A Tonal Analysis “Getting’ His Twang On” by Patricia Smith - Kaleigh

On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck land in Louisiana. On that day, the levees in New Orleans were destroyed and hundreds gulf of residents were made homeless. On August 30, as this devastation was occurring, Former president George W. Bush was “Getting’ His Twang On”.

As I read this poem, the emotion that exudes from its lines can only be described as hatred. The note under the title states “George Bush plays guitar with country singer Mark Willis; 2 p. m., August 30, 2005” setting both a time and an immediate confusion from the reader as to why the president would be so oblivious to his country’s current disaster. The poem proceeds to describe Bush with “his stance ossifying, his dead eyes fixed on the numb, escaping chord” (line 2-3). Portraying the president as rigid and dead brings him a quality of uselessness during this situation.

The poem continues on to give Bush’s audience an ignorant quality as well. The author puns, “they spur him on with spurious laughter. The cowboy grins through the terrible din…” (line 5-6). Smith’s expanding of the president’s qualities to his audience conveys the message of not only presidential neglect, but also neglect from America as a whole. Her resentment is clear through her use of harsh language as she describes the scene, a vision of “flashing bulbs, the rampant ass kissing” (line 7). The American public is so blindly focused on their president that Katrina’s wrath and Louisiana’s devastation are being ignored.

The author’s resentment is furthered as she escapes this scene and flashes to the “Ninth” Ward of New Orleans, an area which was completely flooded at this time. The stark contrast is used to demonstrate the immense unfairness of the situation. The opening of the poem seems as though it is another story of Bush’s vast unpopularity, but the imagery of “a choking woman wails Look like this country done let us for dead” (lines 8-9) shifts the tone of the poem from anger to sadness and despair. It links the author’s immense hatred for the president, his actions, and his followers into the underlying helplessness of Katrina’s victims.

The ending of the poem closes with the summarizing of this disaster. The phrase “He plucks strings. We sing.” (line 12) finishes the poem with a captivating melancholy that contrasts with the opening. At the start, I read this work as if the poet is yelling, angrily expressing her frustrations about the lack of response from America. At the last stanza, however, the writing has become quiet, like a “shadow in everyone’s throat” (line 12). The reader no longer has to be convinced of the president’s injustice because of its resounding truth, so Smith alters her tone and achieves an intense, emotionally moving response from the reader. As I read this poem over and over, I too was influenced by Smith’s message. I thought, “How do we make people care?”, a question that still goes unanswered.