Thursday, May 16, 2013
English 42 - Legacy - Amiri Baraka
"Legacy" by Amiri Barka seems to write about the homeless people in the South, who sleep near drugstores, under trucks and stoves. They wave their hands drunkingly. They squat to drink or pee, as would impoverished people living on the streets would. The poem takes an imaginary turn when the poet descries the person "Stretching to climb pulling themselves onto horses near where there was sea." They travel from this town to another. They travel towards the moon or shadows of houses. The poet tells that that sea was only pretended. I find the poem vivid, exploring the world of a person on the streets... and the imagination that they retain. Is there a deep context to this poem?
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I agree with your interpretation, but i also believe this poem is describing not only the life of homeless people but the enviornment, the nature of the South, and most of all the lifestyle of the south. It also seems as though the poem is portraying a sense of freedom in the South, everything is loose and unwind not nessecessarily tense and un easy. This poem is vivid indeed, you get a scene in your head as you read along which is why i find ot unique, kind of like a mardi gras lifestyle?
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