Kearney & Bryant

I began by reading Douglas Kearney, The Black Automation, and was confused by the theme. Each poem was titled a different bold text and every time underneath the poems was a different colored lion. The poems use descriptive words that tie along with the color of the lion for each specific poem, for example when writing about the "Blue Lion" She refers to, "a lake is no place for a cat like you. at least a river, or a sea floor of coral tenements. at least a delta" (page 14). Obviously the colors are used to guide the poems into different directions but to still keep them together as a whole. My favorite poem out of this packet was the very last one called, "From Voltron". It is written very unique with large spaces and uneven lines, it caught my attention and suddenly I was enjoying it. The poem seems like it's a last thought or last breath moment, the brain was forgetting about where her legs were or left hand and it ends in a cliff hanger which I wish it didn't, she says, "Our bodies said yes, and our mouths said … …." (page 15). I'm not quite sure what message Kearney was trying to portray to her audience with this being with ending to her whole short book of poems, but it was drastic and memorable.

In Tisa Bryant's ,Unexplained Presence, I felt she was focusing on history through fiction to explain how it has shaped our culture today. I found this story hard to follow because it seemed as if she was mixing fiction and facts all within her story and it was hard to determine what was true and false. I liked the sarcasm that was used in this article, I thought that it made it a little less awful to read. Danny Victoria was my favorite character because of how bold his personality was and how he was filled with spunk, "My name is Danny. They call me Victoria if they like me, and fuckhead if they don't" (page 35). I typically am not interested in this type of writing because it's hard to follow African American culture because I am not informed or very interested. The last line, similar to Douglas Kearney, leaves you with a cliffhanger, "When the credits roll, Violet isn't there at all" (page 38). I do not like when writers leave their stories without a finish because it leaves me feeling unsatisfied with the whole story in general and the only part that I'm left thinking about is the last sentence.