Aja Monet, in her poem "What I've Learned," shares with her audience a great deal about herself using incredibly vivid language and selected moments from her past. Which line did you find to be most powerful? Why? What do you think this line says about the author and her experience? Feel free to share other thoughts about the poem and Monet's overall message.
A line that i find most powerful was " I know loneliness creates longing and longing can be confused with love" This lines says that the author has been in love before or what she thought was love to her because she was maybe alone at the time.
ReplyDeleteThis is the line the resonated most with me, as well. I think that it is incredibly easy for people who are lonely to believe that anyone is the best choice. I had never heard a thought like this expressed in this way before. I'm glad you noticed this line too.
DeleteI remember when i used to be lonely without talking on the phone
DeleteI think this was a really good line! Most people don't really know what love is. But the feelings that you have can be so confused with the fact that you actually feel the love that is nonexistent.
DeleteIs it possible that there isnt one definition? Can we judge what others view as love?
DeleteI have the same line and i believe the same thing. Probably she stop waiting for the "right guy" but there's never the "right guy". instead she should be happy and keep going with her life.
DeleteThere absolutely isn't just one definition of love. There's a way you can interrupt love, but the feeling can be such a powerful feeling that you have your own perception about what love is.
DeleteMost people cant judge what is love if they never felt it or seen it only maybe you can.
DeleteHow to break on and glue it together with crazy glue. I believed she was talking about people and how they get broken down but it's always a way to repair them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting interpretation. Would you describe the author as a person who is a broken? Or one who is strong? Do you think that it is possible to be both?
DeleteI really like your interpretation because I felt she meant like breaking an item that's close to someones heart, like for example a chain given by an ancestor, but knowing that it may be broken but its always going to be close to your heart, like its glued, I never looked at it your way.
DeleteAja Monet went really deep with her speech and a few of her lines made me really think. In the begging her line that says "I know she gave up her dreams when she had children. I know she wishes she she didn't." She is referring to her mom, which made me realize aren't all of our mothers having the same feelings. When their stuck at their jobs with out a degree because some of us were born while they were in high school. They would have has the chance to do better things but they stopped to take care of their children, which I believe is amazing for a mother to do.
ReplyDeleteA line that stuck out to me the most was, "I know that insanity means coping." This line is powerful in it's self and some think that it's not the case. But I think that at times, people don't necessary go insane. People get feed up and so the only way to cope is to think about the situation over and over and it maybe irrational. And sometimes they do over think and it consumes them and their minds make them believe the situation is bigger than what it is.
ReplyDeleteThe line that stood out to me was "my father had a beautiful smile."
ReplyDeletethe reason why i said this lines because i remember before my father died he had a pretty smile from looking at pictures i have seen.
I believe you can relate to this because you and the writer have something in common both your fathers had a pretty smile.
DeleteI like these line too it relates to lot of young girls who grew up without a father and the only this they might remember is that smile because its just like you.
DeleteIn the poem "What I've learned" She said some powerful things but what most stood out to about the poem was when she said that "I know they're are many words for pain." This stood out to me because because I understand that their is many words for pain and some defines it different and requires you to think deeply on whats your definition of pain and the word or words you use to disguise pain.
ReplyDeleteI read this line differently. I like your interpretation. I hadnt thought of it this way. I was thinking simply about the different ways that people say they are hurt rather than the ways that they hide it.
DeleteI get your interpretation but 90% of the time the ways people show is not seen for it to be just a difference because some people dont really know what pain is or the levels of pain because pain comes from struggle and things that hurt you mentally so words wouldnt really show pain but just disguises it
DeleteI feel that Aja Monet's line "English is a slave language" is one of the most powerful line within her poem What I've Learned. I feel that this is one her most powerful lines because its shows her view of how African Americans are never fully free from the shackles of slavery because even though we are not forced to work,we still don't have our true heritage from our ancestors.
ReplyDelete" I know yesterday is the day before tomorrow, and tomorrow is an illusion..." This stands out to me because I have thought about it myself,tomorrow is an illusion. What is tomorrow? why aren't we all promised tomorrow? why do we want to live, but are scared to die? why not face those fears, and truly feel alive?
ReplyDeleteThe line that stood up for me more is that "I know WE all get lonely. I know loneliness creates longing and longing can be confused with love. And love doesn't exist." I believe that life hasn't treat her right because she is being brokenhearted and she feels mostly lonely. That it even made her not believe in love again. Also, she knows how to keep going with her life with so many difficulties that she has on her life and with the world.
ReplyDeleteA line that I found powerful was "I know there are so many words for pain", I don't think she literally means theirs a lot of words for pain but theirs a lot that have caused pain to her or maybe others.
ReplyDeleteDevonte said that same thing.
DeleteThe most powerful line that stood out to me was we she said "I know there are women who kill their children in alleyways and bathtubs and car seats and lakes." I think this stood out to me mostly because there's a lot of women out here having children but then killing them when they get tried. Giving birth isn't something just so ordinary, isn't a soul of someone being a blessing given from GOD to another person who should appreciate that not taking advantage of them.
ReplyDeleteThere were actually three lines that I felt were powerful and stood out to me because I know I can relate. Aja Monet says "My feet sometimes embarrass me. I wore shoes too small as a child so my mother wouldn't make fun of me for how big they were...I like my hair down more than when its pinned up". I really took this to heart because this is exactly how I feel word for word, a persons appearance can be taken to various levels, and peoples judgments can be very cruel, sometimes personal image can be everything to a person, and at times for me it is. To know she feels the same, and has had the same experience as myself is sort-of a relief, because I realize I'm not alone, other people have those same issues or thoughts.
ReplyDeleteA line that caught my attention was "I know yesterday is the day before tomorrow and tomorrow is an illusion where I imagine the mouths of my children nuzzling on breast in a rocking chair while the lavender fields in our yard cement the wind." I believe the author is saying that everyday feels like a dream because she calls them illusions.
ReplyDeleteThe line that stood out to me the most was "I know its been 20 years and he still smells like a bottle of Heineken. The smell of alcohol makes me nauseous. I know I drink it anyway." I believe that it's powerful because even though she doesn't say it you can tell that her father might have had a drinking problem and she still drinks although it makes her sick.
ReplyDeleteAdrian, I wonder if she was talking about her dad as the next line is about him. Do you think that they were connected?
ReplyDeleteI feel that Aja Monet's line "I know how to be broken and put together again." as in she has been hurt all throughout her life but she somehow she seems to always redeem herself and not let others bring her down. Aja appears to be a strong independent women who has her head on right.
ReplyDeleteThe line that I found most powerful was "I know my mother used to rap and they called her Baby E. I know she gave up her dreams when she had children." I found this powerful because I am a mother of two I did not give up my dreams I am still going but, some people cant do it with children and other school work, her mother probably was not brought up the brightest way but she tryed, and she had to try pretty hard because she states in the excerpt " I wouldn't have been a poet if my mother had a better sence of humor." That proves that she got far in life so her mother did something right.It showed she went throw a struggle and still put her daughter throw school and much more.
ReplyDeleteThe statement "English is a slave language" is something that makes me think about. I really don't know what she means by that. Maybe the fact that America used to slave people. Maybe she still feels like there is slavery going on. Also she says " I know cocaine is a hell of a drug " then she mansions her father with lost of teeth. This is saying that her father was a cocaine addict.
ReplyDeleteThe line that stood out to me is "I know my mother lied about where we lived to get us into a good schools." Most mothers do what they can for their kids even if it is lying. To guarantee that their child has a secure future. Just like teachers, which leads me to say another line that stood out to me was "I know teachers help raise you." This line stood out because not only do our parents raise us but so do many of our teachers from kindergarten until we graduate and do not attend school anymore. They watch us grow up and become women or men. We become adults but before we do we all start somewhere. Don`t we?
ReplyDelete