Welcome back, peeps. Merry Christmas Eve! We're looking at another poem from Ada Limón's Bright Dead Things poetry collection.
The Good Wave
By Ada Limón
A bat cracks in the flickering background
and we're dead tired from the horse track,
all those losing bets stuck crumpled up
in our cheap fedoras, but no one, not even
the dog, is unhappy. Baseball announcers
are trying to be funny about nothing, crowds
cheer on the momentum of the home team
and it's not too early for pj's, or promises,
or some low-sung lullaby that salutes
the original songs on the inside. I decide,
someday, to name a kid Levon, and you
agree, and outside the dark traffic groans by
on our curving country road making a sound
like the slow roar of applause when
the home team's tide unexpectedly turns.
Thoughts going through my mind:
Highlighting a mixture of baseball and childhood memories = emphasizing the importance of cherishing our experiences (especially the little/insignificant things in life)
"but no one, not even / the dog, is unhappy" = the jubilant atmosphere associated with childhood (that said, a childhood free of worries is a luxury that shouldn't be taken for granted)
"the home team's tide unexpectedly turns" = conveying how quickly the "Good Wave" (or certain moments in life) passes by
Also, the "Good Wave" doesn't necessarily have to be "good," right? Even if these trivial moments are chaotic or messy, they may be the memories we long for in the future.
Who's the "you" referring to? Is the narrator talking to herself? The poems we've looked at so far seem to be centered around self-reflection but not too specific which allows the readers to connect with the content as well
"curving country road" = as we have seen in the past poems in the first part of Bright Dead Things, the narrator continues to adapt to her new environment which is very different from a city-type area
I'll leave it here for now. If you would like to share anything, feel free to send me a private memo or drop any comments below. I'll see you tomorrow.
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