Journal Three from Maddie

A Quiet Poem

By Elaine Equi

My father screamed whenever the phone rang.

My aunt often screamed when she opened the door.

Out back, the willows caterwauled.

In the kitchen, the faucet screamed

a drop at a time.

At school, they called screaming "recess"

or sometimes "music."

Our neighbors' daughter had a scream

more melodious than my own.

At first, Col. Parker had to pay girls

to get them to scream for Elvis.

I didn't want to scream when I saw The Beatles,

but I did. After that, I screamed for even

mediocre bands.

Late in his career, John Lennon

got into Primal Scream.

Many people find it relaxing to scream.

Just as crawling precedes walking, 

so screaming precedes speech.

The roller coaster is just one of many

scream-inducing devices.

The ambulance tries, in its clumsy way, to emulate

the human scream, which in turn tries to emulate nature.

Wind is often said to shriek, but Sylvia Plath

also speaks of "the parched scream of the sun."

Jim Morrison wanted to hear the scream of the

butterfly.

With ultra-sensitive equipment, scientists measure

the screams of plants they've tortured.

It's proven that if you scream at a person

for years, then suddenly stop, he will hear even

the tenderest words of love as violent curses.

And to anyone who speaks above a whisper, he will say:

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare raise you voice to me."

Part One: Majority of the stanzas in this poem are couplets. I say majority because there are a couple tercets included and even some single lines. I think this works well for this poem because the tone changes often and the tone shifts between the stanzas, it goes from annoyance, to excitement, into something similar to despair. There is also some slight situational irony within the poem that I loved, particularly when she described the neighbors' daughter's scream as melodious.  

Part Two: This poem vividly shows the many different emotions there can be behind a scream, which is reflected by the tone. I really enjoyed this poem because she took something as uncomplicated as a scream, and turned it into something so much more real. My favorite stanzas are the last two, especially the second to last. There's a lot I love about that one stanza, one of which being word choice (I like the word ''proven'' in that line). Overall I think this is a great poem and it's a lot of fun to read.