Poems are a way to reflect emotions and events that occur in a sequence that takes you on a journey into the poets mind, which then can try to be interpreted and understood. Joy Harjo does just that in her poem, “The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window.” After reading Harjo’s writing, one would start to understand a woman and their struggles as she portrays them. “The woman hanging from the 13^th floor window on the east side of Chicago is not alone. She is a woman of children…She is several pieces between the two husbands she has had. She is all the women of the apartment building who stand watching her, watching themselves” (Harjo). The author allows one to not only relate to an instance in particular, but is showing how most women have felt sometime in their lives. This poem certainly stuck out to me over the rest because I am a woman, a mother, a student and a worker who struggles through each day. The stresses that have to be dealt with on a day to day basis can cause people to feel as though they are hanging right there on the edge, debating letting go or to keep pushing forward. Personally, everyone has hard times dealing with certain situations, me especially, and finds it even harder to move on and use the knowledge of our past in our future. Harjo tells of sorrow and suffering just as Wislawa Szymborska writes about the tragic day of September 11^th. Szymborska writes about the people who were stuck in the twin towers on September 11^th, and this poem really hit home because most of us will always remember when this tragic event happened. “They jumped from the burning floors- one, two, a few more, higher, lower” (Szymborska), her use of simple detail allows your imagination to create its own image even if there was no picture provided.

            Each of the poems we’ve read has had real emotion and a true meaning, these two were the one’s which really made me think and want to read again and again.

Sources:

1.  "Under Pressure." Web. 8 Sep 2010. <http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/health914.html>.