Very Similar, Yet Very Different

Billy Collins “180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day” has such a variety of poems that address many different subjects and themes. There are so many poems that have similar or the same themes/subjects that involve: Romance/love, betrayal, death, mortality, food, art and also parent-child relationships. Two poems to which I thought were similar because of the fact they are both over parent-child relationships, were “The Clasp” by Sharon Olds and “What I Do” by Douglas Goetsch. These two poems had a very similar theme/subject as one another but yet very different to one. These to poems may both be pertaining to a parent-child relationship but they both have very distinct things and feelings going on.

 In Sharon Olds, “The Clasp” I at first took from this poem was that she was just getting her daughter in trouble for trying to push her younger brother over on his face. She states how she punished her and how she felt about doing it, “I grabbed her to keep her from shoving him over on his face, again, and when I had her wrist in my grasp I compressed it, fiercely, for almost a second, to make an impression on her, to hurt her, our beloved firstborn, I even nearly savored the stinging sensation of the squeezing…” (Olds 3-8). The quote clearly explains how the author punished her daughter, by grabbing her wrist and squeezing it until it hurt her. She also mentions in the quote how she “nearly savored the stinging sensation,” meaning she basically liked hurting her, not what a mother would ever say about hurting/punishing their child. She uses the word “again” as if it wasn’t the first time her daughter tries to do this or perhaps it isn’t the first time she tries to. “Grab, crush, crush, crush, release – and at the first extra force, she swung her head” (12-14). Every time the poet said “crush” meant how much harder she would tighten her grasp around her daughters wrist until it hurt her and it caught her attention making her have a quick reaction to it. She states how deeply impacted her daughter was in shock to believe her mother would ever grab and hurt her like this, basically questioning what kind of love or what/why she was doing this to her, opening her eyes and making her realize what she did was wrong. After reading this poem over again several times, I came to the conclusion that the daughter may have been jealous of her little brother, trying to kill him perhaps or hurt him by rolling him over onto his face, and how her mother feels some sort of pleasure of hurting her, and why and what sort of love is this that she is hurting her. In this poem, the mothers clasp interprets the anger, irritated, pleasurable fact of hurting and squeezing her daughters’ wrist. It is kind of dark, hurtful, a bit of jealousy, love, lesson-learned poem.

“What I Do,” by Douglas Goetschs poem is quiet confusing at first and still is quite a bit. The poem is about the author and his father’s relationship, parent-child relationship, specifically father-son relationship. “Maybe he felt powerful, or just responsible, signing those checks, sitting hours at his desk, slumped, his big back to me and the rest of the house” (Goetsch 11-15).  The author states this to show how his father was so emerged into his work, paying bills and what not that he does not put/make any time to spend with him nor the rest of his family. His father only had him bring him coffee while getting burned, cleaning out his ashtray and shine his shoes (11-20). From what I understood from the poem was that the author and his father were distant from each other, they had no communication nor showed love for each other whatsoever. The author states how he put his hand into his father’s shoe to shine them, he made a fist and put it in, and that’s not how one usually puts their hand in a shoe. I interpreted that statement as he was angry and upset at his father. He states how now reaching his father’s age he now understands him, and how he sees the exact same image of his father as he looks into the mirror. Realizing he is becoming or slowly becoming his father and afraid to be like him.

“The Clasp” and “What I Do” are alike but yet very different from one another. One is in a male voice and the other in a female. Each one expressing what type of parent-child relation they have and what is happening. “What I Do” approaches his theme by remembering how his relationship with his father was and how he is slowly turning into his father, afraid of that transformation? On the other hand, “The Clasp” shows how she loves her daughter but yet liked the sensation of hurting her while punishing her for doing something that was wrong. They both interpret their own meaning of the type of relationship they have with their child or parent, making them similar but yet extremely different.