Duhamel Critical

In Denise Duhamel’s “Ka-Ching” many forms of poetry are employed with varying ranges of success.  In her poem “Anagram America” she uses the letters in the word America to form a seemingly infinite amount of words and phrases.  The many shapes and forms of the letters in America represent a parallel to the many shapes and forms the American population takes upon.  Some of these words and phrases fit better contextually than others but that shows the diversity of American citizen physically and cognitively.  An other interesting fascist of this poem is the mildly schizophrenic curves of attitude this poem takes.  In one stanza the speaker is accusatory and very pointed when speaking of America;

“America tends to maim, care-

ful not to kill at first.  We are all for democracy, or so we claim, care-

less with our rhetoric”

While just a few lines above the speaker speaks of America with nostalgia and pleasant sentiment;

“Now that’s America.  In Skate-a-Rama, ice

skaters figure-eight even in the summer.  I race, Ma-

donna on the speakers, my laces tight”

The opinions about America from fellow Americans is a spectrum ranging from national loyalists to ex-patriots and Duhamel successfully expresses the contrasting opinions of an exponentially varying population with her voice and her form.

In Duhamel’s villanelle “Please Don’t Sit Like a Frog, Sit Like a Queen” the sentiment of this poem is unclear and undefined.  The repeating lines of

“Remember to pamper, remember to preen,

Don’t sit like a frog, sit like a queen”

continue to give advice that alludes to becoming a proper and respectable woman and wife with supporting lines of 

“Don’t marry the professor, mary the dean. 

 Marry the King, don’t marry the earl” 

that enforce a very proper and stark existence only to be preluded by the lines

“Smile, especially when you are feeling mean.

Keep your top down when you take your car for a whirl” 

which insinuates a free spirited independent attitude that contradicts all former advice.  The two ideas of this poem mix like oil and water and leave the reader in question of the overall focus and moral of the villanelle.  

In a third form Duhamel plays with translation that takes shape as an exercise in linguistics with an underlying poetic tone.  A list of mostly politically pertinent questions are given to a translator, translated, then give to another translator in a different language eight times over.  In the international world that we live in a huge amount of information is lost or misinterpreted in translation which leads to greater issues.  Some of the questions asked are converted flawlessly from one tongue to another, some retain the general gist, while others loose all former significance.  Most of the questions are translated back into english still in the question form, but some are not.  The last line of the poem is striking and borderline disturbing.  Given the question “Do they have the nerve?” the statement answer in return is “If you have the rash audacity, just do it”  The answer appears to be back handed advice or a destructive challenge that took shape in translation.  The form of this poem tries to embody communication error while the voice has statements of political significance.  With voice and form combined this poem sparks constructive questions in the readers mind  by showing the reader how easily a simple question can be changed into a challenging one.

Denise Duhamel’s creative forms provide a unique look into different structures and interpretations of poetry while still speaking with a strong creative voice.  Like most things in life some forms work better than others but all are worth a try.