Tyehimba Jess’s poems in Olio (2016) give readers insights on the the traumatic history of slavery and racism. Jess often uses the fusion of many voices in his work in his work to give a unique retelling of history. How does this work in “Millie and Christine Mckoy” to both individualize the voices of each twin while showcasing their shared experience to offer a way of healing? By analyzing the form and word choice of the poem, we can better understand the approach each individual took in coming to term with their traumatic history. As a work of such topic, it is important that readers seek out many voices to enhance their understanding of Olio as a whole to prevent narrow-minded biases and brings a deeper level of connection to each voice’s
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The form is an embodiment of two poem colliding into one. At a quick glance, it is easy to think that only one poem is present but a careful inspection reveals more than one. Presumably, the left represents the voice of Millie and the right represent Christine while the entire poem is a seamless meshing of both their voices. If read as one, the entire poem briefly sums up the journey of the conjoined twin. The form encourages readers to account for the fact that while the siblings are physically one, they have two separate functioning minds. This is also made clear by the line “We’ve mended two songs into one dark skin,” which is the first line into the poem. The usage of the word “songs” to represent Millie and Christine directly draw a parallel to the fact that no two songs are the …show more content…
This speaker also refers to their origin once more in the line “from plantation to grave”, choosing once again to divulge more attention to their pain and suffering. The stationary characteristics of plantations and graves gave a sense that the speaker feels grounded, in a non-positive way. The use of “mended” implicated that something has been broken and needs fixing, while “hauled” heavies the tone as it is an action of dragging with much effort and
The form is an embodiment of two poem colliding into one. At a quick glance, it is easy to think that only one poem is present but a careful inspection reveals more than one. Presumably, the left represents the voice of Millie and the right represent Christine while the entire poem is a seamless meshing of both their voices. If read as one, the entire poem briefly sums up the journey of the conjoined twin. The form encourages readers to account for the fact that while the siblings are physically one, they have two separate functioning minds. This is also made clear by the line “We’ve mended two songs into one dark skin,” which is the first line into the poem. The usage of the word “songs” to represent Millie and Christine directly draw a parallel to the fact that no two songs are the …show more content…
This speaker also refers to their origin once more in the line “from plantation to grave”, choosing once again to divulge more attention to their pain and suffering. The stationary characteristics of plantations and graves gave a sense that the speaker feels grounded, in a non-positive way. The use of “mended” implicated that something has been broken and needs fixing, while “hauled” heavies the tone as it is an action of dragging with much effort and