Reading Sydne Clarke’s poem, “I am a descendant of the Phoenix,” felt like watching an

intense biographical film centered around the life of a persevering individual. We were shown

the ugly and beautiful aspects of the story through intense imagery and selective word choice

that truly gave the reader a sense of what the narrator faced. It is remarkable that Clarke was able

to accomplish this while heavily relying on repetition to progress the narrative of the poem.

Each stanza of “I am a descendant of the Phoenix” has the same skeletal structure with

filler words to alter the context of the stanza. This was a valuable piece of the poem’s structure

that added to the overall meaning. For example, in line 2, she stated “brawny brown arms

decorated in black and blue” to illustrate the image of bruised, brown-colored arms. Likewise in

line 14, the start of the second stanza, she stated “Brawny brown arms decorated in poplin

fabric” to illustrate brown-colored arms in poplin fabric. In both cases, the sentences were meant

to introduce the setting of that specific stanza. Although the lines have the same general purpose,

they set two completely different tones. One introduces a scene with a sense of misery and the

other one with a sense of action.

It is apparent that this poem refers to the struggle of Black-Americans and I appreciate

the use of unforgiving word choice that doesn’t attempt to sugar coat the facts. In the first stanza

she states, “Maternal hands robbed from the life its body did.” I like how this quote is blatant and

clear regarding the connotation it intends to convey. There is no attempt to disguise the foul act

that it alludes to as anything other than what it is.

What I enjoyed most about this poem is that I could genuinely feel Clarke’s words. She

made sure to add language that added to the effect of the overall narrative. It is obvious that this

is a cumulative piece that relies on each part to add meaning. One specific thing that really tied

the poem together was adding “I am a descendent of the Phoenix” in italics as the last line. This
is also the title of the poem, however it is not italicized; this plays a very important role in the

context of the poem. Previous to the last line, the only phrases that were italicized were in-text

quotes that Clarke had introduced such as in lines 12-13: “Relentless voices pray: One day

change will come.” Adding “I am a descendent of the Phoenix” in this manner allowed Clarke to

signify the meaning of the poem; she left no room for ambiguity or confusion. I believe that

explicitly demonstrating the purpose of a text is very important, especially in poems. Poems

usually have very distinct meanings that tend to be distorted by the opinions of others. Clarke

does a great job of conveying the main idea of the poem and used a great structure to do so.