![]() ![]() ![]() Next she segues to describing a father's jailing of his daughter, highlighting the discrepancy between unconditional love and hatred. Smith writes their section in paragraph form as she alternates between their points of view. ![]() She begins with two sisters Tina and Anita as they gossip about being in love. Smith's title selection Life on Mars balances a plethora of emotions as she describes love, sexual violence, family dynamics, war, amongst other topics in a nine part epic. She writes, "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." Her words grow increasingly more poignant throughout this poem as Smith balances her grief with letting go of her emotions, ending with a crescendo of the dynamic between father and daughter. Writing in alternating couplet and paragraph form, Smith's words are so deep that I felt as though I was also mourning a loved one. The first, The Speed of Belief, pays homage to Smith's late father. Three poems stood out in this collection. In poetry that is a mix of free verse, prose, letters, and songs, Smith delivers powerful words in a four part opus. Upon hearing that Tracy K Smith had been named the United States poet laureate for the next year, I decided to read her 2012 Pulitzer winning collection Life on Mars. For 2017 I have set a goal for myself to read a minimum of twenty Pulitzer winners across all platforms. ![]()
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