Sam Hamill Response
Denise M. Augenstein
ENG 102
06-18-2010

In reading this essay I find myself taking in another point of view and way of looking at things that I may have never considered. Mr. Hamill definetly has his opinions on what poetry is and how he feels it should effect the reader. Most of this essay I found was based on his opinion of things and how we can change the world.
I do agree that as parents we tend to tip toe around certain topics to avoid the uncomfortable or embarrassing things we as adults know exist in this world. From rape to sexual relationships we are afraid to talk to our children and think that if we ignore it, it will just not happen. From my personal and work experience I know this to be very untrue. I was a teenage mother raised in a household where the basic facts of life were presented. The responsibilities of these facts were not. The rape victims I have had to treat medically and emotionally almost always seem to say “how come I never knew this could happen to me?”.
Crimes of hate and passion are also ignored. I have dealt with some people who won’t acknowledge that there are people out there who enjoy violence. These people tell me they don’t watch the news because all they show or print are ugly things.
Mr. Hamill makes a very interesting and good point that until we start giving things a proper name all of this ugliness will continue. He is right when he says that we are all human regardless of what we look like or where we come from. As far as I know we all bleed the same from the same injury. I have yet to met someone that does not. I do also agree that as long as we are this or that culture there will never be peace among us. Human nature will not allow it.
Poetry. When I read the poems posted for reponse I was actually not really interested in the assignment. I will freely admit that I’m not a poetry reader. Some of these actually peeked my interest much to my surprise. Hamill’s description on what poetry should be and what it should evoke was also different from anything I ever heard about poetry. How the writer should strive to teach through his words and bring about deeper thought into the subject matter. Writers have a responsibility to bring about emotion or teach the reader how to have emotion.

Here is a link to a bio of Sam Hamill.
http://www.pcsj.org/biographies/samhamill.html