After spending some time perusing the poetry packet outside of a rushed in-class introduction, I've come to appreciate some of the writing a little better. I think poems always take a few readings to "click," even ones that you might immediately seem to enjoy or identify with; there are many layers of meaning to even the simplest poems.
Heather McHugh's "And What Do You Get" exemplifies this perfectly, for me. The poem might initially come across as an eclectic piece of wordplay, entertaining the reader with its manipulation of the English language; however, the connotation underlining the words she's selected to manipulate are indicative of a much more ominous feeling. The initial stanza seems to deal with a general theme of loneliness and, perhaps abandonment, and it continues to evolve into a sort of mental evaluation of the human condition (taking the "w" out of "will" makes a person terrifying, for example). This culminates in an ending that's suggestive of rape, coupled with psychological references in "therapist" and the "id." What initially looked like a simple play-on-words writing took a deep dive in such a short amount of space, and that is fascinating.
Some of the other poems have similarly playful overtones, but they too delve into some themes that are suggestively darker. I think the most striking one is the excerpt from "Montage of a Dream Deferred," "Dream Boogie." It's certainly upbeat, and the language and flow are indicative of the Jazz age that Hughes prevailed through, but the interjections by some ominous voice ("daddy" probably means a friend rather than actual father figure) puts the positive perspective of the writer into question-- "how can you be happy about this oppression?" is the essence of this. Knowing it's an excerpt, I'm certainly interested in going back and reading the full "poem" or book from which this came.
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