Wallflowers

(A side note: I didn't realize how late it was, but I wanted to get this poem done with since for some oscure reason, I'm not tired, so I thought I'd do something with my life. Anyways, moving on...)

I decided to do a poetry response on Wallflowers by Donna Vorreye since it talked about adopting wierd words and making them your own in a cute and light-hearted way. As I read this poem, I assumed that the 'weird' words were actually real words and that Ms. Vorreye wasn't pulling a fast one on us. Nevertheless, I took the extra effort and looked them up on Dictionary.com. To my surprise, gegenshien was nowhere to be found! I know I have a real dictionary lying here somewhere...

Nope. Nothing.
Google? I think so.

Here we go! Gegenshien-a faint brightening of the night sky in the region of the anti-solar point.
Continuing.

zoanthropy- a mental disorder in which one believes oneself to be an animal.

Woah. Okay, so I assume that these have no connection to the poem whatsoever besides the fact that they are obscure words. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's any huge symbolism here.

The title 'Wallflowers' was a very unique and lovely title for this poem since the words are lonley and shy like a wallflower.

“…hollow-eyed orphans in Dickensian bedrooms, longing for someone to say, ‘yes, you… you’re the one?’”
         When read aloud, this line is absolutely brilliant; it was almost like a lullaby. Plus, the way Vorreye puts together the lonliness of people and the lonliness of the words is such a vivid and beautiful connection.

“…give me your tired, your poor, your gegenshein, your zoanthropy–”

Hey, look! The words we looked up earlier finally came into play!

"I want to make room for all of them, to be the Ellis Island of your diction–”
         Am I the only one who read this line the first time and found it slightly humorous? I'll be the Ellis Island of your diction. Oh yeah? Well, I'll be the Statue of your Liberty.
But immaturity aside, after I read this poem aloud again, I realized this line was actually pretty cool. It took a comparison of something relatively small and compared it to something massive. (ie. Ellis Island)
I also have to admit that I am a sucker when it comes to poems comparing objects or ideas to flowers:

"Or do they wait patiently, shy shadows
at the high school dance,
knowing that, given the slightest chance,
someday they'll bloom?"

You got me, Ms. Vorreye. Touche.