Thursday, January 15, 2015
The Balcony
I wish I had a more substantial reason as to why I adore this poem, but I don't. There is just something about the way King writes that flows so well, and her use of imagery brings me back to a time of my childhood. When I was younger, and it was summertime, my mom and grandmother, or my father, would sit outside and talk for hours. I wasn't necessarily asleep during these talks, but I would sit outside with them, or run around the yard trying to catch lighting bugs. There is something natural and relatable about this poem, and maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I couldn't agree more with you, Paige. I find "The Balcony" incredibly relaxing to read as it takes me back to my childhood. King's language is so soothing: "fragile soap-bubbles take on reflections from the sun and clouds." When I read this story I think of my grandmother and I when I was really little and we would lay in the hammock and listen to birds chirp and try to identify them by the sounds they made. I also think of the bedtime stories my mom use to tell me. Her voice would be so calming just like the "soft mother-voices" King describes.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree as well. This poem also brought me back to childhood, it brought back memories of summer cookouts. I still remember playing with my cousins and friends outside, and looking back to the deck or porch and seeing/hearing all of our moms talk. Like in the story our mothers would pause their conversations to attend to the kids once in awhile, then jump back in the conversation as if they never left. Today as an adult I get to join in on these talks with my mother, our family, and friends...I just wonder if the kids see us the same way I used to. This poem brought happiness and relaxation to me from start to end. I found an immediate connection when King said "with their mother's hand in theirs, children are not afraid of even God."
ReplyDeleteMy comment is absolutely in agreement with the above posters. King's writing reminds me of summer days, growing up in the south, where a certain magic is granted to our mothers, grandmothers, and aunts, and the children seem to spend childhoods dreaming. The piece is soothing, nostalgic, and wonderfully relatable for me.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting to note that Eileen pointed out that it reminds her of growing up in the south. King is from Louisiana, so I think that the work reflects more of what I grew up thinking was part of the idea of "Southern Values" and southern life in general. I liked the poem, but I didn't find it as easy to relate to, and that may be because I grow up in a northern state, where this wasn't a common thing. It was a nice read, but it came across as more of a movie-scene type concept, instead of something familiar and easy to place.
ReplyDeleteWhat an easy post to relate to! I too thought of one of my own childhood memory's when I read "The Balcony," however instead of it revolving around my mother, it revolved around my father. On warm summer nights we would go out on our patio and watch the stars while we talked, watched lightning bugs, and enjoyed our quite time alone. This revelation is interesting to me because it leads me to think about the role reversal of the father in comparison to King's time to our time now.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussion here. For the record, this piece isn't a "poem," but a sketch. But I am really interested in Caroline's point about regional difference. I wonder how much the specifics of this piece resonate for non-Southern readers. I grew up in the North, so we did have experiences sort of like this in the summer, but not year-round. I like thinking about the differences between regional details and universal themes.
ReplyDelete