fires Dared to Ignite

Garren Smalls poems are like little short stories capturing a moment of communication. he said himself he likes to write about people talking without really talking about anything of substance. at first, I was skeptical of his statement, but then I began to think about it i realized  it happens a lot more in life then I or anyone would ever really want to admit. he brought up a great point, he had said something along the lines of- people who are truly in love actually talk to each other-equal parts listening, talking and trying to understand what the other truly means. relationships that fail tend to fail because of  miscommunication.  We had also briefly discussed the difference in the means of communication between both sexes. in class it was generalized to: men tend to say what they want to say frankly when they want to say it, women say what they want to say in more subtle ways and these things are expressed with more frequency  I think there is some truth to that, that couples often times forget that men and women have a different way of communicating, so  instead of just expecting things one must actually ask the questions instead of just waiting for the answers. there were two poems I really liked that Garren Small read, one was called Along the Row and another ( I'm drawing a blank on the name) about a couple eating salad on a subway platform. the first, Along the Row explores the loneliness everyone feels and at different levels in different relationships.I have personally felt that the highest level of loneliness can, ironically, develop in romantic relationships, ones where one or both lovers are not invested and are together for the sake of being together. I liked the imagery in  the poem of the men walking along the road in New York  in "white shirts and orange ties." Mr. Smalls went on to explain that he wrote this to express the empty conversations men have about sports when there are far greater things to discuss. I think in general people tend to talk about trivial things to escape the deeper stuff and also because its hard to bring up such things and do it justice. one of the sections in the poem that caught my attention  was about the couple " he wants to explode it to her. he wants to whisper it to her. he wants to take her hand  in  hand."  I think these lines show that as much as we want to talk about things, scream it to the roof tops, the interpretation and the idea of rejection shatter the freedom to communicate freely, even with those that you truly love. the other poem about the couple eating salad on the subway platform, is an example of true romantic love. the couple was able to spend time with one another  enjoying each others smiles with out any kind on gimmick, no distraction, just a moment in time with the one you love.