In Praise Of My Bed Analysis

The three poems I wrote each describe some struggles that have either happened in my past or are happening currently. I honestly felt somewhat calmed by creating these poems. I tried to incorporate some of the elements we have discussed in class and some of the techniques we have studied. My first poem was a haiku. I started with inspiration from Lawson Inada’s “Listening Images”. The next poem I wrote was an ode. I started writing this as a joke, but as I continued, I realized that this was a big part of my life. I took inspiration from Meredith Holms “In Praise of My Bed”. The final poem I wrote isn’t a specific type of poem. It was inspired by the rapper Kendrick Lamar’s latest album called DAMN. It tells a linear story of the relationship between two high schoolers that go off to separate colleges.

The first poem I wrote was a haiku.

It was written in the classical style with the 5-7-5. 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the middle, and 5 again in the final line. It is also present tense which stays with the traditional haiku form. I took inspiration from Inada and “Listening Images”. I knew that I wanted this poem to be personal. I used a question in the last line to help establish that. I took the idea of asking the reader a question from the Miles Davis portion of “Listening Images” “3 valves, tubing.../ How many feelings?” I really drew from how Inada used so few words but conveyed so much. I knew that this was also something I needed in my haiku. The words that I choose are very important, especially in this form. The power of the words used is everything. Inadas use isn’t quite as personal as how I used the question, but I always found this particular part of “Listening Images” to be the most

powerful.

The second poem I wrote was an ode to my computer. I took a lot of inspiration from this poem from Meredith Holms “In Praise of My Bed” It was more lighthearted in nature than my other poems. My poem started out as more of a satirical piece but it became more and more obvious as I was writing it that this was an important part of my life. I spent a lot of time on my computer. I used the repeating phrase “Thank you for...” at the beginning of each stanza to represent the gratitude felt towards the computer. The line that I took ideas from was the first few lines of “In Praise of My Bed”. “At last I can be with you!/ The grinding hours/since I left your side!/The labor of being fully human,/working my opposable thumb, /talking, and walking upright.” Holms uses these lines as a very witty yet self deprecating way. The words like “grinding” and “labor” are used to indicate the exaggerated hardships life takes on your physical body. I also used this idea in my poem. More specifically the way my computer takes me away from the struggles of life. “Escape from this hell we call life” and “Want to forget my problems” this same idea is expressed in these phrases. The other device I took from Holms was how she addressed the subject of the poem directly calling it “you”. I address the computer directly as well in the start of each stanza.

My final poem was an idea I had that spawned from the way the rapper Kendrick Lamar titled his newest album and songs. Each song is one fully capitalized word with a period at the end. I also was inspired to do this becuase of 28 by Charles Henri Ford. This poem specifically took me by surprise when I first read it because of how simple it is. In these types of poems, word choice is everything. Each word you choose has to convey an action and emotion. In “28” the word that conveyed action and emotion is “Stiff”. This word paints the person as upright and straight while being tight lipped and cold. The form that “28” took is very sporadic and complex. I wanted to convey in my poem as well. In my poem I wanted to make the reader see the transition in the two people the poem is about. The words “TALKING. NOT TALKING. TALKING.” are used to show how the people went back and forth with each other. At times