Poetry Response #2

Amiri Baraka ( Leroi Jones)
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note


Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelops me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus…

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night, I tiptoed up
To my daughter’s room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there…
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

My response
I believe that the author of this poem is somewhat effective in conveying his message. The content of the poem doesn’t really explain the title of the poem which really makes the entire poem extremely abstract and hard to understand. The author begins by explaining how he is beginning to become accustomed to his life or lifestyle. Which brings me to think that maybe his tired of the direction which his life is taking, or maybe his life becoming too boring. Then he adds a part where he says “Nobody sings anymore” which maybe leads me to think he wants to commit suicide because he is very lonely. The author of this poem does a really good job of painting an image of a guy who is very lonely and who is bothered by the fact that his everyday routine is the same. The author then adds in the part of his daughter which brings me to understand that his daughter is also lonely as well and has no one to play with because in the art where he says “ … To my daughters room and heard her/ Talking to someone, and when I opened/ The door, there was no one there…/ Only she on her knees, peeking into/ Her own clasped hands.” When the author introduced this part it really through me off and made it really hard for me how his daughter connected with the title. Maybe he just introducing some variables as t why he wants to commit suicide and he daughter is one. Maybe he feels bad that his daughter lives a lonely life just like him. The entire diction of this poem is very easy understand, but the meaning behind the words is very vague and complicated to understand.