Kim Addonizio's Onset

Spring; a time where rebirth of our earth takes place all around the world. It is a time where replication of flowers begin to blossom and trees begin to start their journey of growing up all over again. It is when the Sun lays back and watches our earth transform into a new season of life, where the sounds of bee's buzzing and children playing in the newly grown grass shows the purity of this magnificent season. Although spring is a repeated time of the year we still breathe the fresh air with a smile on our face, but to Kim Addonizio, the author and narrator of the poem "Onset" springtime seems to be of terror in her eyes. "Onset" is a poem that refers to the replications of spring which slowly lead into the identical features of everyday …show more content…
There are two images Addonizio describes. In the beginning of the poem, she starts by giving the reader an image of springtime and his or her observation of what is seen. Throughout the poem, the image changes to a setting of a grocery store and the replications she see's are those of "canned beans and soups, freezers of identical dinners; then the snowflake-dimond-snowflake of the rug." Although the images are not the same, they all relate in the sense that she sees a form of …show more content…
Addonizio starts her rage of word choice in the beginning of the poem when she is describing the scenery of spring. When she talks about the "bush of white flowers," its seems as if "white" is chosen to represent purity of the season. To have the reader understand the purity she also states items such as "Styrofoam cups" and the "snowflake-dimond-snowflake" rug. These words are also chosen to maintain consistency of the purity of spring. The repetition of the color white is also due to the fact that she is terrified of spring "in its tireless, mindless replications.," therefore, the repetition of the color also adds meaning to her undergo of spring. In between lines, Addonizio uses the word "emergence" to give the reader a feel for her emotion. Using the word "emergence" instead of its direct meaning, such as "multiplicity" or "duplicity", makes it ironic because it almost sounds close to the word "emergency." It is appropriately used for the fact that the duplication of her surrounding is of an a emergency to her. Towards the middle of the poem, Addonizio begins to speak about her two feet and how they look exactly identical. The duplicity of her feet seem to "oppress" her as see notices how they mirror each other. Addonizio writes, "even my two feet, how they mirror each other oppresses me." It is ironic that the term "oppresses" is used after she