By: Beau Laracuente
Thursdays mean throwback here at DiN, and this week we have decided to throw it back to 2013 with a short poem by Peter Brooks.
This poem experiments with onomatopoeia, sound, and lettering in order to subvert the readers' expectations. Each stanza in this poem begins with three lines in regular text followed by italicized lines that are used to convey sound and feeling rather than an explicit message. This holds true up until the last stanza that utilizes a dramatic tone shift and structural change in order to make us reflect on our blessings. In the last stanza, it is revealed that his sister is deaf. Instead of receiving lines explaining the music in their normalcy, she is given a colon and silence. Suffering alone in silence is something extremely relatable to many this year as much of what we do currently, we do alone.
We poetry editors hope that through reading and reflection, we can learn to appreciate the music of normalcy and empathize with those who can not hear it.
Wisconsin Jazz
By: Peter Brooks
People of earth, no matter what your instrument, keep dancing. -Dave Chappelle
When moms cooks like grams her small kitchen waves out AM radio oom-pah-pah, oom-pah-pah voices: Who stole the kishka someone stole the kishka, who stole the kishka from the butcher shop.
When pops works his truck his one speaker tape deck cranks out six string, slow hand, slow spoken: a boom boom boom boom mmmmm-hmmmmm a how how how how hey-heyyyyyyyyyyy.
When brother picks me at school his car-made-out-of-speakers hustle n’ flow with human beat-boxing: brrrrlot, stick ‘em ha ha ha, stick ‘em brrrrlot, stick ‘em ha ha ha, stick ‘em.
When sister cries out her deafness, alone, on her bed with a small FM radio under her pillow, hearing aids turned off, I imagine she hears:
Beau Laracuente is studying English at New Mexico State University where he has a focus on rhetoric, Digital Media, and Professional communication with and a minor in Justice, Politcal Philosophy and Law. He is from Denver, Colorado but lives in Las Cruces in order to study. While Beau hopes one day to be a judge, as of now his only goals are finishing his studies and getting accepted to a good law program. In his free time, Beau plays videogames, reads books, and writes poetry and prose about current events.
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