Love VS Pain

Ariana Towns
Poetry Response #3


“is it true the ribs can tell
The kick of a beast from a

Lover’s fist? The bruised

Bones recorded well

The sudden shock, the

Hard impact. Then swollen lids,

Sorry eyes, spoke not

Of lost romance, but hurt.

Hate often is confused. Its

Limits are in zones beyond itself. And

Sadists will not learn that

Love, by nature, exacts a pain

Unequalled on the rack.”

                                                         "Some kind of love, some say"

               In the poem "Some kind of love, some say" by Maya Angelou, it talks about physical abuse being looked at as some form of love to those who believe abuse is only done because of it. In the poem, the speaker who is unknown implies that others do not understand the love and abuse that everyone else does. I interpreted this because it says in lines 11-13, "Sadists will not learn / Love, by nature, exacts a pain / Unequalled on the rack". The speaker is telling us that people who enjoy inflicting pain on others will never know that love by itself can cause a type of pain that isn't equal to the physical or sexual pain one causes. Sometimes it's merely something more than just sexual abuse. The poem helps the readers understand that so often abuse, violence or rape is couched as love. It is described as caring to try to lessen the harsh reality of power and control. It is placed in a category that some would say is love but others will not.

                Angelou believes poetry is a spiritual role and I agree with her because you have to be able to see something within one's writing. Two lines that stick out to me in the poem said, "Hate is often confused. / Its limits are in zones beyond itself" (9- 10). This caught my attention because the society I was raised in hate could only mean one simple thing. For it to be able to get confused with something else made me question what exactly qualifies as hate. The poem talks about the ribs being able to tell the difference between a violent and loving touch. How it keeps a record of shock, hits, and hurt. Although, how does the body know whether the violent hit is out of love or not? In my mind, this is how a person who deals with physical abuse would manipulate the situation into seeming less harmful. The speaker, however, wants readers to understand that there are limits to love and limits to violence and once those limits are crossed nothing will be equal ever again.