C'81

Out of all the poems, this poem brought the most attention to me. This poem illustrates the idea of inequality among the rich and poor. Alice Notley, the author, brings a sense of togetherness in the poem where she often uses the term " us." I noticed that when Notley began to list the differences between the rich and poor she didn't separate the terms by commas. Perhaps, she didn't use them in order to emphasize each term. " They're crazed resentful struggling paranoid excessive anxious about their faded rickety possessions and their stoops their patches of sunlight or shade on stoops their children going wrong and all the disorder of garbage cans everyone else boringly has clean cold spaces new things privet schools self-filled conversations." Notley states "... they think it all goes for"pills." This sentence really stood out to me because it shows an immense contrast in society. A contrast which I believe stems from of course the higher class vs, the lower class. But also, exists with in the lower class in itself. There are different levels underneath the general term of "lower class." For example, I do not consider myself to be rich, however, I do consider myself to be wealthier than a homeless person with no stabilized income. I feel like I can relate to this poem the most because often times when random people on the train ask me for money, I immediately judge them based on their appearance and social status and assume they will use it to buy drugs. Notley mentions that she had guilt from borrowing but never guilt from having something. This sentence also stood out to me because this showed a sense of pride that I believe to be innate, Everyone is somehow born with a sense to want to own and have something that belongs to only oneself. Hence why many people migrate to the U.S. to seek a better future, and to have something they can call their own," the American Dream." Notley suddenly touches base on many political topics.