Mentor Poet: Tracy K. Smith

 

In the above poem, “The Good Life”, Smith begins by commenting on the large value society places on money. She personifies money as a “mysterious lover” to show the prominence money has on the course of one’s lives. Thinking about money causes her to become nostalgic and she thinks about her past that was riddled with hardships. Her description of her personal struggles allow readers to relate to her on a personal level as they reflect on their struggles. Smith also shows the stark contrasts between days when she has money to spare and days when she does not. With money, she describes herself “like everyone else/On roast chicken and red wine”. However, when she is recalling her past experiences, she describes her meal as “coffee and bread/hungry all the time”. Smith also likens her financial struggles to “journeying for water from a village without a well” to show the intensity of her struggle and how she did not have the appropriate resources. I think she titled her poem, “The Good Life” to emphasize that life riddled with hardships, struggles and conflicts makes life more meaningful and fulfilling. Thus, she encourages her audience to view their struggles in a more positive light. 

In the above poem, “The Universe: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack”, Smith writes about the sounds that occurred when the universe was created. In the second and third stanzas, she writes, “white noise, black noise. What must be voices bob up, then drop”. I think this refers to people who are talking and trying to figure out what the meaning of the universe is and what their place within it would look like. I think she also portrays how the human race tries to discover and conquer everything in the universe when she writes, “so much for the flags we bored”. Also, when she writes, :tin cans we filled with fire”, I think she is referring to rockets and our desire to discover the universe. However, towards the end of the poem, Smith portrays a stark reality in which humankind has discovered everything in the universe when she writes, “the dark we’ve only ever imagined now audible” and “silence taunts”. Smith ends her poem with silence yet she begins her poem with a mixture of different sounds: “high hat and snare” and “crinkle and drag”. 

I chose Tracy K. Smith as my mentor poet because of her simple yet meaningful poems. In most of her works, she describes the simplicity and complexity of life as she writes about the meaning of both. 

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