"Root Cellar" and "Into Mexico"

The first poem titled, “Root Cellar”, creates a great sense of imagery and taps into the reader’s memories of smelling and feeling a rich, dank, and dark place. “Shoots dangled and drooped,/ Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates…Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich.” The poet also describes the liveliness that comes from the things growing in the cellar by using language usually used to describe people: “congress”, ”sleep”, “hunt”, “breathing”, etc. This poem reminded me of our in-class talk about haikus and the appreciation of pure imagery.

The second poem titled, “Into Mexico”, is about the exhilaration the poet felt in visiting Mexico, which was a foreign country to her. Even the unpleasant experiences, such as going to the bathroom in a shack, are described as adventures that require bravery. The poet is so eager to experience everything, as can be seen by the desire to try every sweet roll in the market place and the line “Each noise, each name, is enchanted and necessary.” In the last stanza, the poet writes, “One starves for this journey, I think, a simple sensing of what is not thou, not it, but you…” It is as if the poet finds the journey of finding herself in a foreign country to be as necessary and as fulfilling as food or water or any other basic necessity for living. I too “starve” for particular sensory-filled experiences, but my needs are usually for journeys through nature, like hiking up a mountain, trekking through the woods, or dipping my feet in a lake.