Poem Responses

My first poem that I am responding to is Preference, on page 225. From the first line, I could tell that the grammar was off. I assumed it was a little boy talking. The grammar sounds childish and the speaker is talking about what kind of woman he is interested in. I found it humorous that the kid is talking about the differences in young girls vs. old girls and basically talking about how he's looking for maturity, when he himself doesn't sound all that mature. Overall, the poem has a great lesson behind it and some wise words. The line, "That's why I likes a older woman who can appreciate me..." shows a lot of understanding. We all look for the person that loves us for who we are but it takes some time to find them. The second poem I responded to was Sister, on page 224. The first line, "That little Negro's..." jumped out at me and told me that it was about to be a different type of poem. This poem is a little racist; however, the details in the poem explain that it's early southern language. Details like, "Why don't she get a boy-friend," and "Why does he keep on foolin' around Marie?" give me a southern feel. So, the first line of the poem doesn't seem so far off as when I first read it. I found this poem funny when Marie is basically called a gold digger, and it relates to the first poem I responded to, Preference, in the fact that some girls just run around with the guys that will give them what they want, they're the young ones, the ones that aren't quite mature enough to realize that they aren't truly happy with what they have.