Review for Meaghan.

Meaghan:

In the poem "Poo-tee-weet", I enjoy the fact that you wrote a political peice that can be applied to current times. Your poem is very smooth to read, it has a very nice flow to it.
I espcially enjoyed the lines:
“now the literature professor holds pressure on a wound. students search the floor for a rag, a makeshift splint, a sheet to cover dead cousins. “
those lines created a very vivid image of mind of sensless bombings occuring.
One question I am left with is the mentioning of Kahlil Gibran in the opening but he seems to be left and the only clear connection to the poem is his homeland and a current situation there. I felt there are still threads left untied despite the footnote provided. Does he have a connection with war in his writings and beliefs? If so how do they support what you are saying in your poem? What would he say? Maybe add how his ideas add to the message. Another question I had, and this may just be a misunderstanding on my part, but I got the impression from your poem that there is too much writing, talking, or an overall buzz being created about the situation in Beruit, but in that case why would you write a poem to a poet? The following lines lead me to this conclusion:
"and when it is done, when the warning is drafted and edited and translated to twenty languages, all the explosions and lonely deaths written out innocuously for scholars and students to read, when all the readers of poetry and critics of art and self-important deans and doctors find it in some fashionable book, some churchly-quiet museum, will it be celebrated and immortalized? nominated for awards and mentioned to impress dinner guests? "
and: "who will stop talking and save them? "Personally I believe this detracts from the overall message of your poem. It's set up as though you are questioning why there is not enough action, and that people need to react to the situation. But you chose the medium of writing a poem to a poet, it just sort of confused me and lead me to wonder why I should read the poem, if art that is a product of the situation at hand is a major problem.

The poem “For Mary Oliver” is a wonderful homage to such a “natural” poet. The wind imagery throughout the poem is wonderful and fleeting, like the wind itself.
“or the loose sequin leaves of cottonwood trees who shimmy like jazz dancers.”
Gave me pleasant thoughts of spending a day laying outside on a sunny day watching the clouds go by. The overall tone of the poem is calming, and the message that the wind is there but we will never truly know it, is intriguing. I would love to see some elaboration on this and see if it could be further developed.