Bonnie’s Poems

Nicolás Gracia Varela

Poetry’s relation to the society it emerges from tends to be tense. It manages to convey a
message that opposes the general values supported by institutions. There are many ways in
which this art form accomplishes this opposition. It could directly critique capitalism or the
law, or simply portray a way of life only possible in the outskirts of society. Bonnie’s
poems do both of these things while employing a language and a kind of music that are at
the same time traditional and popular, unrelated to what is called high culture. I believe this
coincidence displays this critical or oppositional trait of poetry as something that is
essential to this craft, even when it escapes the writer’s awareness. This has a lot to do with
the fact that most poetry cannot be regarded as fiction or simple writing, it is mainly
autobiographical and a mechanism or tool by which the poet deals with her own life,
anxiety and loneliness. It is a mechanism of individualization. In this sense, maybe the
oppositional trait might be yet more fundamental. In general, poetry opposes massification.

Concerning the critique of society, her poems explicitly tell us that crime is nothing but an
empty game. Cops would blame everything on them and the chases could only end with
their deaths. However personal and special her story might be, by expressing herself she
gives voice to the class she belongs to. She even trusts people will not rat on them because
of this common ground. She is saying something about the law, about the oppression it is
built upon, and she does so only from her own experience.

Perhaps unexpectedly, the poems of a twenty-three year old waitress-turned criminal that
lived during the Great Depression, capture what is displayed by most classical poetry. At
least most modern poetry. The difference lies of course in the referents each poetry has.
Taking a guess, I would say her references in regards to form could have been song lyrics
or nursery rhymes. In any case, the poems, that are most likely to be thought as
spontaneous are, in my opinion, strong arguments for the universality of poetry, which
makes it differ from other cultural products.