BLOOD DAZZLER: PART 2

By: Josh Schutte, Josh Andringa, and Luke Mottley

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Patricia Smith was born in 1955 Chicago.

• Prior to writing Blood Dazzler in 2008 she wrote four previous collections of poetry: Teahouse of the Almighty, Close to Death, Big Town, Big Talk and Life According to Motown.

• She was fired from the Boston Globe after editors found out she had been fabricating people, events and quotes in her column.

• Currently she is a professor of English at CUNY/College of Staten Island and on faculty for the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

• She is also a four-time National Poetry Slam champion.

THEMES

Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

• Despair

• Flooding

• Lack of Government aid – FEMA

• Crimes – looting, rape, and murder

• Rescues

• Faith in God

• Voodoo – New Orleans culture

• Past Hurricanes – comparisons

WRITING STRATEGIES

• Poetry

• Variations in poem styles

• Personal experiences from survivors

• Metaphors

• The poem 34 (pg. 50) had a verse for each of the victims of

the St. Rita‟s Nursing Home

• Strong language, uncensored thought

QUOTES

• “Half dead, I used to say, I used to tell „em Hell, I’m already half dead.”(pg. 54)

• “They called Lord, Lord, Lord, until I was forced to show them my face.”(pg. 58)

• “None of them talked about Katrina. She was their odd sister, the blood dazzler.”(pg. 75)

• “I did not demand they wade through the overflow from toilets, chew their own nails bloody in place of a meal.” (pg. 40)

• “All you had to do was kiss the land… you roared through like a goddamned man… I thought I taught you better girl. I showed you the right way to romance that city, how to break its heart and leave it pining for more of your slap.” (pg. 67)

DISCUSSION

• What did you think about Patricia Smith‟s

interpretation of Hurricane Katrina?

• What was your favorite poem?

• How would you have reacted to seeing your home

blown away?

• How would you have liked to have lived in the

Superdome?

• Would you relocate or rebuild?

• How would you feel if you were one of the people

stranded on the roof of your home?

SOURCES

• http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/patricia-

smith

• http://www.wordwoman.ws/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Smith_(poet)