"The Necessity to speak"

Sam Hamill has quite an interesting perspective on things. He has a lot of really good points and some that I don’t agree with. He feels writing is a way of expressing yourself. “Writing is a form of human communication expressing ideas regarding the human condition.”, Hamill says. (546) He also says the writer needs to “ create emotion in the audience”. (547) Hamill discuses how people need to speak up more and that society isn’t really facing reality at all. “We go on living our sheltered lives among the potted plants and automobiles and advertising slogans.” (546) He talks about battered woman and children and how people feel strongly against that sort of abuse but yet they will still turn around and spank their child. Hamill explains, “If a belt is acceptable, why not a stick? If a stick is acceptable, why not a baseball bat? If broken bones are unacceptable, what about cuts or welts or bruises?“ (549) Teen pregnancy is another topic he discuses and how as parents we think, if it’s not talked about, it won’t happen. “Knowledge is the loss of innocence. How desperately we want our innocence. How desperately we protect the innocence of our children!” (550)
When I was reading the two poems I picked for the assignment, responding to a poem, I tried really hard to grasp the main picture of what the speaker was trying to portray. I like how Hamill says, “ The poet invents a being, and that being, man or woman, stands before the world, naked and feeling.” (551) He talks about the way society looks at emotions, as if it’s wimpy to have any. I think to be a good poet, you would need to let go of your feelings and allow yourself to be vulnerable. Something that can be very difficult to do.