Readers response - I Give You Back by Joy Harjo

I not only enjoyed the  meaning behind this poem, but also  the style in which the author wrote. Through this poem the author is talking to fear as if it is just a person sitting next to her. That is one thing I took a lot of inspiration from in my own writing, talking to objects and feelings. The author goes on to talk to her fear as if it is an ex boyfriend. She tells her fear that it is not her shadow any longer and that she no longer will let it hold her back, her fear is not in her blood any more. This poem is this women's way of saying goodbye to fear, and her allowing herself to grow up past all her fears. It is pretty peaceful for the most part until you reach one stanza. In the second stanza the author talks about a brutality that happened to her family and her people, and tells fear that she doesn't care about that anymore because she will not let it control her. This piece of writing really helped me towards my own story that I am writing. I used her technique of talking to my own feelings as if it was a person I was talking to. Towards the end of her poem it seems as if she is almost yelling. She repeats herself for a couple of lines then uses the same first couple of words and different endings. Her entire poem builds up to the end where she really seems angry. But, then the last line is her almost forgiving her fear and feeling sympathy for it. I definitely would/will be using her style of writing in my writing for my book because it really gets a message across.