Analysis of Tati Loutard's Poems

Jean-Baptist Tati-Loutard's poems were a great read. In his 'Poemes de la Mer' we can see a great insight into the natural world and the imagery it provides us day to day. However, I have read more than just these poems and his works cover many different themes, including coming of age, fate, and legacy. In Pilgrimage to Loango Strand, he writes about "traversing the submarine roadway paved with bones". He speaks about all of life, change, humanity, emotions, and the list goes on, through his poetry. Reading his poetry is like a metaphysical journey, each with it's own personal meaning and significance. His poems certainly won't mean the same thing to every person, but they each hold their own message, just like in his poem News Of My Mother. What has truly happened remains a mystery, but his emotions, his troubles, and the journey that he's been on are very much there for us to see, on display like a glass case, for each of us to get something out of reading it. His poems are introspective, sentimental, and a joy to read. 

Poem Project Rubric

/50 Completion
- Completes and finishes all aspects of the project

/20 Content
-There is an overarching theme
-All poems related to each other and are tied together under idea or theme
-Shows originality

/20 Presentation
-Well done and captures audience's attention
-Effectively organized beforehand

/10 Recitation
-Very well rehearsed
-Unique, shows originality
-Conveys what the presenter meant it to

Short Story Emulation

I've been thinking a lot about my short story and what it's going to be. My family has had a young woman working for us ever since she was about my age right now. She started working with us when my mother was pregnant with my oldest brother. She stayed with my family until a few years ago when she got married. She's now pregnant but that's not really relevant. She comes from an extremely large family, one of twenty seven children, not all of the same wife and she's pretty much acted as my third parent. I still see her on vacations, and I've been missing her a lot recently.
So what I've decided to do with my short story was use Paulette's character and put her back in her home village of Kotonu but old, and a widow. Her husband will reappear, but be missing the scars that her people are adorned with from birth. I'm going to call her and ask her what she would do in that situation and I'm also going to call her and ask for details about her family, how they celebrate, what her village looks like, what her husband does for a living, and all these other details to make the story come to life. Also, it's her birthday quite soon, and I was gonna call her and read it out to her as a birthday present, so hopefully I'll be done by then.

Creative Writing Exercise

In our class with Nii Parkes, when asked about what makes a great short story, he said it was about turning a regular situation on it's head. Doing something completely unpredictable with the mundane situations that we can all relate to. I thought back to some of the African Short stories that we've been reading and his advice does seem to apply to quite a few of them, although perhaps not recurring and ordinary moments in our lives, I can see how these would appear as normal acts that have been turned upside down to a West African.

If I was to write a story like this, I would use something that I know very well and do very often, once a week I take care of the kids at St. John's Wood Playground. Right now, I'm thinking about using some influence from the short stories we're reading to turn this situation on it's head.

Yusef walked out of his office, "Alright kids, everyone outside"he said. He beckoned us over with his finger as the kids jumped out of their miniature chairs and flew out the door, all eyeing the jungle gym.

"Okay listen up, I don't want any of the kids getting hurt today, especially not David. Seriously though, if David comes out with a single cut on his finger by the time he goes home, I'm gonna ask the school to never send you over here again." He commanded us, with blatant disregard for our concerns or questions. "Alright, good talk" he said with a smile, as he turned and went straight back into his office. 

So I'm going to try and add some of the mysterious aspects of The Tail of The Blue Bird with the writing styles of some chosen authors from the Book of short stories we're reading.

2nd Anowa Entry

To me, the story of Anowa seems like the story of a woman, no not just a woman, a person who wants to get something out of life that isn't there to get. She is constantly unhappy with her situation, whether it be in her village or at her home alongside her husband. But what is this trying to convey? Well I think it all goes back to the old man and the old women that are narrating the entire play. The old man seems to be more  liberal with how women should behave and the old women more conservative. Of course the only women they ever talk about though is Anowa. Their narration underscores gender roles in modern society and the negative outcomes it can have on people's lives. If it weren't for these stereotypes, Anowa would not have been scorned by her entire village, not been called 'wild', 'unruly', or 'strange'. It was the inability of those around Anowa who loved and cared for Anowa to accept her for who she was to truly accept for who she was that made Anowa separate herself from her family and her husband. She ends up alone, an outcast for not doing what she was 'meant' to do. So at it's root, I believe that Anowa is not only a story, but also a commentary on the negatives of gender roles in contemporary society.

1st Anowa Entry

Although I find it difficult to visualize Anowa, it being a play and all, I thoroughly enjoyed the it. What really stood out to me at first were the issues that it presented. Although it was published in 1970, it speaks about issues still relevant today. What we've read so for really connects the African themes and settings that we've been reading about in our class.

As the main character, Anowa is the center of the play. She's a young Ghanaian women, considered wild, strange, and unusual by the entire village, including her own mother and father. Anowa refuses to marry anyone who has asked her and her parents are becoming excessively more worried about her future. Many in the play believe that Anowa would have been better off as a priestess. I think the independent behavior of Anowa in the play really makes us question the gender roles that are in place. Anowa doesn't fit with the stereotypical path that her village believe all women should take. So now I wait to see what life has in store for Anowa as she leaves home to find a life that she really wants.

End of The Tail

Tail of The Blue Bird ends on a very positive note for Kayo despite the hardships he encountered during the book.  I believe that it was these hardships and his experiences that eventually led him to where he was at the end of the book. He finally found a balance in his life and is even learning medicine from the village medicine man. Whether it was being abducted by the police against his will and being forced to work for them, being held up at gunpoint, or the resolution of the mysterious 'bloody and afterbirth like' substance he has finally become happy with his life. He's always been a successful hybrid of sorts, but by the end of this book his 'fate', as in all the things that have happened to him against his will, have really transformed him. His viewpoints are no longer limited. His views of religion, reality, and the world itself have all changed and he's been truly rewarded by the journey that he went on. He never wanted to be sent on this journey, he didn't know what it held in store for him, but it turned out to be one of the best thing that could've happened to him. That's where I think the magic of this book really is, in how Kayo's changed from who he was at the beginning of the novel.

Start of The Tail of the Blue Bird

I have always truly enjoyed the Mystery genre, and it might be a bit too early in our reading to say this, but I truly believe that The Tail of the Blue Bird is going to be a great mystery novel. Nii Parkes' descriptions of the cities, cars, bars, houses, and characters all truly hit home, bringing back memories of my time spent in Africa. I love his use of African language inside the book, but I'm not certain that everybody else is enjoying it as much as I am. The author's use of italics in Yao Poku's narratives are also quite mysterious. At this point, I'm not sure what to make of them at all.
Although the mystery of the novel is only in the form of gore laying on the floor a a villager's home, it still works truly well. It is a mystery in the truest sense of the word. His style of writing and his use of metaphors and similes, some relating to birds, have truly invigorated my thought process when it comes to mystery books. Without any real information I'm being forced to really think, and the part of the novel where the villagers don't smell anything but the police do is absolutely inspiring work! I still can't bare knowing that the answer is a couple hundred pages away from me.
I don't believe that there will be anything magical or supernatural when it comes to solving the mystery, at this point it doesn't even seem that way, but our class discussions have brought up the term magical surrealism so let's just wait and see.

The Tail pages 36-80

The Tail of the blue bird is a really promising book. So far what we've read has really set up quite a lot that the book has to answer for. I honestly have no idea at this point of what has, or will happen in the village. Kayo has a lot that he needs to get started on and I honestly don't believe that his expertise in forensics is going to help him out as much as he thinks it is. Certainly it gave him the job, but there are certain hints dropped by the author that imply a supernatural phenomena or occurrence is at work. Nii Parkes seems to draw all of our attention away from Kayo himself as well as his home, the police, and his family. The village in the book seems to have become our main focus. The village itself, it's children, and the people in it such as Yaw Poku are all truly interesting, and I believe that we will come to know so much more about the village as a whole, separate from the poverty and troubles of the entire country. Our knowledge of Ghana that the book has given us has now become irrelevant as the story now taking place in a village. I wonder how the village that we see in Tail of the Blue Bird will be different from the village of Okonkwo and his family in things fall apart. Certainly things have changed overtime, and I would love to see how the West African Village has changed.