Trethewey's Language

I have to start off by saying that I was not really impressed with Natasha Trethewey. I read poetry for the way that words run together and sound beautiful. I think it is very possible to use everyday words to create lyrical poetry, and while Trethewey uses simple language, her poetry doesn't feel natural when it's read. To me, the language feels choppy and forced, as if she were forcing herself to use colloquial words when she would normally use a more elevated vocabulary.

I really only enjoyed a few poems from the first section of the book. My favorite poem overall is "After Your Death." This was the only poem that seems to have real emotion behind it, and the language flows really well and is actually very pretty. Phrases like "I twisted a ripe fig loose from its stem" and "I'm too late, again, another space emptied by loss" exemplify simplicity in language but are still poignant and meaningful. Trethewey proves that she does know how to write beautiful words (she did win the Pulitzer, after all) and create true emotion through those words.