blog # 9

In Joy Harjo’s poem “The Path to the Milky Way through Los Angeles” and in Mitsuye Yamada’s poem, “A Bedtime Story”, both deal with the theme of finding something beautiful amidst chaos and hard times.
In Joy Harjo’s “The Path to the Milky Way through Los Angeles”, deals with a girl from a small town of Oklahoma into the fast paced and intense city of Los Angeles. She is lost in the bustle of a large city and the impersonal feel of knowing no one in a strange city. Harjo writes, “This city for angles appears naked and stripped of anything/ resembling/ the shaking of turtle shells, the songs of human voices on a summer nigh/ outside, Okmulgee.” She came to this city expecting great things, like many people do coming to a big city from a small town. She was expecting greatness and grandeur but realized that it was anything but. Now she is able to find things that give her happiness that she would have never noticed before. She is able to find little things that are able to make her happy. In the last line of the poem Harjo writes, “But like crow I collect the shine of anything beautiful I can find.” She makes the best of her life, by finding the things that stand out to her. She is able to find beauty in a strange and to her seemingly unbeautiful place.
In Yamada’s poem “A Bedtime Story”, this idea of appreciating beauty in hard times and ugliness is explored. In this poem the speaker is on a long journey and looking for a place to stay. Everyone turns her down, and she is forced to take refuge on a hill. At this moment the clouds clear, and she is giving the glistening and powerful image of a full moon. Although she has been through so much and her hardships and fatigue are weighing on her shoulders, she is able to thank the people that turned her away. She is able to see the blessing in not finding a place to rest. If she had not been turned down she would have never experienced such a beautiful, and breathtaking sight.
Both these poems are able to illustrate this theme through beautiful imagery and personal experiences. They send the message to not dwell on the negative aspects of day-to-day life, but to find the beauty and appreciate what we have been given.