Good Joanna

                                                 Woman on fire

       The characteristics of the poem that I see reflected in Henderson's other poems are imagery, free verse and a paradox of unity vs separation.  In majority of his poems he uses the phrase "we" referring to a bigger whole,  reaching out to his ethnic community.  For most part, the language used in most poems is ordinary; nothing too fancy or hard to comprehend. Henderson fails at creating a genuine pattern that can be recognized in his poetry.  However, his poetry is infused with Jazz and other political issues.  The context dictates the form his poems take. Majority of poems are written in prose with no strict structure,  there's not much rhythmic patters in them.  Anaphora can be found in the poem "Good Joanna" as well as imagery and hyperbole.  The language used in this poem can be considered romantic. Words such as candlelight, fire,hot, and red gives the poem a tone of intimacy. Hyperbole is used for most part, "Her red hair turned to fire", "...sun had fallen from the sky into his eyes" these examples allows the reader to create an image of the passionate experience being described in the text.  I assumed this so called "good Joanna" represented his lover or a mistress, yet there's no further information to support my inferences.  There's a sense of urgency in the poem,  of being one yet being strangers to one another.  The second part of the poem consist of a much more explained account of his personal experience.  They are drunk, they are drinking liquor , they are dancing. I find certain warmth and comfort in Henderson's words.  there is something so beautiful about this poem, perhaps the way its written.  The word "blue" is mentioned several times, which can link to the type of music they were dancing to.   Perhaps Henderson's poetry might lack a certain pattern because he was improvising just like Jazz music.  Henderson states "every tree in the forest burns alone", this phrase left me intrigued.