Poem of the week 2/3/12

My favorite poem this week is "At the Galleria Shopping Mall," by Tony Hoagland. My first enchantment with this poem was the way it follows an organized train of thought. My brain is always jumping from one thing to the next and somehow I always let it spill out of my mouth and leave people asking me where I even came up with that and how it was so random. But to me it makes perfect sense. I saw a swimmer on my book cover, which made me think of Michael Phelps, which made me think of my cousin, which made think of how he is in the marines, which made me tell you about how he dove off a ginormous cliff for training,Duh. So I can relate, even though its not exactly the same thing, I love it. I also like how it portrays the young girl's transition from innocent childhood to obfuscated adulthood as a sudden whack; its all over in a matter of seconds. And suddenly, material wealth possesses her, "Americanizes her", and she is sent into a constant cycle of dismay.