Valerie Kesslers Review of: Bleeding Heart and My Serenity

What I like about Bleeding heart is the fact that most of the things in the poem seem universal but they reach out and make it seem like the poem is about people right next door. I can see people from different places identifying with many of them. I really identified with the last two lines in the first stanza, since they make me think of someone very dear to me. I also like the fact that the last line of each stanza really tie together each section, and the final stanza brings the piece together as whole. The only thing I think that could be improved was the fifth line the third stanza, talking about coming out of the hood and the seventh line of the fifth stanza those references BET. To me the rest of the poem has a very open feel, not referencing any specific group of people and giving a universal sympathy, but those two lines seem to point to more specific groups of people, and interrupt the flow. (Instead of the hood, maybe something like ‘out of poverty’ and instead of BET, maybe reference celebrities or the media in general).

*After discussion in class, I think there was a good point that being specific may be a better way to go. But regardless of being specific or generally, the poem should consistantly stay one way or the other*

I found ‘My Serenity’ very interesting. I love the use of strong ‘other worldly’ imagery that starts in line fifteen with the mention of God. The poem has a fantastic flow and seems to naturally evolve to that elevated state with continuous references of things such as ‘heaven’ ‘flight’, and ‘halo’. I found the literary comparison in the beginning amusing (talking about similes, periods, and semi colons), but I think that they should be continued throughout the poem or eliminated. Perhaps replacing them with more earthly comparisons to enforce the flow of the poem may give the beginning (the first 10-15 lines) a more solid connection to the rest of the poem.