"The Bath" by Gary Snyder

          The poem "The Bath" by Gary Snyder ties the gap between the universe and it's human inhabitants.  The level of attachment Snyder has with his son and wife is unlike family relationships in America today.  Most people do not connect the entire universe with our creation, but Snyder connects the world around him with his own creation and the creation of his son with the help of his wife, "the seed still tucked away, that moved from us to him / In flows that lifted with the same joys forces / as his nursing Masa later, / playing with her breast, / Or me within her, / Or him emerging, / this is our body."  His poetry is deep and I appreciate the emotional depth of his work because it makes connections people don't regularly see.  Most people are raised with some sort of religious background and are taught that there is a greater omnipotent creator behind our existence, but the poet believes the world around him brought him and his family to this earth.  He says, "The cloud across the sky. The windy pines./ the trickle gurgle in the swampy meadow / this is our body."  Snyder broadens the minds of his readers with his work by giving a naturalistic point of view on life by connecting the ecological "body" of the universe with his own physical body. 

“Sex Without Love” by Sharon Olds

A poem beyond its time, “Sex without Love” is an artfully written work of art that contrasts between mental and emotional connectivity.  With prostitution being the eldest profession known to man, sex is unquestionably a part of human nature.   Poet Sharon Olds speaks with profundity between the impulsive loveless sex humans are so eagerly attracted to versus making love with your life-partner. She describes the lustful sex as “wet as the / children at birth whose mothers are going to / give them away. How do they come to the / come to the come to the God come to the / still waters, and not love / the one who came there with them, light/ rising slowly as steam off their joined / skin?” 

            Typically, mothers who give their children away have little to no connection with the baby’s father and were conceived out of wedlock.  With today’s sexual liberation and freedom to fornicate outside of marriage without fear of ridicule, these scenarios are becoming more prevalent in our culture.  She describes the orgasm like taking a trip to heaven and questions how one could experience that without loving their partner.  It is especially relevant in today’s society and her perspective should be appreciated.  To minimize the removal of children from their biological parents and families being torn apart, she brings her view into light in hopes of catching the attention of people that so willingly participate in risky loveless sex.

Yusef Komunyakaa "Facing it"

The poem "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa is not only relevant to our generation, but to every generation that has experienced a war.  The poem provoked a new emotion every time I re-read it, but pain seemed to be the strongest of them.  Yusef takes readers to a new depth of pain, one that you can feel with every sense and he skillfully teaches a lesson about camaraderie and reality.  How painful it must be to touch the name of a friend and immediately flash back to terrifying explosions, "I touch the name Andrew Johnson; I see the booby trap's white flash."  This is especially relevant today because so many of our veterans are coming from war, have serious mental damage that develops into problems like PTSD but have no way of treating it.  Soldiers wake up in hospitals and are faced with the excruciating memories of watching their comrades die in battle and have no place to turn for help, "My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite."  The truth behind the poem penetrates the mind, body, and soul.