Friday, May 11, 2018

Poem of the Month: "Unforgettable" by Pages Matam, Elizabeth Acevedo, and G. Yamazawa

My name wasn’t given to me/ it was given to the rest of the country...

I've been doing weekly write-ups of certain poems on Button Poetry's channel, but I also wanted to highlight some older poems that are personal favorites of mine, which I'll be doing once per month here. It's a way to shout out some good work, and also to highlight some tools and tactics that poets use that might be useful to aspiring writers.

I remember my first time seeing this poem, and really being struck by G.’s line: "In Japan, your last name comes first; there is an emphasis on family. But in America, your nickname comes first, 'cause there is an emphasis on accessibility." For me, that’s one of the most important functions of poetry: to call out what’s hiding in plain sight, to encourage all of us to think more critically, and more intentionally, about topics we’re not always encouraged to think deeply about. Everyone has a name; how much do you think about where yours came from? What does it mean to you? What does it express, and what does it not express? How do our names move with us as we move through the world? These are big questions.

The whole poem is a great example of using something “small” and personal (names) as an entry point to explore an issue that is much bigger. While all three poets approach that issue from different angles, with different experiences, the overall “thesis statement” of the poem is laser-focused. This is a useful thing for aspiring poets to remember: there’s a difference between a poem about a topic and a poem that has a specific thing to say about that topic. This is a poem that knows what it is, so to speak, and communicates its message all the more powerfully because of that.

Feel free to share any of your own thoughts or observations about the poem (or its topic) in the comments.

Further Reading:

1 comment:

S. C. said...

"i call myself pages so I can write my own story..." Wow! I actually got chills from this poem. I feel this poem shows how far people will go to try and forget where they came from with the hope that their children can be accepted where they now reside. As a united people who come from all over this beautiful planet, we have got to set a better example of acceptance of ALL people and ALL cultures without any reason other than the fact that, as we have been taught at some point, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." To me that means not having to forget or hide or pretend you are someone else or from somewhere else to ease another person's fears.