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M: remorseful, thoughtful, nostalgic

I: auditory (the sounds of the clay, “shhh” sound), visual (the poet describes the look of the clay), tactile (the feeling of manipulating the clay).

S: This poem does not use a rhyme scheme or traditional stanzas. It is written in the form of prose, which adds to its feeling of vulnerability and rawness. The poem reads more like instructions, particularly because of the poet's use of commanding language and the pronoun “you”. Even the title is a command - “how to grieve your lover”.

T: The tension in this poem is the speaker vs. grief.

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M: Reflective, overwhelmed, jumbled, stressed

I: Visual, Gustatory (tacos), Auditory (language is a major theme), tactile (soreness as an analogy for love/acts of service).

S: This poem does not use a rhyme scheme or stanzas, it is written as prose. The poem uses a lot of repetition to emphasize certain major themes within the overall jumbled and overwhelming string of statements. It has structural similarities to the first poem I looked at, they both use a lot of commanding language.

T: The tension in this poem is the speaker vs. family.

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Ariana Brown identifies as queer, Black, and Mexican. She has published two poetry collections: We Are Owed and Sana Sana. a B.A. in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies, an M.F.A. in Poetry, and an M.S. in Library Science. She is a poet, teacher, and consultant. She has been featured in Teen Vogue, PBS News, and more. She is a national collegiate poetry slam champion, winner of two Academy of American Poets Prizes, and a recipient of a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Grant. Her website says that "She currently develops ethnic studies and ELA curriculum for high schools and colleges and teaches creative writing to teens in Houston".

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In both of the poems I read, Ariana Brown uses a lot of commanding and certain language. This is a theme that our class has observed throughout Nepantla, and discussed in our seminars. I interpreted the commanding tone of these poems as a form of self assurance amidst the confusion of relationships/loss of relationships. This particularly relates to LGBTQIA+ literature because queer relationships can often have more inherent nuance and complications than heterosexual relationships, all while facing extra scrutiny from the outside world. This can create a need for queer people, and queer poets, to find ways (such as writing) to affirm themselves when others fail. In the poem How to Grieve Your Lover Brown writes: “The guilt you feel is small compared to the number of times you've had to ask to be kissed or held or listened to. Stop! Before your walls get too thin and collapse. You want to be able to drink out of this mug you're making, it needs to be sturdy”. This excerpt demonstrates the idea of self affirmation, as the speaker uses commanding language to encourage the building of something ‘sturdy’. Additionally, throughout both poems Ariana Brown only references her partner or partners very vaguely, never providing any pronouns or name. I interpreted this as reflective of the secrecy that often occurs in queer relationships, often because of a fear of not being accepted. Ariana Brown also ties ideas of intersectionality into her poetry, most notably in the second poem I looked at: Lessons From my Family. Language and culture is a major theme in this piece, mainly in connection to the poet’s Mexican heritage. In this poem she writes “What kind of Mexican are you? Some of us became good Mexican women by learning to make homemade tortillas for our families and some of us refused to become good Mexican women by never learning to make homemade tortillas.” While there is a lot of subtlety to the ideas of intersectionality here, this excerpt made me think of how culture can impact one's experience with traditional gender roles, especially as a queer individual. Because of a lot of the subtlety in her poetry, I think Ariana’s work is best understood through the lens of her identity, and knowing and understanding how she identifies helps to deepen interpretations of her poetry.

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This is a collage I made to highlight Ariana Brown, it includes an image of her, one of the poems I studied, a news article that featured her, her books, and some of her identities.