I don’t have much experience with poetry. I mean I have read some poems from time to time but never took the time to break them down to fully understand them. Poetry is something that must be read piece by piece and break it down the same way, just as we have been doing in class. However, I’m not sure this makes it easier for me to process and understand. Even though I don’t read much poetry, I do have a favorite poem. It is actually a spoken word type of poem. Ain’t That Bad by Maya Angelou resonated with me and was easy to understand and interpret. To me it is a celebration of blackness, black culture, black identity, black language, black experience.
Dancin’ the funky chicken
Eatin’ ribs and tips
Diggin’ all the latest sounds
And drinkin’ gin in sips.
Puttin’ down that do-rag
Tighten’ up my ‘fro
Wrappin’ up in Blackness
Don’t I shine and glow?
Now ain’t they bad?
An ain’t they Black?
An ain’t they Black?
An’ ain’t they Bad?
An ain’t they bad?
An’ ain’t they Black?
An’ ain’t they fine?
Oedipus the King will take some time for me to process, but I don’t think it will be as challenging as it seems. I just have to read it multiple times.
4 thoughts on “Jovan ‘JoJo’ Wellington Discussion Wk7”
Hi Jovan, thank you for sharing your experience with the poems. Sharing the fact that you had a hard time could be challenging sometimes. I really liked that you shared your favorite poem that you relate to and find interesting. I hope that while reading Oedipus the King you will have an easier time understanding both the text itself and deeper meanings and narratives as well. Reading multiple times will definitely help, for me each time that I read a text again I find something new that I didn’t notice the previous read.
Hello Jojo,
This poem is so cool! I love that you mention that this poem celebrates our blackness, something which is very scare today. I too feel like poetry is something that has to be broken down gradually to fully get the grasp of the reading. I do agree that Opedius the King takes some time to understand but I can assure you that eventually the meaning and understanding of the poems comes to you. Overall, I really appreciate this post because you’ve shared a new poem with me that is definitely going into my favorite poem vault.
Hey JoJo, I loved your post as well as your vulnerability to let us know how you don’t have much experience with poetry and that you need more time understanding the play. I feel exactly the same when it comes to both, more so the play especially because I missed class on Tuesday so I feel a little behind so I went back and re read the play over to see if I can get some understanding of what’s going on and I still feel as though I will understand better going over it with all of you guys in class. I feel like this play is one those plays where you have to get insight from everyone reading it in class and in some moments agree to disagree to get a clear understanding of the play, if that makes any sense. I’m just happy we have the opportunity to read it with Professor Conway because she’s able to help us dissect whichever part we may feel stuck on.
Jo Jo, thanks for sharing thew Angelou poem. I’d never read it before. I’d like to hear a bit more about the connection between reading poetry and reading Oedipus the King—especially since we didn’t read this poem in class.