Dead Stars

"The Carrying" by Ada Limón (2017)

"The Carrying" is the titular poem for Limón's most recent collection, and the one including “Dead Stars.” The natural world is evocatively described—November bites the sky with teeth and dying trees retain a flush of color, showing Limón’s interest in portraying the natural world with distinct and artistic descriptions. The speaker then sees animals, a suffering dog and pregnant mares, and the mixture of pain, life, and death create a heavy burden. The speaker senses she can carry the burden of the life around her, and that all life has purpose and meaning, establishing a tone and thematic message for the collection echoed in “Dead Stars.

"How to Triumph Like a Girl" by Ada Limón (2018)

"How to Triumph Like a Girl” is another poem included in the same collection as “Dead Stars.” Like “Dead Stars,” "How to Triumph" includes vivid descriptions of nature--this time focusing on female horses. Again, Limón connects people to the world around them. Like her observation that humans are made from dead stars, the poet envisions the power of a horse within her.

Thematically, however, “How to Triumph Like a Girl” differs from “Dead Stars.” Where the latter poem calls for a world filled with more love and empathy, the former is explicitly feminist in its thematic message. The speaker, a woman, values the strength of female horses, and she ends the poem having created a powerful, female-centric tone. The poem therefore demonstrates Limón’s aesthetic sensibilities, while also showcasing the thematic variety in her work.

"Notes on the Below" by Ada Limón (2016)

Published in Poem-a-Day, “Notes on the Below” finds Limón again contemplating people’s relation to the earth. The poem is dedicated to the Mammoth Cave National Park and depicts the speaker directly addressing the park and its natural wonders. The poem is composed in stanzas of varying length, ranging from single lines to quintains, showing Limón’s willingness to depart from a strict structure or rhyme scheme. “Notes on the Below” also includes experimentation with spacing. Line 18 and Line 27, for example, conclude with a dramatic amount of space before the final word, creating a greater pause in the rhythm of the poem and adding greater emphasis to the chosen words (“see” and “bat”). Consistently, Limón demonstrates a willingness to experiment with form, while keeping many of her poems thematically similar.

"Instructions on Not Giving Up" by Ada Limón (2017)

Another poem first published in Poem-a-Day, “Instructions on Not Giving Up” also connects life and death, positive and negative, together. As the poem progresses, the seasons change and new greenery covers the hurt of winter. There is still the pain from the cold—human troubles never leave—but people can continue to grow. Limón shows that the pain and joys of life are always connected, there is not one without the other, but by the end of the poem, she embraces everything life has to offer. Much of her work bears this message, including “Dead Stars.”