Savior Machine By Tracy K. Smith

The United State's 2018 Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith is a renowned author, well known for her book of poems titled Life on Mars. Throughout her poems, a recurring theme of grief is presented by Smith. The grief in Smith's work can be attributed to the loss of her father which was the inspiration for her poetry. Another inspiration for Smith's poetry is the artist David Bowie. Bowie plays an important role in assisting Smith in coping with her father's death and he is also the inspiration of many of her other poems, including "Savior Machine," which shares a name with the Bowie song. In "Savior Machine" by David Bowie, there is a machine created by the government that yields a perfect utopian society, but the only problem in this now­perfect

Smith's poem "Savior Machine," she reveals that her therapist is also her savior because he represents freedom and obstacles that she had to overcome to become the woman she is today. Her inspiration from the David Bowie song "Saviour Machine" comes from the people in the utopian society becoming free when the savior machine is destroyed. In her poem "Savior Machine," Smith divulges that her savior machine is "A human hand reaching down to lift/ A pebble from my tongue" (lines 23­25). The author explains in an interview at the Common Read event at Southeastern Louisiana University that the pebble she is referring to is from an old folk story she read in college about a witch taking away a maiden's ability to speak by placing a pebble on her tongue, and when the pebble is lifted, the maiden is able to speak again (Common Read Q&A Spring 2018 21:49­22:02). In this case, the human hand reaching down to lift her pebble away, therefore freeing her, is her therapist. Smith's therapist was able to help her to work through the grief of her father's death, which frees her from her sadness. Smith also reveals at the Common Read event at Southeastern Louisiana University that "That small human man helped [her] change [her] life" (21:07­11). Without her therapist, Smith would not have been able to work through her sadness due to her father's death, and in turn, would not be free. Without therapy, Smith would have missed many opportunities, such as meeting her