I am still searching for another example of this instance, but my favorite moment in Natasha Trethewey’s poetry so far happens in “Southern Gothic,” lines 10 to 15. The first two lines, “The lines in my young father’s face deepen/ toward an expression of grief” come across to me as an effect. The lines that follow this are the cause: “I have come home/ from the schoolyard with the words that shadow us/ in this small Southern town.” As I said, I can’t find another instance of this yet, but I really adore this move. By giving us the effect and then the cause, the cause bears more weight. During initial reading, we don’t know that the cause was coming first, so the strategy contrasts with what we expect. Now that we’ve moved through the effect, we come upon the cause and it hits harder than if the instance were reversed. This strategy stands out for me because I’ve never noticed it in a work before, though I assume Trethewey didn’t create it.
Language Mixology Half brother of the same halves, simulacra is fancy for “absent.” Like banging means “good” or off the chain means “good.” The same way off the hook forgets the phone, I’m forgetting the space between Oregon and North Carolizzay, daylight savings time and the addition of the “-izzay.” So silly that suffix, verbed blackface for black folks. ----------------------------------- Halfrican Brothers Keep Trying To Out Do Me Halfrican brothers keep trying to out do me, Blending their jaw line blackface. “Does that make you feel more black?” I’d say yes, if I knew that “black” Wasn’t the absence of white, The refusal to speak the King’s English. I’m remembering that black points, Though hard to come by, make all the difference Between grape drink and some opposite, Pants on the ground and some opposite, For non black folks.
Comments