Blog Post #12 Life on Mars

I've never really read and analyzed poetry before until this. To help get a better understanding and grasp on Tracy K. Smith's writing, I read each of these poems aloud to one of my friends. After each reading we would try to figure out exactly what she was trying to convey. This helped immensely in understanding and really appreciating her work. Much of these poems were quite chilling and very different from the last. One of my favorite pieces from the book was "The Good Life". In this poem, Smith writes, "When some people talk of money / They speak as if it were a mysterious lover / Who went out to buy milk ad never / Came back, and it makes me nostalgic..." I understand this as Smith addressing and reminiscing on the past and the perhaps money struggles that came with youth/young adulthood. This poem very relatable but also very hopeful. Although we may be struggling now, the future has so much to offer and this soon will be all be a distant memory that we look back on and be thankful for.