If you are a poet or familiar with poetry, you may have a stronger reaction or a different reaction than someone who is not a poet or a poetry connoisseur. Please write your own reaction to this poem and email it to Koon Woon at koonwoon@gmail.com. Just a short paragraph would do as to how you reacted.
Then, let a friend who is not a poet read this poem, and ask for his/her reaction. It is preferable that you do not ask an English major or a Literature major but someone who majored in another field.
Thank you for your participation. It is of course voluntary.
The eye of the needle
She
said you can see the world through
The
eye of the needle,
Writing
as she with her index finger
On
my spine.
She
said the whorl on your
Back
indicates
You
have great strength,
Like
an ox,
And
she patiently plucked
Hair
from my forehead,
Saying,
This
will make you generous.
Grandmother
your aged hands were
Soft.
If
I only knew the number
Of
Chickens
You
have plucked
Gently
naked,
Undressing
them for the next life.
And
you rubbed
Your
grandchildren’s foreheads
To
gentle sleep with those
Palms.
Tender
tendrils of garden petals
You
rubbed between finger tips
Loved
they were and abunded
I
forgive the time you hacked
To
pieces my dog and scooped it
Steaming
onto my plate.
I
didn’t have enough meat.
Grandmother
You
are not here now
And
I am strong
You
wrote a whorl on my back.
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Please email your reactions to koonwoon@gmail.com
Koon
Woon
2012
18th Ave. South
Seattle,
WA 98144
Revisions:
1981 - 2015
