“Ellen West” is a poem about a girl who is suffering under an eating disorder. The poem is told from Ellen’s perspective with her voice as an inner monologue, with doctor’s reports about her progress scattered throughout. The poem has an interesting structure, the purpose of which the poet himself described as accentuation of certain parts, putting weight on the meaning of certain parts of the poem with tools of punctuation. Aside from struggling with her self-image and the eating disorder, Ellen shows traits of struggling with her gender identity as well, asking herself why she is a girl. The poem shows Ellen’s determination to beat “Nature”, to prevent aging and keeping her eternal youth through the refusal of nutrition. It shows her thought process, her reasoning behind her disorder.
“Herbert White” is another poem in the form of a dramatic monologue by a serial killer and necrophiliac called Herbert White. The poem gives an insight into a thought process of a twisted individual, his reasoning behind his frustration, being neglected by his father, and his self-realization. He kidnaps, rapes, and kills a young girl, abuses her body even after, and depersonalizes himself from the person whose done those deeds. The poem ends with his inability to depersonalize, after visiting the body once again, he finally sees himself, there is no one else to blame for the reality of his deed but him.
If See No End In Is
The poem “If See No End In Is” is a poem about metaphysical contemplation of life and existence. The title itself suggest the idea of eternal, unending existence, the idea that there is no end in “is”. The poem opens with words “what none knows is when, not if”. Death is an unavoidable reality, it is not an “if”, but “when”. The poem contemplates the human life, the constant changes and decisions in life which resonate with each other and create a constant cycle.
