I’ve been enjoying the structure of Bright Dead Things because a group of poems tend to have one focus so it creates a story throughout the poems.

“The Nosiness of Sleep” was a bit confusing to me. If it didn’t have that title I think I would have been completely lost. The structure was interesting, how it was broken up into two line stanzas but the sentences carried on from some stanzas to the next so there was no pause in thought between them but there was a physical pause. It had an interesting, dramatic effect. For example, one stanza ends on “you’ve only fallen into” and then the reader has to wait for the next stanza to find out what it is that someone has fallen into. Or “the plan is simple-” and then the reader as to wait until the next stanza to find out what the plan is.

“We are Surprised” had the same sort of structure with the two line stanzas and the word moon stood out to me since she talked about the moon of surrender in the last poem. The poem started out with a very dark message but I think ended on a more positive idea of self importance.

“The Long Ride” was structured very differently in one long stanza, fitting with the title of the poem. It follows along with the current theme of death, which I think is reoccuring in this section of poems. She also brings horses in again. Previously she had used horses as something uplifting. I think horses are positive in this poem again. The choice to call them “live things” stood out because of the title of the book, Bright Dead Things.

In seven lines of “Before” there is a very quick summary of her childhood which was interesting. I think she really captured the image of a seven year old on a motorcycle.

“Torn” got really religious which was interesting because I hadn’t notice much religious imagery in the previous poems. It was a good backdrop for the poem since everyone would know the religious connotation and it requires less explanation in the poem itself.

“Field Bling” right off the bat had an interesting title since field and bling don’t generally go together. She had a lot of descriptions of fireflies that were really interesting ways to describe fireflies but I also don’t know if I quite understand this poem. It seems a little more upbeat than the previous poems which was a nice break.

“In the Country of Resurrection” was back to the two line stanza structure and is focused on death still, this time in a possum. She talks about animals quite a bit in her poetry. It had a fairly gruesome description. She does end on how much life there is in the kitchen so perhaps this poem is a summary of this death section of the book but ends on a more positive note in the kitchen.