Poetry Collides

Summons
by Robert Francis

Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep too soon
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door.
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me till
I'm half as wide awake as you
And start to dress wondering why
I ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb.
Not only tell me but persuade me.
You know I'm not too hard persuaded. 

The Place Where We Are Right
by Yehuda Amichai

From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.
The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.
But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.

Poetry isn't all made the same which is pretty obvious to anyone who has ever read two poems and understood what they meant. They do share many similarities however and aren't always all that different. there are some similarities and differences between "Summons" by Robert Francis and "The Place Where We Are Right" by Yehuda Amichai.

One similarity that can be noticed by the first words picked for each verse of the poems. They are all these powerful nouns or verbs. The authors don't waste a word by beginning a verse with filler words like "the, there, A", or any unnecessary expansive language. they get right to the point in there literature and that gives much power to there words. Both authors also artfully decide how much to put on a verse. Some contain two sentences, others have fragments of a sentence. Others include a sentence but they finish in the following line. However they all are written in a style that shows you how the author wrote it and thought it the way it is written reflex the authors train of thought and stream of conscientiousness.

The poems are very different however. "Summons" describes to me like a call for help. Some one is asking to be persuaded as if all that they really need is the attention and a sign that some one else cares about him doing something. It is very vague, but it illustrates a feeling that some people have felt before. It almost feels at time like the author is immature and won't take responsibility for himself but could really also be in a hole that he needs help getting out of.

The other poem "The Place Where We Are Right" describes the reality of always being right and never accepting other answers and other ideas. This is the land of the ignorant, where people are given the choice to see a new perpective but choose not to because they are always right and don't need and alternate answer. They choose to be close minded because they are always right and they create a place of ruin as described by the poem.

Obviously these poems have very different themes, tones, mood and feel, but we did find some similarities that can be seen also in many other poems and poetry.