Kitchenette Building

"Kitchenette Building," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a poem describing what it was like to live in a community house for African Americans. She describes the scene with such strong detail and imagery, it makes the reader feel an intense sense of sympathy for the poet. She portrays the people in the home as "grayed in, and gray," which makes everything seem boring and the same. She goes onto say that although dreams seem nice and joyful or "giddy," words like "rent,” “feeding a wife,” and “satisfying a man," were all much more practical at the time. 

Next, she describes smells and foods in the building, "onion fumes," fried potatoes," and "garbage ripening." These nasty descriptions are beautiful examples of imagery as they truly touch the reader's senses. One could almost smell those onions, and what the potatoes would've tasted like. And most definitely, one can smell what the garbage must've smelled like! Imagery creates visions inside of one's head to experience the described scene in a more meaningful way. Imagery  is very beneficial in telling the story of the, "Kitchenette Building."

What is Poetry?

I find it hard to define poetry into one simple meaning because poetry itself has endless meanings to it. Poetry comes with a different definition for everyone because poetry is supposed to make every individual person feel something different. So I can tell you all the things poetry is to me, but I cannot put it into one definition.

To me, poetry is beautiful, no matter what. Whether poetry makes me cry, whether it makes me laugh, whether it makes me smile, or whether it makes me angry, its beauty comes from the feelings and emotions it gives to the reader. That's why people fall in love, get their heart broken, become depressed, or happy again. It's not because of the way anything looks or seems, it's the feelings that come with it all. Poetry is beautiful because it makes people feel something that ordinarily would be hard to get in touch with.

Additionally, poetry is universal. It can be found anywhere, and through anyone. Some poems may have more depth to them than others, but a poem is a poem. Anywhere, and everywhere you go, you can find a poem. Poems can be pulled out of nature, out of cities or literally out of the blue. You can find poems in other people, places, anywhere you can imagine. That's what makes poetry such a cool concept.

One of the best things about poems is that poems are for the weak, and for the brave. People who are weak, or seem to have no courage at all, find their voices in a poem. Poems speak the words that people are often times too scared to say out loud. The perfect poems can say more than you could ever speak and do a better job of it than you could. But poems are also for brave people, because putting your feelings down on paper is harder than it seems. Letting your thoughts spill out onto a page can be very difficult. Poetry is for everyone- no matter who you are.