Levis' poetry was difficult to read, but it at least had a definite point to it. Every poem had a definite structure, telling a short tale while having a specific idea behind it that a person could interpret if a person was paying attention and took the time to read it slowly.
Armantrout, on the other hand...
Almost none of her poems have any structure to them. Instead, the poems possess a very loose theme and it leaves the reader to come up with the meaning of the poem for themselves. But a few themes that do seem to follow the reader throughout the book, regardless of what conclusions are drawn from each individual poem is the fact that Armantrout seems to have a dislike for modernity or modern practices. The poem, "Outer" actually spells this out a little clearer than other poems because it is one of the very few poems that actually possess a paragraph that is easy to read and reads like a piece of narrative: "I'm the one who can't know if the scraggly old woman putting a gallon of vodka in her shopping cart feels guilty, defiant, or even glamorous as she does so." That sort of statement seems to suggest an underlying hostility towards modern conveniences and the people who live in it wholeheartedly, embracing the needs and wants of a society based in materialism.
An earlier line in the poem (the first line, in fact) while not stated as clearly as the paragraph, is still pretty focused on the dislike of the modern world: "Dolls as celebrities (Barbie) Celebrities as Dolls." Not only does Armantrout take the time to name a specific face of American culture, but also points out just how stiff and plastic celebrities can be, yet we worship them and look up to them as heroes.
As difficult as Armantrout can be to read, she at least lays out her love for the natural and the simple... after all, her poetry is very simply written, but manages to get the reader to think far beyond the words on the page and come up with our own imaginative response to just what the heck we're reading.
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