A Poison Tree

This poem almost has a joking tone to it. The writer talks about creating his own enemy and how problems against someone just grow into a "poison tree" and just become a bigger and bigger problem. I absolutely can relate to this poem too because there is always that one person in your life that you just completely dislike. Most people don't face their deceitful feelings towards the person they dislike, and like the poem states with "watering it in fears" and "soft, deceitful wiles" shows that a person just covers their true feelings with fake smiles and are too scared to solve the problem in front of them. Eventually that hate takes over you which, in this poem, is represented by an apple and the foe "knew that it was mine." This poem also has a beginning and an end, a process of hate, that has a rhyme scheme of aabb which makes the hateful poem flow well through the process of hating. When a person really doesn't like another human being, this "poison tree" is the prime example.

The Guitarist Tunes Up

As a musician's point of view, I could see how a musician would related their instrument kind of like seducing a woman. I can definitely relate because I play piano and with any instrument the player can't force it, but simply go with it. A person playing an instrument knows that it isn't "conquering" but instead wooing the instrument like a woman. The musician is able to relish in the beautiful sounds of the instrument, but only by being patient listening, such as how the author compares this to seducing a woman. A musician must listen to the instrument first to make sure it is in tune, and kind of test the waters before actually going all out and playing. This is compared to listening to what a woman has to say, and showing interest in what she is saying. The author sees playing the guitar as sort of an art and that there is a passion behind it just like love. The musician must have a relationship with the instrument that they are playing.

at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation

Clifton is very clear by the end of the poem with his hostility towards how people look at all the work thats put into the walnut grove plantation. The first three stanzas are pretty normal describing the situation at hand and how the inventory just lists ten names of slaves who lie at that cemetery, yet this simple situation is so much more to it than meets the eye. These people who are listed actually are human beings that each have a story to tell. Theres also the stanza that is italized that says "the inventory lists ten slaves but only men were recognized." In the next stanza, the author goes on to say that these people were also woman and children who should also be recognized for their hardships. The author wants the reader to know that these "bashful names" should be given more credit than a mere list of names that lived and worked on the property. Slaves were the main reason our economy even flourished the way it did, and without them we couldn't of made it this far, and American history downplays the importance of these people. The end of the poem repeatedly says here lies and finishes with the word "hear," and the author wants people to hear and appreciated the slaves who worked so hard for economy and our country.