Getting Through- 265

"Getting Through" by Deborah Pope uses mostly imagery and diction to get her point across. The poem is an explaination of her love for a man in which seems to annoy her, not pleasure her, yet she can't seem to stop loving him. She is trapped behind a barrier and cannot seem to escape. The poem has no ryhme scheme at all, and uses many dramatic, negative similies to get her point across, which adds to the contrast of love and its true meaning. It is basically one very long stanza.

The author uses diction very wisely. She doesn't state anything positive. The words, stuck stupid, gone, ratcheting, moved away, dust, deepening, spilling, and closed, are all negative. The title "Getting Through" infers that she is trying to overcome the hardships of all the negative words used. She uses chicken too stupid, people moving away, and a train off its track. She simply uses similes about nonessential aspects of life. This love is now merely an annoyance to her. The similes put a very bold image in the readers mind : A headless chicken, phone ringing, muscles spilling out of her body and a train driven off its track. All of these similes allow the reader to think about such things and wonder how they relate to her being in love. I think that is what makes the poem interesting, her word choice. There appears to be two senses that are focused in the poem which is sound and feel, or movement. The sound section would be "or sound ratcheting on long after the film has jumped the reel, or a phone ringing and ringing in the house they have all moved away from." The speaker states this to assist the fact that she knows she wants to say more, yet cannot. Her sense of touch or movement occurs with "the car stuck in gear, a chicken too stupid to tell its head is gone" A car is for transportation and essentially is moving all the time...now that it is stuck in gear, it cannot seem to move, just as her voice. A chicken with its head cut off generally runs around in circles, just as her thoughts are in her mind.

I think that this woman doesn't want to love this man anymore however she has no choice, she is weak and cannot think for herself. She allows the reader to feel bad for her and think of love as a somewhat negative power. In which can happen, yet isn't the full meaning. I enjoyed the poem because Deborah Pope uses such imagery that it makes you feel as if your not just reading a poem. I think everyone has had a moment in their lives when they felt scared of intimidated to say what's on their mind, and the way it is put on paper, all of her scattered thoughts, is very impressive. I think the author is trying to make a statement that if your in love with someone just as she is, you're wasting your time if you don't tell them and express your feelings.