Obadike and Bohince

Obadike’s work threw me for a loop. I liked her work, and I didn’t like her work. Many of the successes of her poems is the subtle humor and simplicity of language and casual attitude. However, at times this beautiful simplicity had me thinking: “Cliché!” at times. Thus, the battle (or tensions) between clever and defamiliarizing of a made-phrase, to catching a made-phrase in action continued throughout her work. For example of the simplicity in made-phrases and casualty: “She sneezes/on the chance someone/ will bless her” (54). Here the poem “Strategy” flows nicely and is strange because of its enjambments. It borderlines cliché when talking about sneezing and the common response of “bless you.” Obadike did this throughout her work, sometimes leading up to a made-phrase and completely changing the context. I felt like a lot of her work was predictable: “starve us with their hunger,” “smell so sweet,” etc. Then, she’ll say something completely unexpected like “risk is a mashed up fruit” (52). “Clink” is a great example of how her simplicity is stunning and unexpected. I just wish there weren’t so many made phrases. This tactic seems as if some of the poems were forced into existence, especially after hearing that Ben Lerner said sometimes poets need to make their book 64 pages in length. I just question some of the poems. I am torn as to whether or not I enjoyed the work, but I can at least say, half of the time I was impressed with Obadike’s devices. I felt also at times the gender was skewed and it may be possible that the speaker had no intended gender or switched lots of times. I really liked this approach to creating a work of poems. I like that I have a challenge in reading poems. Overall, Obadike has an interesting approach to emotional and self-connection.

As for Bohince, I wanted to focus on the acrostic poems and what they do in terms of “saying something.” When I was in grade school I used to love doing these poems, because you not only could write a poem, but you could make other words or a poem with the left margin as well. It was nice to have a horizontal poem and a vertical one. I must say though, I thought this form of poetry was elementary and at times a little kitschy. However, this style of poetry reoccurred multiple times throughout this collection. Does this set the tone for a childlike author or does it have a deeper meaning? “Memento,” “Outhouse,” and “Geese In Snow” all have the title in the poem as the acrostic. I think this was too simple and a waste of a device. I feel that Bohince should not have given away the poem by revealing it to the reader right away. I think this defeats the purpose of actively engaging or challenging the reader. So, I must say I was disappointed in this. However, “Acrostic for My Father” (40) reveals that the vertical poem says “I dream of you.” I think this is clever that this was not revealed to the reader, however, at the same time the message is cliché. If I had not read the back of the book, which interprets the collection to be a murder mystery, I would have never known or guessed the poem(s) serve as an elegy or finding out the mystery. When describing the father or mentioning him with “I dream of you,” it seems really kitschy. I feel like this work was forced into an interpretation, and that’s disappointing. I would much rather read something that I could come up with my own conclusion, and not be told what is supposed to happen. Bohince has beautiful poetry and defamiliarized associations and images, however, I’m caught up in plot and I’m not happy. It clouds the talent she has of writing poetry.