Rites of Passage poem 6

As the guests arrive at our son’s party   

they gather in the living room— 

short men, men in first grade 

with smooth jaws and chins. 

Hands in pockets, they stand around 

jostling, jockeying for place, small fights 

breaking out and calming. One says to another 

How old are you? —Six. —I’m seven. —So?

They eye each other, seeing themselves   

tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their   

throats a lot, a room of small bankers, 

they fold their arms and frown. I could beat you

up, a seven says to a six, 

the midnight cake, round and heavy as a 

turret behind them on the table. My son, 

freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks,   

chest narrow as the balsa keel of a   

model boat, long hands 

cool and thin as the day they guided him   

out of me, speaks up as a host 

for the sake of the group. 

We could easily kill a two-year-old, 

he says in his clear voice. The other   

men agree, they clear their throats 

like Generals, they relax and get down to   

playing war, celebrating my son’s life.

This poem to me is a satirical poem because of the way that the kids are portrayed. At first I thought that the writer was talking about grown men going to a party but then the  writer talked about the age of the boys and I saw that they weren’t really men. To me this poem was making a comment on how fast children are starting to grow up.  Parents don’t really get to appreciate their children when they are at the earlier stages of their lives because of the fast pace life that we live. The language that the writer uses to explain the children and the way that they were acting was like she was trying to make us see the boys as men even though they are acting like the boys that they are. 

I for one really enjoyed this poem because of the way it was written and how the author wants you to see the boys as men. I think that it made the poem very interesting and as I was reading it I was picturing it in my mind. I could see the little boys acting the way that the poem “As the guests arrive at our son’s party they gather in the living room— short men, men in first grade with smooth jaws and chins. Hands in pockets, they stand around jostling, jockeying for place, small fights breaking out and calming”.  The author used those images to really captivate the reader and make them see what she was trying to put out and say about how children are growing up very fast. It is almost like a coming of age poem.