Patricia Smith's Blood Dazzler

Bryton Legree

Enc1102

Kristine Snodgrass

Fall Term 2013

Journal #8

In Patricia Smith's "Blood Dazzler," a book of poems illustrating the affects that Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans. This book held abundant amount of poems, but, the one that I favor the most is Patricia Smiths "Only Everything I Own." This poem is my favorite because it was a rebuttal to a news report that told everyone to vacate their lifestyles, home and go elsewhere before the storm. It spoke to me because it spoke on a person who was living a modest lifestyle; in a home passed down generation to generation in her family; and her family ate food that they harvested themselves. Her family had little things of worth, and their house was the most expensive thing in their possession. It's relatable because the person had nowhere to go; they couldn't vacate their homes, leave things behind, leave their customs only to go somewhere else and struggle to make means meet. At the end of the poem the speaker says," that blistered sky has learned my days and hates me for everything I have." It's not easy to tell this person had to work for everything they have and does` not live an easy life. This person did not reap the blessings that others who were fortunate could reap. In the poem "Inconvenient," it speaks about an affluent that views Katrina as a chance to vacation, and this family also have the money to relocate themselves and start a new life. These two poems contrast, but it shows how lives differ; personally the person in "Only Everything I Own," story is relatable that is why I favor it.