Blog Post#12

I think although Life On Mars has antrounomic titles for each poems, the content is close to realistic life and politics. The poems are not quite connected to each others as a story and kind of hard to understand. But I notice the author's father has large impact in her composition. Maybe it is because of his job, the author has interest and inspiration from universe.

"I didn't want to believe
What we believe in those rooms:
That we are blessed, letting go,
Letting someone, anyone,
Drag open the drapes and heave us
Back into our blinding, bright lives."
(27. The Speed of Belief)

Among the entire book, I like this piece the most. She depict the memorial and illustrate her thoughts about life and death in a very simple and plain language, but the effect is strong and impressive. Her beliefs about funeral and death is not quite mainstream. First, she shows her thoughts that waiting for the last time of the protagonist to pass away is a waste. In her words, I feel like these are just meaningless ritual. She doesn't believes that whether a person's life is blessed or not can be easily defined by prays and wishes. But to be honest, I am not fully understand the last lines above. I am not sure "our blinding, bright lives" refers to when we are dead or when we are leaving this memorial. I guess either way reveals her rational belief of reality instead of ritual and religion. I haven't been to a memorial ever since I could remember. But I can relate to her thoughts through this poem. The waiting time during a memorial is suffering for the loved ones, and kind of boring and awkward for those guests who are not familiar with the deceased. The food and flowers are meant to decrease the awkwardness and boredom, but turns out to be the opposite of their function. Eating and flower both has meaning of the renewal of life. In a funeral or memorial, it usually means the auspicious wishes towards the guests that although the deceased is passing away, they should carry the hope of life after this ceremony. But I also feel the author's idea that these food and flowers even make the waiting time even worse, because no one would really have the vibe of eating or appreciating flowers. If I am in a funeral of someone I barely know, I would have similiar thoughts like the authors. I didn't notice at first Floyd William Smith's relation with the author. Then after a second read I realized he is the author's father. I was kind of shocked and I think this poem is much more deeper than I comprehended, because it is extremely hard for someone to think so detached in this situation.