I like Lorine Niedeckers’s poem “Paean to Place”, her poem uses simple and clear idea to tell her story to the readers, which is like this way, “And the place was water\ fish\fowl\ flood \ water lily wud\ my life.” Her simple words work very well in her poem, she characterized her family thoroughly. Each line her poem only uses one or two words, but her words showed her story completely. “In the leaves and on water\my mother and I born” it is good words to describe that she is unsettled in life and irresponsible. All her words use for this poem is very good, such is“Seven year molt \ for the solitary bird and so young\ Seven years the one dress.” Her words so special to tell a story, which is, “for town once a week\ one for home\ faded blue- striped as she piped\ her cry.” She puts her own personal detail in this poem everywhere, she identifies her mom and father in the poem. She explains her parents in this way,“As to his bright new car\ my mother—her house \next his averred: \A humming bird can’t haul,” right here she give us her family information in the poem. This long poem is all about her family history. Her father was a fisherman, her family life look like floating on top of water, she says: “O my floating life\ do not save love for things \Throw things to the flood\ruined by the flood\ Leave the new unbought--\ all one in the end—water.” From here, she tells the reader her family depending on the water, because fish live in the water, but water made her family lose everything, her poem clear tell us : “River rising—flood \ Now melt and leave home \ Return—broom wet naturally wet \ Under \ Soak-heavy rug water bugs hatched—no snake in the house \ Where were they? – she \ who know how to clean up after floods \ he who bailed boats, houses \ \ Water endows us with buckled floors.” In this quotation, she wants to tell reader how water causes so many problems for her family. Also, her poem recalls all memories of her family with water. She ends her poem by including a summary of the water in this way, “On this stream my moon night memory\ washed of hardships \ maneuvers barges thru the mouth \ of the river \ They fished in beauty \ It was not always so in Fishs red Mars rising rides the sloughs and sluices of my mind \with the persons on the edge.” She writes one way she depicts water as disastrous.The other way water means fish “They fished in beauty” that’s her life of the memory with the water. Which means water is a good servant but a bad master, sometimes things don’t work the way you want, that’s life.
When I read her poem, it makes me think about my life with the water, for me most is good memory in my childhood. I was born in the big city Wuhan, China, the Yangtze River cross through the city, there are many lakes around this city. My apartment is close to the famous park Donghu. Inside the park there is one big lake and six small lakes. It means if you walk in the park, each way you go water surrounds you. The willow trees stand by the lake shore, weeping the water. That’s the place I grew up. Water is so important for my life, especially in the summer time. I went swimming every day, with a bunch of children to play in the lake. I ran around in the park playing with my friends in the green mountain and blue-water lake. In the holiday, we bought fish caught from the lake. It is so fresh, and the yummy taste of the fish from the lake made my childhood so happy. This place gives me a lot of sweet dreams. I remember sometimes in the hot summer night, children like to play and sit round in the park to hear the story from our parents, as the lake glistens in the moonlight. The moonlight in the lake is so beautiful. I can still see the picture of the park with the water always in front of me.
Lorine Niedeckers’s poem and my poem are all about the place with the water. Most of her poem was sad story to tell the readers,but my poem wants to tell the reader a sweet story of my childhood. Her poem very detail her family history about with the water. Reading her poem we can get picture come alive with what’s she wants to tell us. Which we can understand how water is identity in her life. For me the water is the happy moment in my life time. I know her idea is much better than my idea, and her writing skill is so good. Of course I need keep learning until reaching my dream, which is to develop strong writing skills.
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