Yes, these poems definitely made me uncomfortable. The first half did not seem to have as many that made me uncomfortable, but this second half had quite a few. I mean, we started out the second half by reading “You Jane.” The worst. So disturbed. I hated the feeling of masculinity and domination in that one. Not saying that I have a problem with men being masculine (I am attracted to my husband’s masculinity), but that poem gave masculinity a negative connotation.

Anyway, that was just the start of disturbing and uncomfortable poems in this section. It was followed by “Human Interest,” then later by “A Provicial Party, 1956,” and the list goes on. It was a relief to get through this half of the book.

My thought after reading all of this, however, is that maybe this is actually good poetry. Even though I suffered through most of it and enjoyed very little of it, I was feeling something. Usually I was feeling uncomfortable, but sometimes pensive, sometimes warm and fuzzy (like in the first section when we read “Saying Something”), and sometimes just confused. But there was always a feeling, never an emptiness or apathy.

Although I can’t say that I love poetry or read it often, I will say that I think good poetry will make you feel. Duffy’s poetry in Standing Female Nude made me feel real emotion. I can see why she has been recognized for her poetry in so many ways. The things she writes about, the way she writes, really reaches out from the black words on the a white page and becomes something real. I could envision a lot of what was going on in these poems (even though there were things I would have rather not envisioned) because it was so expressive and tangible.

So to conclude, I think good poetry makes you feel something. And Duffy’s poetry did that. I didn’t like the majority of these poems, but it was all very good poetry.

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