Jen Currin's "The Ends"

I enjoyed how Jen takes a look at mundane things - riding in a truck, an interview, writing - and incorporates them into a cohesive mosaic of a person's life. Rather than trying to strive for extraordinary events, she helps the reader feel more connected, as if they are friends sharing everyday stories over a cup of coffee.

"Black-Purple" was one poem that stood out for me, as the second line "Of course every tree / is half-human, which is why / their cries disturb us" gave me chills - what if trees are half-human? What does that make us, murderers? The overall imagery of the poem, with trees crying, being lost, people as trees, gives us an interesting view of peoples as being part of nature, rather than the common view of humanity as something seperate or superior.

There was also this interesting connection of colors and objects or ideas throughout the poems:

bruise / ice / dusk / blue / tree / purple / shadows / moon

The use of colors helped to spark the imagination - almost like you could "see" the poem, rather than just read it. Jen connects colors and concrete imagery, but in a way that is unique (red grass / purple trees) as well as combining this imagery in an unorthadox way: "my mother was once a tree...the road is a scarf." It made me think more deeply about the poem and what the author was trying to say, rather than skimming and moving on.