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The poem "Sure" by Arlene Tribbia, at it's core, is a poem about a sibling relationship. It tells the story of the author's brother, who has made very bad decisions in his life. He is a drug addict, has been to jail, and has robbed the town's local hotdog stand. However, despite all this, the author remembers the good times with their brother, "my brother used to swing me up onto his back... and we'd laugh and laugh." (lines 21-25). While to some, the bad of the brother's actions outweigh the good, to the sibling it doesn't. To them, he still has some of the playful, loving older brother he used to be. "Sure" is a great example of how feelings towards other people don't always change because they have changed . Even in cases like this, where the brother has changed into a socially considered "bad person", the sibling still remembers the old, "good" brother, the light in the dark.
The overall diction of the poem when describing the bad creates a hurtful and almost mournful tone to the poem. Specifically, the nonchalant and hurried retelling of his mishaps makes it seem like the author is embarassed and trying to forget those times. In a harsh comparison, the last stanza of the poem is more in depth, with a more positive diction, which almost insinuates that is the part that they are choosing to remember and focus on. In the end, while he might do bad things, he is still their brother who they have fond memories with.
The biggest paralell between the book and the poem would have to be the relationship between Michael and Leonie and the author and their brother. As we know, Michael has been in jail for several years and has a history of drug abuse. On top of this, Michael and Leonie had a very toxic relationship. Before Michael went to jail, they fought constantly. They both also enable each other to be bad parents. Despite this, Leonie stills adores him and wants him to still be the father of their kids. (Not like his lifestyle is very different than Leonie's, but regardless.) When she was on the way to get him, she got a phone call from him. "I'd felt so happy when I got the phone call... so happy that my insides felt like a full ditch ridden with a thousand tadpoles." (pg. 33) Even after them having a toxic relationship, and him being in jail for so long, she still aboslutely adores him.
This is very similar to the poem, where the author rather focus on the memories of their brother being good rather than the bad he has done. In all honesty, it's unlikely that Michael was ever an amazing man, but the way Leonie still wants to be with him and her continued adoration for him is similar to the author's warm feelings towards their brother. This being said, I would definetly say that while the author seems to mourn the "death" of her old brother and misses the relationship they had, I don't think Michael and Leonie's relationship was ever good to begin with. There isn't really anything to miss. The comparisson really comes from the way both Leonie and the author excuse the men's actions. Leonie ignores the blatant red flags and continues to love Michael and stay in a very toxic relationship with him, despite his lack of responsibility as a father. The author, despite her brother going to jail and doing very harmful things, chooses to ignore those and focus on the positive relationship they used to have.
This poem by Duane Niatum tells the story of a toxic family. Of a child with a very hard life, and clearly, one that lacks not only money but love as well. In the first few stanzas “I was born to a family wrapped
inside the wallpaper of two worlds,
drumming the other's disappearance” (1-3). This mentioning of an “other’s disappearance” could most certainly be referring to an absent parent, one that has not been an active participant in the child’s home life.
The next stanza has the line “I awoke to a nightmare of spit and bile” (7). To me, this is metaphorical. It means the child awoke to fighting or hatred between his family members. It seems fighting is frequent in this family, whereas love and care have been pushed to the back burner. In the fourth stanza, it says “a child tossed from the nest/ clawing for cover like Trickster in diapers” (16-17). This refers to this child’s feeling of abandonment In his own home. Life feels challenging from birth, and he has always had to struggle and find his way himself. He was thrown into the world with no support (“cover”) and has had to figure his own way since he was a child.
In stanza six it talks about trying to heal the family trauma with substances. “bandaged heads reeking of whiskey,/ gin, wine and beer,” (24-25). Drinking away their sorrows and problems in the hope to forget? Forgive? Heal? Regardless, it does not help, as their life remains a consistent battle to stay above the water, where there is a “steady howling and gnashing at the drain” (26). This poem is packed full of hardships and life of consistent disappointments and failure from an early age. There isn’t a lot of, if any, positive tone in this poem. The word choice is very negative, and has a strong vibe of struggling and fighting. Words like running, clawing, howling, gnashing, scorched, and weeping all help perpetuate the notion of this very hard life.
One of the biggest recurring themes in Sing is the broken home, toxic relationship theme. Jojo (and the rest of the family) is absolutely no stranger to this type of family dynamic (a.k.a. Bad). Jojo and his family have clearly always struggled to stay afloat, JoJo especially has struggled his way through life. Between having this internal pressure to mature quickly and needing to be the guardian of Kayla, JoJo hasn’t had this caring and nurturing home life. Rather, he has struggled. The words clawing, howling, and gnashing definitely describe Jojo's life. The quote “a child tossed from the nest/ clawing for cover like Trickster in diapers.” Describe his virtual abandonment by his parents, tossed to the side. He has been forced to fend for himself and his sister (with the guidance of his grandparents). It also described Kayla, more accurately even. The timing of Leonie’s pregnancy as Michael went to jail really didn’t help Kayla’s life at all. Leonie barely even knows it and seemingly cares about Kayla, which is clearly seen in her dismissal of Kayla’s stomach ache during the car ride.
Another similarity between JoJo and the narrator's life is the presence of substance abuse. With Jojo, substance abuse is a huge problem in his life. It is the reason his father is in prison and a huge component of why Leonie is an absent mother. Leonie also struggles in this life. Between being in an interracial relationship, being a drug addict, and being a single mom while Michael is in jail, Leonie has plenty of struggles that affect her family. She knows she is a huge contributor to the struggle and it appears to her in a dream. “We are all sinking… I am trying to keep everyone above water, even as I struggle to stay afloat… I am failing them. We are all drowning.” (Pg. 195) In this dream, she describes her struggle as a parent and the feeling of failure.