

 In addition, I immediately became touched by how women might have to sacrifice their goals because they end up marrying too soon or too early. It is not a secret that marriage is a well-known concept in the LDS culture and that some people become engaged in less than a month. As a consequence, some people experience the “…hundred shades of smog” in their every day life because they failed to truly get to know their partners before marriage. In my opinion, there might not be a specific number of years a couple had to date before they get married however, it took me six years to be convinced that I was marrying the right person.

Later in the poem, we are able to hear the character voice when she says: “I am not my grandmother …I want to remember this year and the one yet to be” this dialog allow the reader to identify a denouement in the plot structure when she says: "her muscles have memory and how this desire to become free is leading her to pray every morning". The resolution could be addressed when the character mentions, “An old horse always returns, mile after mile” in this line she implies she wants to go back where she belongs, she hankers her previous life.

I believe Aitken’s poem invite us to pray and to realize that choosing an eternal companion is not an easy task. Therefore, we have to seek guide for our Heavenly Father to find a worthy man who can take us to the temple to be sealed. Similarly, we as women have to be worthy as well to deserve these eternal blessings. As a final point, we have to know the person we are marrying, without forgetting that the Lord loves us equally, man and woman and that he wants us to be happy…”Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:11)

Paralyzing Fear in Marilyn Bushman-Carlton's "So She Wouldn't Fail"

Everyone has fears of the unknown, sometimes causing us from taking chances and chasing after our dreams. In “So She Wouldn’t Fail” by Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, she writes of a woman who puts her trust in the average things in the world to avoid the bitter taste of failure.

            So she wouldn’t fail at something big,

            she kept busy doing average things,

            things she wasn’t ashamed to talk about,

            exactly, things she could always say

            were temporary, and just until she found

            what it was she was really mean to do, or be.

She uses imagery in a couple different stanzas to express and illustrate the feelings and thoughts of the character she centers her poem around. For example, “She could see herself shut inside / an office, skin wrung out and gray, / feet itching inside three-inch heels” which illustrates a tone of dread and a dismal outlook on what the future could hold for her. The title of the poem “So She Wouldn’t Fail” also adds to the motif of avoiding risks and chasing dreams. But instead playing it safe, which leads to misery, unhappiness and wasted potential.

This poem reminded me of some wasted opportunities in my life that I should have taken but did not because of fear. I could connect with some of the feelings and thoughts of the character, because I have had similar musings myself. Sometimes I subject myself and settle for mediocrity for the fear of failure, or the fear or stepping out into the unknown. This poem truly highlights the aspect of human nature that fears the unknown and settles which is more comfortable and easy. And this settling leads to a state of unhappiness and regret that their lives are not fulfilling. I have had plenty of those moments of regret for not taking advantage of some of the opportunities that life has given me.

This poem can resonate with Mormons because it highlights the potential of a soul and why we are truly here. We are here to learn and progress, and not rest on our laurels. We have a divine potential that only grows as we fail. Because the character tries to avoid failure, she is only wasting her potential and stunting her progression. This poem reminded me of the fact that failure is necessary and I shouldn’t stop chasing goals and dreams because of the paralyzing fear of failure. 

(401 Words)

Teenage Time Bomb

Normally I love to solve puzzles...well at least puzzles that are logical in nature. A poem however is a puzzle that has no right or wrong answer unless it actually does. Not exactly my style, which made it difficult at times to try and decode what exactly the authors where trying to stay. However as a read the poems out loud and just tried to grasp on to something the poem by Terresa Wellborn entitled "Atomic Number Sixteen" caught my attetion.

The imagery and word choice that is used to describe what could only be an atomic bomb detonation made things ver yeasy for me to visualized

for the snap, the bite of light

the beggining fuse that flames like fireflies,

Clearly she is focusing on the sudden brilliance and magnitude of such an explosion. It starts from something very small which is is evident by the bite of light, and it is very sudden just like a snap. Then just as a fuse leads to something much bigger, this snap is leading to something big, potentially deadly and/or hazardous. She uses plenty of other words as the poem goes on to describe that what is coming as a result of this fuse is bad or will definately have consequences.

The title of the poem, and the use of the pronoun he and him gives us a peak at what the actual theme of the poem is. It has to be about someone coming to the dreaded age of 16. I know that I was definately a handful for my mom when I finally turned 16. Getting my drivers liscence being the biggest of these, and being able to go off and get into trouble on my own. 

Terresa is probably a mother, and from her perspective it happens all of a sudden, when someone turns 16 they suddenly become a time bomb of trouble.  She doesn't know how to describe what makes it happen, but that when it does happen it can be big and startling, but as I'm sure my mom did as well, the poem suggests shut your heart and hold onto the scraps that remain, because it's not time to give up and lose hope on these teenagers.

The True Meaning of Dispensed in Sarah Duffy's "Human Dispenser"

I connected quickly with the chosen poem; with part of my past that I don't like to relive. Sarah Duffy created a beautiful poem called "Human Dispenser," where she describes someone who pretended to come into her life to be her Savior and gave her more than she wanted, which swallowed her whole, metaphorically.

"You, my human savior, sent to justify my morals and this world
with yours. And why
You? As if you were a type of savior.
As if you actually wanted to."

This symbolism is important to Mormon culture. Our beliefs talk about an existence before this life, where a spirit offered to go down to Earth and die for mankind. He would willingly be our Savior. He "actually wanted to." This first part makes the reader think that the rest of the poem could maybe be about many Mormon aspects, but then cuts that thought short with the next line.

"I thought you did.
                                           That's what I get for thinking."


It was very interesting to me how quickly this poem turned from a glorified savior figure to a devil figure. Sarah talked about how it was all in the cards. The savior was actually the devil. She the fool. The third fortune card was a heart stabbed with swords. Swords that I think were words. The cards show that what we perceive is not always reality.







"I wanted both: ignorance and enlightenment. And you
Graciously dispensed them.

You, some kind of dispenser of knowledge."

There was irony provided in the want of both ignorance and enlightenment. It is almost impossible to have both. Yet somehow, she was graciously given them.

My favorite part of this whole poem was the line about the dispenser of knowledge. I had someone that came into my life, thinking that I needed to be saved. He was going to be my savior. At the time, I didn't know I was just a goal that needed to be reached. I gave my life to him, everything revolved around him and the knowledge he had. He had to establish a rank in our lives, he higher than me because he threw false knowledge at me that made me confused and "stupid." He "dispensed" knowledge at me that made me lose who I was supposed to be.

After a long, hard year, he used the second meaning of the word dispense, and he got rid of me like the scum he thought I was. I was left with only the swords of words he stabbed into my heart, and like Sarah, I was swallowed whole by his contents.

The title of this poem is called 'Human Dispenser." I don't think that this is the title because it was mentioned once in the poem as a person who dispensed knowledge. But because she was a human dispenser, one that was easily led off, used, and dispensed of.

 

(482 words, "Fire in the Pasture" page 149.)