A Response To Adah's Poetry

As a child living in the Congo, Adah observed the world quietly from the inside of her head. Upon arrival to Africa, she was highly intelligent despite her lack of speech, but still very childlike and sarcastic. The tone of innocence gives the reader a glimpse of the Adah prior to the Congo. For instance, when describing her disabilities, she pretends as though it is a narrative: “Oh, I can easily imagine the fetal mishap: we were inside the womb together dum-de-dum when Leah suddenly turned and declared, Adah you are just too slow. I am taking all the nourishment here and going on ahead” (34). Her imagination is still that of a child as she recounts stories such as these; transforming a depressing story into a humorous one. Adah chooses not to speak often as a child, therefore she spends much of her time observing. …show more content…
The following sentence is the reader’s first introduction to Adah’s voice: “Sunrise, tantalize, evil eyes hypnotize: that is the morning, Congo Pink. Blossomy rose-color birdsong air streaked sour with breakfast cookfires” (30). Her diction shows intelligence at the young age of fourteen and the abnormal punctuation allows her observations to read as poetry. Throughout her perspectives, Adah often speaks poetically; playing with words and creating palindromes. Early on, she expressed her interest in poetry and the poet William C. Williams’ Poem ‘The Red Wheelbarrow.’ Not only does Adah enjoy poetry, she writes it; stating “I should like to be a doctor poet, I think. . .” (171). Adah chooses not to speak, so she entertains herself in such ways as creating “snmyhyms, as I call them, my own perverse hymns that can be sung equally well forward or backward: Evil, all its’s sin is still