Poem and Response to Lucie Brock-Broido

Ashlyn

I.
As the knife pierced the flesh
She kept on cutting.
It wasn’t until she saw the blood
Mixing with the tomato juice
That she lifted her finger
And stuck it in her mouth.
She felt the blood shoot out,
Warm and wet,
It trickled down her throat,
But the finger remained numb
And unfeeling.
It would be the last time her mom
Would ask her to chop.

II.
They said she might not be allowed
To play with the other kids.
She kept pinching the boy
Until his skin turned red and started
To swell.
Her homeroom teacher had pulled her
Off of him. She didn’t know
What she had done wrong.
She said she liked the boy
And that they were just playing.
His parents had him transferred
To a different class.

III.
“Ashlyn, stop doing that!”
Her mother scolded.
She giggled and jumped
Off the ledge one more time.
“But it’s fun!” she squealed.
Her mom grabbed her by the arm,
Her nails digging into her skin,
And forced her inside.
Maybe a time out
Will force her to learn.

IV.
She never understood why
They gave her parents such a hard time.
It had only been their fourth visit
This month. The men in the white coats
Always had a list of questions for her
When her parents were out of the room.
No matter how much she insisted upon the truth,
They continued to look on her with disbelief.
They would stand outside in a circle and mutter
Peering in once or twice.
When they finally got home, her mom would lock
Herself in her bedroom.
Ashlyn pretended not to hear her cry.


Response to Lucie Brock-Broido

I am indecisive this week, so I decided to expand upon a previous poem and to write a short response to Lucie Brock-Broido
Although Brock-Broido’s poetry is different from my style of writing, I really enjoyed it. When I first read through, I was intrigued about where she got her ideas. I knew there were notes in the back, but I initially refused to read them, thinking it would give me too much information. However, after Melanie, told me that she enjoyed the notes, I read them after finishing the book.
Initially, I enjoyed reading the poems without the notes. For example, my favorite poem was “Elective Mutes.” I was completely intrigued reading about these two twins and wondering what was going on between them. I was able to theorize or wonder about them through the first reading. After reading the notes, I liked the poem even more. Brock-Broido was able to capture the twins and present them in a way that gave the reader enough idea about what was going on but still leaving an element of wonder. In the end, I actually enjoyed knowing the full story about the twins and where Brock-Broido got her information.
I would have to say my favorite thing about Brock-Broido, despite just her writing style, is where she gets the idea for a lot of her poems. Although I usually enjoy confessional poetry more, it was refreshing to read somebody who got their inspiration elsewhere. I started to realize this (without the notes) when reading “Edward VI on the Seventh Day” because of a previous fascination with Henry VIII. After reading the notes on “Jessica, from the Well” and “Elective Mutes,” I truly appreciated what Brock-Broido is doing.
I would also like to note that with Brock-Broido, I liked a lot of her poems as a whole as opposed to liking certain lines. There were not as many lines that captured me, like with Michael Earl Craig and Jim Harrison, but I really enjoyed most of her poems after reading them in their entirety.