First Kiss-FK

First Kiss is a poem written by Kim Addonizio. The poem is on long stanza consisting of twenty-one lines. Basically the Addonizio uses a long metaphor to compare a first kiss she shared with someone, to breast feeding her daughter. Addonizio begins by comparing the look on her babies face when she has to stop breast feeding the her, to the look on the person she is kissing face when they stop. She continues to compare her baby with the person she shared this kiss with. Now she says the person she kissed has the same look of dependability and helplessness that her baby has when she wants to breast feed again. I found it interesting that at the end of the poem that Addonizio says that although the person she is kissing is vulnerable he is impossible to hurt like her baby. To me this shows how much Addonizio loves the person she is kissing because she doesn't/can't hurt this person even though they are vulnerable. Also the fact that Addonizio compares her baby to the person she is kissing shows how much Addonizio loves that person. When reading this poem one word I had to look up was loll. Loll means hang loosely. Addonizio used this word when explaining how her baby's head hung when breast feeding it.

First Kiss - VB

The poem I chose was First Kiss by Kim Addonizio. It consisted of one stanza containing 21 lines and is a conceit, which is an extended metaphor. It is talking about the first kiss with a man that she seems to have a future relationship with after this occurance. She was comparing his face after the kiss to the face of her daughter after breast feeding. It was a face that showed helplessness and not minding that she knows. "knowing she could show me how helpless she was"

I chose this poem because of the picture it painted in my head of the first kiss in front of a church leaning against a chainlink fence. I pictured it at night time because it was talking about the drugged look her daughter used to get, which reminded me of my young siblings right before they go to bed how tired and relaxed they look. Also I feel like it was the end of a date and one of the dates that winds up in the strangest places but because of where you wound up and who you were with is what makes it so memorable. Also, the drugged look the man had reminds me of myself when I had an experience similar to this.

'First Kiss' R. Abbott

'First Kiss,' by Kim Addonizio, is essentially an extended metaphor (or conceit) is which she compares the first time she kisses a man to a moment when she breast fed her daughter. Addonizio begins by describing the look on the man's face and instantly referencing it to that of her baby daughter's. She goes into great, descriptive detail when explaining the breast feeding process but if given a closer look, it seems to be describing the actions of kissing as well; most notably in the line "made the seal tight between us, and sucked, drawing the liquid down and out of my body" - just like a passionate kiss. In the fourth line she uses a simile to compare her baby's eyes to old fashioned glass milk bottles - "turned vague and filmy." Towards the middle of the poem, Addonizio explained the great difference between being satisfied as a baby and wanting [to be fed] more. I believe this is a direct reference to the man she alludes to later in the poem. The climatic moment of the poem is when the writer realizes that the baby suckling on to her and the man kissing her are not only things they wanted to do - these moments symbolize their helplessness and vulnerability. In the last few lines of the poem, when describing the actions of the man, it seems as though Addonizio implements an oxymoron when saying he is vulnerable and easy but impossible to hurt at the same time - I didn't exactly know what to make of this.

loll - hang loosely, laxly
satiety - satisfied; unable to take on more

The River-Merchant's wife (M.A)

This poem is an interesting as it is translated from Chinese into Japanese and then into English.
Firstly, in terms of format, the poem has 4 stanzas, it has no rhyming pattern.

The first stanza talks about the girl meeting the boy when they were children and playing outside with their wooden toys and they did not have any conflicts within themselves. Then, at fourteen years old, they got married. This verse gives away that the poem was written decades ago when child marriage was still acceptable in Asia. Furthermore, she calls him "My Lord" which means she worshipped him, as usually Asian girls are taught to worship their husbands like God. The next verse though states that she never laughed and was shy, which could imply that she wasn't happy but accepted her marriage.

But in the second stanza she shortly mentions her change, how she wanted to love him, and did so, by "mingling my dust with yours". This could have a sexual connotation that she wanted to sleep with him, or it could be a figurative image that she wanted to connect their heart together, to love each other.
But in the third stanza, at 16 years, her husband left her to go to a river and he has been gone for five months now. I am not exactly sure what swirling eddies means in this context. The angry monkeys could maybe symbolize her angry emotions?

The last stanza describes how long it has been since he has left with descriptions of changes in nature and how the changes to winter (which could symbolize her growing emotions of sorrow and hurt), and how she is growing older (without him) and she is not liking it. The last two verses state that if he is coming back, he wants her to know beforehand so she can come greet him, which means he is eager upon his arrival. She does not want surprises.

Although I do like the poem, I feel that in all those translations, the feeling and emotions have been lost. From personal experience, whenever I have read a translated poem, I do not find them as interesting or reader friendly as poems that have been written in their original language. Yet, this is my personal opinion.

TRMW

In this poem, it seems as though the poet is talking about her husband who she married at 14 out of arrangement "without dislike or suspicion".

She "[lowered] her head, looked at the wall" showing that she was not equal with her husband or possibly was not happy about being married to him.

But then when she was 15 she began to love him, and never wanted to turn back. He left at 16 and she now misses him. Wants him back.

My only question with this poem is how much was lost in translation? word play, rhyme, rhythm

There isn't much figurative imagery. The last stanza paints a beautiful picture of how summer is ending, and fall is beginning. "leaves fall early this autumn", "paired butterfules are already yellow with August"

The River Merchant's Wife - Jeet

I thought this was a very lucid poem that made use of literal images more than figurative ones. The first stanza talks about how the two children met. While they got married at an early age as was customary in that day and age, the girl was still shy and their relationship still nascent.

In the next stanza, she "stops scowling", getting more comfortable in the relationship and growing fonder of him. She uses the metaphor of mingling dust to say that she wishes to be with him till death part them.

In the next stanza, she says he had to go away as per his calling as a river merchant and had to spend extended times away from home. I think "the monkeys make sorrowful noise..." is an apt use of symbolism to express her sadness.

"By the gate now, the moss is grown, the differnent mosses/ To deep to clear them away!" Although she provides a literal image of the deep mosses of different kind, I think she is in fact alluding to how seasoned their love is now and how much she misses him. This allusion is reinforces by the mention of the gate, perhaps the same one by which they first met. The mention of paired butterflies emphasizes her lonely state. The poem ends with another vivid literal image in which she says how far she is willing to travel to reunite with him.

To the Muse-WOORAM

I think this poem is for Jenny. She may suffer from some illness and surgery. The author wants to lie to her that the pain from the surgery is not going to be forever, but he knows it still painful. So he chose not to lie anything. At the last stanza, it seems Jenny passed out. The author really misses her, but he does not seem to believe heaven. He wrote, “I will come down to you”. If he believes heaven he might write he will come up to see her, because heaven is not under the ground.
The image from the poem is really painful and sad. I can feel that the fear from losing someone who really cares. Also I can feel the fear from loneliness to be left. The author may not have alternative method to expose his sorrow except write a poem to Jenny.