Poetry Response 3

Makayla Sheffield

AP-Literature 1st hour

7 October, 2016

Poetry Response #3

“Potions” by Yusef Komunyakaa the speaker is telling us a story about how you can give people hope. In the poem the speaker states “They carried /Photos, locks of hair, nail clippings,/ & the first three words of a wish.” ( lines 14-16). These lines signify that the people visiting the potion lady were hopeful she could grant their three wishes.

The Speaker is presumably telling a story about a witch. Obviously why the title is

“Potions”. I can most definitely relate to lines (2-3), “ Candy for children/ Who’d bolt through her front door.” These specific lines are relatable because as a kid I would run for ice cream or to the liquor store to get a sweet treat. Komunyakaa connects with a younger audience by appealing to something that they would like. I believe this is a great way to generate a larger audience on one genre.

Also Komunyakaa organizes his poem so that each stanza is 4 lines exactly. This is unique because maybe the  number four holds some type of significance to the speaker of the poem or reflects him in some way.

Yusef Komunyakaa personalizes the story maybe to reflect some of his personal life but to also allow his reader to connect with him and stay interested.