“Lorena,” by Lucille Clifton
Author: Lucille Clifton
later throws it from car window.
—News Report
it lay in my palm soft and trembled
as a new bird and i thought about
authority and how it always insisted
on itself, how it was master
of the man, how it measured him, never
was ignored or denied, and how it promised
there would be sweetness if it was obeyed
just like the saints do, like the angels
and i opened the window and held out my
uncupped hand; i swear to god
i thought it could fly
from The Paris Review, Issue no. 136 (Fall 1995)
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This is tone is harsh and dramatic. This really catch my eye and made me want to read it the poem and find out more about it. I was shocked when i read it and i went back to re-read it to make sure what i was reading was correct.
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line 7-8 there are two similes that go together. I thought this was cool because I don’t usually see this. I think she has hope or thinking of what would have happen in a different way.
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by that, does she mean that? does she mean thats where a man cares about it the most? why would she use master? this sentence makes me question.
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Shows a sense of security that the person has on the speaker. this can show either dominance from the speakers partner or fear from the speaker themselves.
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This gives a setting of where this is taking place. I think this is cool because i don’t see this in many poems and it just tells you and you don’t have to figure it out in the actual poem.
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