Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns

 

Themes:

 

Love:

Love is a very common theme throughout the work as a whole simply because this book was published while Andrea Gibson was in a long-term relationship with her partner Heather. Most of the poems in this series are referring to her. Gibson consistently writes in poems " I love you" just to make it known. As an artist, you use your work to show how you feel and I bet there was nothing better than hearing these poems knowing that they were for her. 

     Some Quotes that exemplify this theme are: 

          - "You're every poem I would write/if ink could ever hold the light."

          - "I wanna be with you forever/and follow you forever/wherever you go"

          - "When you say you are homesick for my skin/my body sends you postcards from all its darkest corners/and prays you will still                           see the sun"

          - "You'd say, 'This kind of love would has to be a verb./We are paint on a slick canvas./It's going to take a whole lot to stick,/but if                       we do we'll be a masterpiece/and we were."

       Questions:

          - How do you think Gibson and Heather's relationship affected the purpose of her poems?

          - Why in the poems about does Gibson write the way she does? Use specific examples through the use of her figurative language                         and diction.

          - What do you think this relationship has given to her? Is it beneficial to her writing? If{when} they break up how will it affect her                         work as a poet? 

Injustice:

Injustice comes from what is wrong and what is right. Gibson, being a social rights activist has very clear views on what is and what is not just. She does not only speak on behalf of the injustices she faces but what other people in society face. She often discusses the rights of minorities, gays, and women. 

     Some Quotes that exemplify this theme are:

          - "Right now our government is recording the test scores/of Black and Latino 4th graders/to see how many prison beds will be                             needed in the year 2020." 

          - "Hold her beautiful face/to the beat up face of this place/that hasn't learned the meaning of/STOP."

          - "Towns/that frowned at our hand-holding,/folding their stares like hate notes into our pockets." 

          - "Hatred is wanting nothing but white faces/on our private-school bus."

     Questions:

          - Why do you think Andrea Gibson cares about other people's issues not just her own?

          - How does Gibson make her point that the world is unfair to specific people? 

          - Do you think if people like Gibson don't use their work to make a change nothing will happen?

 

The Truth is Difficult and It is real:

This is a theme because most people overlook what is actually happening in the world around us. Gibson points it out. There are so many things happening in the world that are awful and no one is doing anything about. Gibson speaks up to it, in multiple poems with the intention of getting a rise to make people realize the truth.

     Some Quotes that exemplify this theme are:

          - "Our eyes are closed, America./There are souls in the boots of the soldiers, America./Fuck your yellow ribbon./You want to                                    support our troops,/bring them home,/and hold them tight when they get here."

          - "'Not all casualties come home in body bags'"

          - "Doctor, our insanity is not that we see people who aren't there/ it's that we ignore the ones who are."

          - "Our resistance is the key./the caged bird sings./the caged bird would rather be free."

     Questions:

          - Why is it people don't realize what is going on? Do they not want to know? 

          - How are people sitting down and watching things like this happen? 

          - Will people actually start to attempt to make a difference?