A Different World
Let's workshop this poem where the speaker reflects on a foreign world of privilege he experienced through a college roommate's family during Easter vacation
A Different World It was a safe world from which I was divorced by multiple degrees—this world of blankets, Jerseys, non-jelly-jar cups (with college logos). Whether it was because I had seen this world on TV or dreamed about it, my anxieties fell (as if I had returned to a lost home) made cozy in a bedroom with no punch holes by the mom of my freshman roommate over Easter break. Trophies, degrees, vacations—(table) meals: how must it have been to have grown here? Did he take for granted his dad (living there) sober but eager to toss a football after dinner or to play one-on-one on the driveway hoop or to sit on the porch furniture (splintered in a way I felt impossible nostalgia for) just to talk? How could I repay such hospitality?
This poem is unpublished
Photo: jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/media/trash-litters-the-area-around-the-empty-brick-house-vacated-by-the-ernest-watkins-712cb9
This free-verse poem, which concerns the stark differences between the narrator’s world and the world of his or her college roommate, is well-crafted and thought-provoking. The small details, like the jelly-jar glasses, bring this piece to near mastery. It is reminiscent of J. D. McClatchy.
The poem might benefit from more specific details about the speaker's own world and experiences. While the poem effectively conveys the differences between the two worlds, it may be helpful for readers to have a clearer sense of what the speaker's own world looks like and how it differs from the world of the roommate. This could help to create a stronger sense of contrast and further emphasize the themes of difference and separation.
The poem could also benefit from a more explicit exploration of the implications of the differences between the two worlds. While the poem touches on themes of empathy and gratitude, it does not delve deeply into the broader societal implications of the differences between these worlds or the challenges that can arise when trying to bridge those gaps. Adding more depth and complexity to these themes could make the poem even more compelling.