The Hitchhikers by Diane Wakoski

It seems to me that in her poem "The Hitchhikers" Wakoski associates herself with the hitchhikers. It is a bit ambiguous as to what exactly it is she lost, but it seems she earns for her lover that she lost. Now Wakoski associates her situation with that of a hitchhikers whom she refuses to pick up.
It seems that she is running away from something, because the mere image of hitchhikers remind her of driving accrues country and looking for her lover's face in the faces of strangers "hitchhikers/reminding me of hell. That I had what I wanted once,/and lost it,"
Author's conflict of self-0preservation arises feelings of guilt for not picking up the hitchhikers; this can be easily transferred towards how she feels about man. Wakoski was known to be very outspoken about her relationships with men, and this poem seems to fit into the pattern of self expression about her relationship.

Joy Harjo "Equinox"

Joy Harjo dedicated the poem “Equinox” to Lena Home, and singer actress and civil rights activist. The poem implies that Lena Homes life was not in vain, that the equinox has come and the new way of live will begin, the ground will thaw and once again the seeds will grow. Thus poem can represent either Joy’s or Lena’s life, the struggle, the pain and the war that is internal and internal.
The By burying the dead and making songs, it is implied that the speaker has made her peace. She acknowledges that whatever has happened she will have to answer for, but the war that was internal and addiction to the fighting must stop.
This poem is very ambiguous, there is a particular tone of pain and sorrow that is evident in it.

We Real Cool II

After re-reading Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "We Real Cool" I could not stop repeating it in my head. This is my short re-make to reflect youth of current generation:

We real cool.We
Cut school. We

Smoke dope.We
Kill Hope.

Jayne Cortez "Jazz Fan Looks Back"

This poem caught my attention from a very first glance. Beautiful Jazz metaphors and references that urged me to search out the recordings of the songs and performers mentioned in it; and the mastery of Cortez‘s word play.
As I understood Jayne Cortez remembers reminisces of the days she had attended Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts. Jazz at the Philharmonic was a series of concerts that took place between 1944 – 1983(Wikipedia.org, 2010); they included some of the biggest Jazz legends of the time. Cortez eloquently words her metaphors and portrays a sense of motion and dance throughout the poem. “my feet rebellious metronomes” suddenly spark an image of two feet moving by themselves yet keeping beat the beat; “Shuffled in Dexter's Deck” probably relating to getting lost in the songs and music of Dexter Gordon and much more.

Cortez uses repetition in the Beginning and the end of the poem to highlight Ella Fitzgerald’s songs “& scatted "How High the Moon"(”Lady Be Good”) with Ella Fitzgerald/as she blew roof off the Shrine Auditorium/Jazz at the Philharmonic” in my opinion, this is a way of paying homage to her favorite of all the Jazz performers.

Gwendolyn Brooks "The Mother"

The poem “The Mother” Gwendolyn Brooks takes on a unique perspective of a mother talking to her aborted children. speaker’s tone is ambiguous towards the abortions “ Or rather, or instead,/You were never made.\But that too, I am afraid,/Is faulty…”. It appears as though she regrets having to kill the children she never had, but is glad that she did not have them. Also what drew my attention is the line “The singers and workers that never handled the air.” This implies that her children would have been limited in their professions because of the world that they would be born in- a world of limited opportunities for Africa-American girls (singers) and boys (workers).
This poem takes on a tone of a confessional self-justification. Brooks tells the reader that no matter what every woman who has had an abortion still remembers every single one; having one does not mean forgetting and moving on. The Mother (Brooks) is haunted by the possibilities of having those children and how she would have felt and what they missed by not being born. In this sense Brooks shows her humanity even though she has committed a murderous act.