Splice Poem #2 by

"No Matter What,"

gobournestephen — 2025-06-14 01:30:51 UTC

Poem Text:

gobournestephen — 2025-06-14 01:32:37 UTC

The bright suns I see and the dark suns I cannot see are in their place

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Icicles filled the long window

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds

I rise

With the certainty of tides

Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth

I rise

Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle

Just like moons and like suns

Regardless of others, ever regardful of others

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave

I rise

Summary

gobournestephen — 2025-06-14 01:35:48 UTC

I kind of went back and forth with the authors with my spliced poem here. I united them under a common theme of no matter what, whatever actions, what people, what is going on in the world, they still rise and do what they have to do. Of course, that is what Angelou was talking about, but I think it can be interpreted in Whitman’s work too, like where he says regardless of others. I used Steven’s work to tie in different points of views of what could be happening around oneself, but stuff still needs to be done. Like where he says “Icicles filled the long window” “The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds”. This would be an example of something random happening, but still would not change anything about one’s daily life. Sandburg in his work “Chicago” also helps tie this idea together, but where he is talking about the struggles, but still nevertheless love for his city, I turned it into struggles that one could face in their daily life, but still, “no matter what,” rise. Like where he says “Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth” and “Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle”. I combined these with the other authors' works to try and tie together my theme. My title is “No Matter What,” because I feel like those are the words I would say before I say “I rise”. I think it fits the concept together nicely and the comma inside the title makes it unique.

Authors Used

gobournestephen — 2025-06-14 01:42:38 UTC

Whitman

Angelou

Stevens

Sandburg

Dr. HC

whyrhetoric — 2025-06-14 17:26:16 UTC

The focus on bright suns, dark, night, moon, and even that dusty idea later is a wonderful way to think about how to make connections across these works. The interplay between Sandburg and Angelou is fascinating as I often see them in tension rather than striving similarly. Love that you made the title in effect the first line!

lawrence3htre — 2025-06-16 04:01:09 UTC

Making the different sections of all these poems connect was actually very well done here in my opinion. Focusing on symbolic forms of things in which may occur in your life was very well done here and utilizing stanzas in a way to separate out each section that in the way you did worked very well with keeping certain ideas together, yet allowing such to flow with the rest of the poem. I am not too sure but in the stanza which includes "Icicles filled" I kind of imagine that the harshness of ice and a window could symbolize unfortunate, chilling, or lasting discomfort and the window of your life, respectively. Sometimes we feel harsh, cold occurrences form on us as we see out of our window of life. And sometimes they stay there, frozen and slick for some time. Also in the same stanza, the blackbird whirling, could have a connection to harsh times as it is in autumn as well and the blackbird could be the difficulties we face, one way or another, whirling through our mind and spirit. This whirling accompanies us as we traverse from a warmer more lively time into a cooler time where abounding energy lessens as time moves towards the peak of cold, frigid, or bleak times. I also see symbolism in the other parts of your poem all tying into what this poem is trying to portray as your title suggests. Very nicely done.