On Anger

"The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop (1946)

Bishop’s poem is arguably the most famous modern poem about a fish and letting go. The fishes in both Bishop’s and Hezekiah’s poems include a juxtaposition of iridescence and gore. Bishop writes about “shiny entrails,” and Hezekiah writes about a “gutted fish, / silvery skin gleaming.” However, while Bishop’s speaker “let[s] the fish go,” Hezekiah’s speaker confesses she “do[esn’t] want to let this go.” In a way, Hezekiah condenses Bishop’s extended description of the fish into a two-line allusion, building emotional resonance off the association.

"Elliptical" by Harryette Mullen (2002)

In Mullen’s poem, there are a number of ellipses that stand in for prescriptive (rule-making) statements said to Black women. The ellipse that follows Mullen’s phrase “We all wish they weren’t so” could be filled with “angry,” the stereotype about Black women that is investigated in Hezekiah’s poem. The incomplete thoughts in Mullen’s poem could also include other stereotypes about BIPOC, and overall give the reader a sense of how Hezekiah’s speaker feels about judgements made by white women in a supposedly polite, concerned tone.

"Tulips" by Sylvia Plath (1981)

This poem is significant in the history of American poetry about mental illness. While Plath’s focus is more on psychiatry than psychology, more about hospitalization and medication than talk therapy and writing therapy, it still speaks of loss. Plath writes, “I have let things slip” and examines losses through the imagery of the tulips, which can be compared to how Hezekiah’s poet does not want to let go and uses the imagery of the fish.

"Duende" by Tracy K. Smith (2007)

This poem is also about loss, but it offers another perspective. Smith examines the concept of duende, which is famously defined by Lorca. She writes, “If I lean unbuttoned into the blow / Of loss after loss, love tossed / Into the ecstatic void [...] it races on, towards shadows / Where the world I know / And the world I fear / threaten to meet.” While Hezekiah’s speaker fears loss and resists letting go, Smith’s poem is about embracing loss, which does include fear. The distinction between the kinds of loss has to do with its origin point. Smith searches for duende in art, and finds loss, death, and darkness to be a crucial part of it. Hezekiah, conversely, is encouraged to let go by a white woman who doesn’t understand the role of anger.

"Democratic Womanism" by Alice Walker (2012)

Walker’s poem gives context for the righteous Black anger that Hezekiah wants to retain in her poem. Walker writes: “Democratic womanism / Democratic Socialist / Womanism, / would have as its icons / such fierce warriors.” These warriors’ fighting spirit originates from a place of anger, anger at injustice and discrimination that Black people have faced for hundreds of years. While Walker’s poem is overtly political, Hezekiah’s poem looks at the personal side of politics: identity and emotion.