February Blog

“LISP” by Sam Sax

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/147630/lisp
https://unsplash.com/photos/a-black-and-brown-snake-on-the-ground-nNZo76TFdb8

I want to connect my poet, Sam Sax, to a similar artist, Sam Smith. Both Sax and Smith are non-binary performers who have a striking amount in common. The first clear connection is in their names and who they are regarding gender identity and sexuality. They share a first name in Sam but also resemble each other vaguely in appearance. I will put pictures of both Sax and Smith at the end of this blog, but I highly encourage the reader to look for themselves as well. They also share the fact that they have a childhood lisp, as shown in the poem I chose to attach to this blog and in interviews with Smith. Specifically, Sax’s “LISP” utilizes an absurd amount of alliteration (ha) to purposefully make it so people would struggle to read it aloud, even to the point of lisping themselves. They have more in common than just a lisp, name, or appearance, though. They also both go by they/them pronouns and are openly queer, as shown in Sax’s poems and Smith’s songs. The ending of “LISP” becomes very sexual in nature, with Sax stating “now when i say please / let me suck your cock / i sound straight.” This line implies a conflict in sexuality, which Smith also had as they came out as gay in 2014 and later non-binary in 2019. 

Sax and Smith also both have their struggles with mental health and masculinity. Smith has gone on record stating that they have battled body dysmorphia, panic attacks, anxiety, and depression as they became a rising star. They used to starve themselves in order to seem more presentable on stage, which, combined with an ending relationship, proved to be incredibly detrimental to Smith’s mental health. Sax, however, has numerous interviews and poems both implicitly and explicitly stating that they have struggled with their sexuality, drug abuse, and masculinity. Masculinity specifically was mentioned in “LISP”, with Sax “fixing” their soft and high voice with a more masculine one, saying “so i straightened my sound / into a masculine i.”

Both Sax and Smith have found peace throughout their careers, as shown in the evolution of their albums and collections. They both settled into their identities, though Sax still seems to have to work out some residual issues, as they always seem to mention trauma from their past in every single poem. Starting in the late 2010s, Smith accepted their queerness and showed it on social media regularly, even releasing a music video that they published with the intent of “celebrating queerness.”

It is overall shocking how similar these two public figures are, even though one is a relatively small poet and the other is a superstar. Sam Smith was a deceivingly convenient comparison for Sam Sax, as they not only share a first name and appearance, they both are queer in their identity and sexuality, have experienced similar traumas, have had conflicts regarding their sexuality, and have a lisp, which was the inspiration for this issue of my blog. 

(502 Words)

November Blog

Hard to Understand: 

“For My Niblings in Anticipation of Their Birth” by Sam Sax

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/160253/for-my-niblings-in-anticipation-of-their-birth

This poem was shockingly hard to understand. A majority of the poem is Sax describing different places where semen is seen, alongside meaningful events at each place. For example, Sax said, “semen in the meadows where we buried and bled.” which, among the other lines, was extremely confusing. As I gave this poem a few more reads, I did begin to understand that Sam Sax is telling a story, and semen, AKA life, follows where the story does. The story progresses from a presumably Jewish family on a boat, where they experience death on the water, to the meadows where they bury their dead, to the light of a synagogue. In this synagogue, Sax makes a connection between Noah’s Ark and this family’s travels before breaking the repetition of “semen” with a slightly disturbing reaction to the beauty of life. (140 words)

Easy to Understand: 

“James Dean with Pig” by Sam Sax

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/160250/james-dean-with-pig

This poem is easily the most straightforward poem by Sam Sax, whose work is overwhelmingly shocking and complex, supplemented by lewd language and topics. It begins with an introduction of a famous actor, James Dean, who shot to stardom during the first half of the 1950’s. They speak about how Dean is iconic, how they haven’t seen any of his films yet they still know of him and his appearance. After this, Sax questions the reality if Dean never chased the spotlight, wondering what would happen if he returned to his family farm in Indianapolis. From this, Sax introduces another famous actor, Marlon Brando, who was assumed to have an affair with James Dean. He compares their relationship to “sub & dominus . god and pig,” which is certainly straightforward but also uses very charged language, showing Sax’s lack of restraint in reference to sensitive topics. He explains that Dean loved Brando, idolizing him and allowing him free reign over his body, referencing photos of Brando burning cigarettes on Dean’s skin in 1955. Admittedly, the end confuses me slightly. I question what Sax meant by saying the reader possibly consumed Brando’s children. Possibly his influence? (193 words)

Just Right:

 “Worry” by Sam Sax

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/89330/worry

Worry is a poem that challenges me, but not to the point where I need to reread sections or the entirety of the poem. I can connect the dots as I go and appreciate the complexities of each event. Despite this, the more I re-read, the more nuances I catch, making this poem the gift that keeps on giving. The title acts as the poem’s first word, which I see as a very nice segue into the rest of the work. Sax then describes multiple events that get increasingly grotesque and uncomfortable, describing their mother’s potential affair, and their experiences with selling their body, eventually replacing the word “worry” with “panic.” As the poem concludes, Sax becomes bolder and more aggressive, questioning “why not eat the hand that feeds you?” and “why don’t we just eat the whole damned body alive?” in an almost reckless fashion, as if they’re so panicked and worried that they throw all morals away in an attempt of self-preservation. (164 words)

Background Information: Sam Sax is a queer, Jewish writer and educator. They seem to have struggled with substance abuse and self-doubt, as well as other mental troubles. This is evident in “Worry,” with much of the poem reflecting desperation and anxiety. They seem to have a troubled past, with it being inferred that they, at one point in their life, turned to prostitution, either for validation or money.

(66 words)

Sources:

Bread in Dirt 

Flowers 

James Dean 

Total: 563 words

October Blog

“On Alcohol” by Sam Sax

(https://unsplash.com/photos/a-man-laying-in-the-grass-with-a-bottle-of-beer-fOKaK7EjydM) 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/118565/on-alcohol

What immediately stands out and is easy to understand when you first read this poem? 

It is immediately apparent that he has an intimate and unhealthy relationship with alcohol, speaking on how it causes him to lose things and people every time, but it does not stop him from abusing alcohol. Additionally, the use of slang and abbreviations mixed with advanced language also adds another very nice touch as these two contrasting qualities mix messily, similar to how alcohol typically results in messy things. Lastly, I think that the mentioning of his grandfather’s death due to what is suggested to be alcohol is also very easy to understand. More specifically, when Sax states that he called his drink his “medicine” and he simply called his wife, it displayed where his grandfather’s priorities lied.

Why do you think that’s important?

I think it’s important because even though alcohol takes from him, it’s so fundamental to his life, so having the bones of the poem being so obviously about alcohol means that you cannot take it away without losing something critical to the plot. If he removed alcohol from his life, a gigantic part of himself would be removed. From first drinking in the womb, so much of his life revolved around alcohol. This is clearly a pattern in his family given that his grandfather died bottle in hand, and he is prepared to follow suit.

What line/sections/stanzas of the poem are difficult to understand? Why?

The end of the third stanza as well as the sixth and seventh stanzas were difficult to understand as stanza three used very advanced language that I was not familiar with such as “apocrypha” while stanzas six and seven seemed confusing and a little incomplete. For example, Sax stated that his head was “neolithic.” This is confusing to me since the only definition for neolithic, at least to my knowledge, is a time period in the history of the Earth. I also do not know what an apocrypha is, so that made the third stanza quite difficult to understand.

 What do you think they may be connected to or mean even if you don’t fully understand?

I think they may still be connected to memory loss related to alcohol and religious usage of alcohol, as I searched up apocrypha and got religious results. Regarding Sax’s head being “neolithic,” it could be him saying his brain is trying to figure things out and advance his understanding of what is going on around him. 

What lines/sections/stanzas of the poem do you feel you have a good understanding of after you’ve spent some time thinking about the passage? Share your thoughts/analysis on these sections.

Starting with the 8th stanza I feel like I have a stronger understanding of the poem, as the divisions between each stanza are abrupt and harsh, akin to alcohol. Sax explicitly mentions how negative alcohol is for the people around him and himself, progressing his narrative by changing “every time I drink, I lose something” to “every time I drink, I lose someone” after mentioning his grandfather’s passing. I think that shift is very impactful and important, because it expresses a similarity between him and his grandfather, but also because the tone shifts with the reveal that drinking caused him to lose someone, not just something.

What personal connections can you make with the poem?

The author seems to be Jewish, the same as me. I can make connections to when he describes his bris and attending synagogue, as wine is relevant at both of those events.

506 words