on the subway
Throughout the poem “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds, the speaker tells of shallow differences between the speaker and the black man before her. Simply put the poem is about the racism present within the speaker’s society, the speaker directly says that “His feet are huge, in black sneakers laced with white in a complex pattern like a set of intentional scars… He is wearing red, like the inside of the body exposed. I am wearing dark fur, the whole skin of an animal taken and used” to describe the shallow differences between her and the man. By giving these vivid and detailed descriptions of the two people, it is no difficult task to see that there is a different point of view on each of the characters. This should appear interesting to the modern reader because even such differences are apparent within our society today. There is no mistaking the fact that within the society we live in, minorities (Blacks, Hispanics, and even Asians) hold a greater percentage of the nation’s poverty stricken people. Olds excellently has portrayed the blatant and yet ignored racism apparent in all human society. It is fascinating that so much inference can be made about a mere paragraph of words. Yet thus is the power of poetry. Poetry as a whole can reshape the ideas of a very nation, consequently changing the actions of a nation. Poets such as Emerson and Thorough helped usher in a new era of nature loving peoples and emotion focused thought.