Analysis Of Brownstein's My Period Of Degradation

It is hard to confront what one has always believed and then discover little to none of it is based on a hundred percent truths. In a personal interview, Brownstein says about "My Period of Desperation (Degradation)" that the Desperation poem is "how I began to dig into the subject matter and—like when you pick at a scab—uncover more and more truths." He says these words because this poem is one of the first one he wrote after discovering the truth of Palestine. The poet starts with a brief introduction about himself and about his "people's history" (7). Brownstein is totally aware of what is happening in Palestine and this leads him to write such poems. Brownstein mentions the Holocaust at the very beginning just to make it clear to every Israeli citizen that he is against what had happened to them. Besides, he wants to assert that each and every person knows their history well and he is one of

In this alliteration, one feels that the words are highly related since Brownstein feels that his people are better than what they look now. After starting the "everyday breaking of flesh," (9) this leads Brownstein to look for the truth and he starts to read "Carolyn Forche's book / Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness"( 4-5). This book helped him to find out who the settler is and who the indigenous is. It is clear that the Palestinians are the indigenous historically; even Brownstein wonders "what did happen to Palestinian people / The indigenous people?" (22-23). The answer is: Palestine is a stolen homeland that is given as a gift to the Israeli settler. Equally important, the figures of speech are artistically used. For