When reading the poem "kitchenette building" by Gwendolyn Brooks, the images that are portrayed are stunning. The pictures of things like the "white and violet fight" between fried potatoes and onions and the fifth person getting out of the bathroom and hoping only to get lukewarm water to bathe in are so vivid that you feel like you are stepping into that world. I have a deep appreciation for writers who can make you see their mental images, even more so toward poets who can do this, because it's always a challenge to show someone something in (typically) fewer words, and often, fragments.
Brooks' portrayal of a poor family in Bronzeville is nothing short of precise and the first stanza is phenomenally relevant to this very day.
"We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan,
"Grayed in, and gray. "Dream" makes a giddy sound, not strong
"Like "rent," "feeding a wife," "satisfying a man."
Living in a world where money is something that is little seen, but the impact of its absence is detrimental, dreaming is frivolous or giddy. The idea of paying what bills you can and feeding your family and doing everything in your power to provide for them is really all you have on your mind. The entire thing contradicts the "American Dream" as it were, but sadly proves that the "American Dream" is close to being nothing more than a myth. It is only those rare few from the lowest parts of society who manage to rise up to the same ranks of the bourgeois upper-class who keep this myth alive. The truth is, dealing with life in the real world can leave you penniless in the end. This poem manages to perfectly demonstrate this truth in its opening.
The world of being poor isn't something that is easily risen from. Poverty is about keeping your head above the water, hoping you never fall below and drown in the hard work that barely gets you by.
"For every talent that poverty has stimulated it has blighted a hundred." --John Gardner
This piece of work does create a visual image to it. You can image the garbage in the hallway ripening as time is passing and how living in the kitchenette building the bathrooms were shared by everyone so the water was also used up and everyone hoped to be the first one to use the water because they do not want the water to be ice cold when they have their turn. Brooks makes you feel like you are a part of this family living in that building.
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