In "Jasmine" by Yusef Komunyakaa. The speaker (a first person narrator) expresses the atmosphere of a jazz club while also telling the reader about a scent that takes him back to a familiar place.
I admire the way the imagery allows you to be apart of the story. From lines 1-6 the speaker sets the tone for the reader and gives insight on how he feels. He drifts between what's currently happening in the club, how he feels about it, and the sweet smell of jasmine that he can't figure out which of the two ladies he's sitting with is wearing.
The insights to the club, /Elvin's sticks/ and /the blue fantasia of the clubs atmosphere/ (lines 2 & 3) and again with /Richard Davis plucks at the fat notes/ /of chance on his uprights/ (lines 14 and 15) allows the speaker to transition from his mind to the club and back to the women.
The speaker also shows how he's grown and talks about people that have affected his life and how he views this very situation. In lines 5-7 he recollects / how I'd cross the street/ /if a woman like these two walked/ /towards me/. He the goes on and gives us this golden view of what his grandmother's would say if the saw him now /They'd say ,Boy the devil never sleeps/ (lines 11).
The fragrance of jasmine close by is what the speaker comes back to repetitively. His thoughts about the past and his in depth imagery of the club always ends back up with the scent of jasmine. The scent the woman (we later find out its the brunette) is wearing bring the speaker to a place of attraction and lush.
The way Komunyakaa has the poem flowing and shifting the reader's attention from point to point is what drew me to appreciate the poem as a whole. It's some references that went over my head on the first read but, I later figured out the intentions the more I read it. The line breaks in the poem shifted focus with ease and the power that gave the poem was outstanding.
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