Blackberry Eating

 I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like strengths or squinched,
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps,
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry -- eating in late September. 

Blackberry eating while it literally outlines a story of someone eating blackberries on a September morning, the blackberries are also used as a metaphor for words, and also "Blackberry Making" as a metaphor for writing poetry. Maneuvering through the prickly branches the poet is able to take in the ripest berries, much as a poet shuffles through words until the right or "certain peculiar" words land on their tongue and flows to their pages. They use their words and imagery to create a sensory experience, of tastes (eating the blackberries), sounds (silent) textures and the sense of touch, (fat, icy, prickly squeeze, squinch) and emotions (startled) to convey a message.  In a big way this poem is all about simply that; poems and their crafting. I believe the reason the poet chose blackberries as a metaphor is because they can be experienced through all your senses, and while words can be spoken or heard they cant be held or tasted or smelled, so by using the blackberry metaphor he was able to make the intangible, tangible.

Sometime During Eternity by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I found this poem so interesting. In it he sort of satyrs the history of Jesus Christ, referencing to him as the "carpenter". It also makes a satyr of the bible referencing "scrolls of parchments" that will be found at a later time by the dead sea. His followers are almost treated as if they are adoring fans and Jesus is the rockstar. telling him "You're hot" and then they hang him on the tree to cool (the crucifixion). Then he almost mocks the religious practices of Christianity by commenting on how they are always making "models" of him on the tree, as in crucifixes, and how they are always "crooning his name" and asking him to come down, (worship and the belief in the second coming). Reading this I'm sure a lot of Christians would find the poem blasphemous, I found it an interesting way to ponder or question, the dogma attached to Christianity.

I liked how intelligent his references were within the poem (The city Galilee,  Carpenter, 1947, years till the parchments would be found, "Petered" out, and the use of the capitalization in the pronouns used whenever referencing Christ or God ("Him", "His" etc.)). I think there's also a statement made in this poem that really questions the followers of the religion, he claims that none of them really believe it, and he shows how its almost hypocritical that they put him on the tree (cross) but are then forever begging him to come down.

But I question the v views of the poet from the last few lines of the poem, He claims the News says Christ is dead, but then he says if you believe them (yes he shows he doesn't by calling them an unreliable source) I wonder if that means the poet is actually more devout than his poem leads you to believe.

Homework by Allen Ginsberg

If only it was so simple as how Alan Ginsberg details how he would clean up the mess we've made of this world. Simply by giving it a spin through the old washing machine. Ginsburg gives a special little plan for each part of the world, in a poem that could be written on the care label of the earth. The author creatively, and with a sardonic dose of sarcasm, details all the things he feels we've destroyed in the planet, through pollution, acid rain, the spoils of war, to the actions of the police. It also gives us a nice ironic twist when you consider the concept that he's using all these man made chemicals and machines, in order to cleanse the world (where is all this pollution draining to?). The poem gives a heavy social statement, but I feel it lends no real advice to the actual cause except pointing out the obvious destruction. I found the poem ironic, sarcastic, and whimsical, but in the end all it really sounds to me is -sarcastic musings from a voice that doesn't feel his poem will have any impact. I feel possibly the impossibility of the idea lends nothing but whimsy to the possibility of reversing our harm to the planet. But if only it was so simple, Id suggest just dropping it off at my dry cleaner. They can get anything out!