At a VA Hospital in the Middle of the United States of America: An Act in a Play
This poem serves to provide a look into a hospital for war veterans. Each stanza tells a story of a different veteran, where they fought, and what the war made of them. Their stories are told bluntly, without any unnecessary additions which gives a drearier atmosphere to the whole poem. Understated descriptions are used throughout, like “he got hit with a fifty-dollar dose of syphilis”, which are used to provide an image of commonness, and normalcy of the suffering that took place and ruined these men. The poem contains repetitions of lines from an anti-war black gospel song known as “Down by the Riverside”.
Feeling Fucked Up
“Feeling Fucked Up” is a two-stanza poem in which the speaker of the poem expresses his grief for losing his loved one. In the first stanza, the speaker expresses the grief and sadness of loss and in the second he expresses his anger at the world which is pointless to his eyes now that his woman is gone.
The Sun Came
This poem alludes to another black poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who was known to be a friend of Knight’s, and her famous poem “Truth”. “Truth” is a poem about fear of change, of being too afraid to leave the shackles of ignorance and despair. It is a poem about racism in America and the need for change. “The Sun Came” is Knight’s response to this poem. Brooks poses a question about how people will greet the sun if it comes. Knight says that the sun came and “we goofed”, ruined, the whole thing.
For Freckle-Faced Gerald
This poem is told by Knight to be inspired by actual events he heard about in prison. A young black man was raped in jail, and he compared it to the treatment of a young white prisoner who even there was protected by the police. He alludes to Baldwin’s “Another Country” and the suicide of Rufus. Knight creates a timeline of the tragedy of this young character, whose humiliation and ruin were predestined by the system against which he didn’t stand a chance.
