Poetry Supermarket

Smoke- Erica Jong
The Color of Snow- Erica Jong

1. Erica Jong, author of the poem “Smoke”, was born March 26, 1942. She grew up in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and attended the New York school of Music and Art. She says that her family was a typical New York Jewish family. During the time of her writings she wrote many books, and lots of poems. The majority of her works were about women, and their possibilities, loves and adventures. “Smoke” in particular seems to focus on the happenings of the Holocaust, although Jong uses the terms “witches” and “brooms” to represent real life people and things from that terrible time. This poem connects to the poet because she, in fact, was Jewish. Although she personally didn’t go through any of the struggles with the Holocaust, her family told her of it, and she knew many of her possible ancestors died during the time.

2. In her poem “Smoke” Erica Jong seems to use symbols to represent people, and things. She uses the terms “witches” to represent the evil people, like the Nazi’s, in the Holocaust, and states that they blessed and cursed their kind “on their spiky brooms”. I thought this was a good effect because she compares the Nazi’s to a person most people think of as evil, a witch, and it gets the point across that what they did was wrong. Another thing I noticed about the poem is that Jong wrote the poem as if she were having a conversation with the reader. Although many poems and writings may do this, it really stuck out to me because she used words like “our”, and quotes such as “o let us not go” and “on our beautiful brooms”. Jong’s tone throughout the piece seems to be resentful, although not in the angry way. She’s telling you what happened, and what you should do to end with your pride still intact.

3. Jong’s poem “The Color of Snow” was written for a man named David Karetsky, who was killed in an avalanche. What made me like this poem was the tone. It seems to have a touch of sadness to it (if you know why it was written), but it gives you the sense that everything is peaceful. By that I mean it seems to teach you the lesson that you should live life to the fullest, and “live with the wind”. Jong seems to be thanking the man because he taught her that lesson, reminding her to “seize our lives”. I thought the poem was written in a very respectful way considering the situation, and portrayed the situation in a happy way, if that’s possible.

4. I do believe that there is something about this poet that makes them distinctly American. Jong can be described as a feminist, and in her writings talked mainly about women, and many of their situations. Although many places today let women have the same rights as men, certain aspects of her poems just make me think of the different type of struggles women dealt and still deal with. This makes me think of women in the early 1900’s who fought for different issues, and although women fought for this in other countries, my mind just automatically thinks of the women in America.