Reflective Essay: Don T Judge A Poet

Everyone knows the old cliché don’t judge a book by its cover. It is drilled into our heads as early as primary school, but why is this same ideology not applied to poetry? Don’t judge a poet by his poetry: I had to learn this lesson the hard way from the poet Timothy Yu, and I honestly feel guilty for initially judging him so negatively. When I initially read some of Timothy Yu’s poetry on my own, I was very confused and uncomfortable. I was disgusted by his imagery of Chinese people eating puppies and use of bathroom humor, and I felt that perhaps because I was not familiar with the poets he was responding to such as Billy Collins and Ezra Pound and because I am not especially educated in Chinese culture, I was missing the point of his work. …show more content…
I am still trying to mentally process the rich language and thematic depth of her writing. I feel that her approach to speaking out against American insensitivity to Native peoples is especially creative and educational. Although I am fairly certain that I had at least heard of the Congressional Apology to Native Americans before reading Layli’s book, I had no idea that it was not even read aloud or presented to tribal leaders. When I read the brief introduction that Layli includes about this document, I was honestly ashamed of my country’s government for being so insensitive because even though it is definitely a nice gesture to offer an apology, its mode of delivery strips the gesture of all authenticity. In addition to this important piece of political knowledge, I have gained great insight about Native American history and language, the power of language, and the insensitivities of the American public towards native populations from reading Whereas that I am sure will affect the way I live my day to day life. Before meeting Layli in person on Thursday during class, I almost expected her to have a personality similar to Jorie Graham because her writing has evidence of the same type of solemn concern and wisdom; however, I found Layli to actually be a very guarded and outspoken individual. I was slightly disappointed that she did not seem to really open up to us as a class, but it was obvious that she is an extremely genuine person and she shared a couple of powerful thoughts with us. She stated that poetry allows us to have “sovereignty over language” – that even if we jumble up our words or break grammatical laws, the power and emotion behind our language will always remain. As I personally struggle to have confidence in my abilities as an amateur writer, this was a lesson that I needed to hear: it does not really matter how I organize my thoughts or the words and