Journal 11.6.17

Hearing this poem spoken alongside the visual emphasizes the unique structure. Not only is the physical structure changing visibly but hearing the lines not fully finished spoken enhances a point of the poem. Many of the lines lack the last word and it seems to get closer and closer to finishing the sentences, especially those ending in "our" as the poem goes on. The poem could represent white oppression in the United States, made clear by the second line. I think the structure of the changing placement of physical lines represents the journey to overcome this oppression in a two steps forward-one step back kind of way. Placed alongside unfinished sentences that represent the fact that, while things are better than say times of slavery, they are unfinished. Even without knowing the final words of these sentences, the story told sets the reader/listener's mind to immediately jump somewhere. The repetition emphasizes the closeness of progress, but also the lack.
-Katie Hession (WRI I 21)