poetry podcast

The podcast discusses Ellen Bass's poem, "Ode to Sat," which celebrates body positivity and challenges societal beauty standards. The poem promotes acceptance and self-love, encouraging a re-evaluation of cultural attitudes towards weight and self-image. The speakers share their personal connections to the poem, highlighting its impact on their perspectives of themselves and others. They discuss the use of metaphors, imagery, and structure in the poem, emphasizing its message of embracing diverse shapes and sizes. Overall, they all enjoyed the poem. Hello and welcome to today's poetry podcast. My name is Ayona and today I am accompanied here with my friends, Benetta and Mohamed. Today we are going to take a dive into Ellen Bass's poem, Ode to Sat. A backstory on this poem is Ellen wrote it because her wife was emerging from an illness during which she had lost weight at a frightening pace. She was both happy and relieved to see her roundness return, saying the poem was a joy to write for her. The theme for Ode to Sat by Ellen Bass revolves around impressive body positivity, challenging societal beauty standards and celebrating the resilience and strength found in adverse body types. The poem encourages a re-evaluation of cultural attitudes towards weight and self-image, promoting acceptance and self-love. Ode to Sat by Ellen Bass explores our complicated connections with our bodies, pushing back against society's expectations and embracing the beauty found in adverse shape sizes. In a world fixated on unrealistic standards, the poem gradually encourages self-acceptance and challenges the norms that dictate our appearance. Just like the pressures we encounter, the poem gracefully traces the outlines of our perceptions, revealing the many sides of our physical selves. Join me on a journey through Ode to Sat where we unravel its rich meanings, connecting with the universal pursuit of self-love in a world that often insists on fitting in. I'm particularly fond of the poem because of the way Bass uses metaphors to express the changing nature in the human body. The part where she refers to the body as a palatial ring suggests that it is dynamic and of regenerative quality. I like this poem because it worships the body, something that I'd like to do with my own. I like this poem because it reminds me that my body is my home. It is my cathedral and I should worship it. I should strive to love myself and accept myself for who I am. Ode to Sat by Ellen Bass Tonight, as you undress, I watch your wondrous flesh that swelled again, the way a river swells when the ice relents. Sweet relief, just to regard the sheaves of your hips, your boundless breasts, and marshy belly. I adore the acreage of your thighs and praise the promising planets of your ass. O, you reline that terrifying year, you were unraveling, as though you were returning to the thunder scrap of a girl I fell in love with. But your skin was naked, a ripped sack, sugar spilling out in your bones and cysts. O, praise the loyalty of the body that labors to rebuild its palatial realm. Bless butter, bless brie, sanctify schmaltz and creams and cashews. Stoke the furnace of the stomach and load the vessels. Gov, entrench yourself in opulent oil, the lamp of your body glowing. May you always flourish enormous and sumptuous. Be marbled with fat, a great fault that I can enter, the cathedral where I pray. Personally, I enjoy this poem because as a teenage girl, poor body image is something I can, and I'm sure many other people, females or not, can relate to. I find the idolization within this poem of something that hasn't socially been portrayed as a norm, in today's opinion, helps me to widen my perspective of myself and others. I know people around me have big influence of how I feel about myself and others. There are many external factors like family, friends, media, and social pressures that can play a big part in negative or positive body image. In Bass's poem, it's the wife that is encouraging a positive outlook on a healthy body. If someone in that close relation to me was trying that hard to make me feel positively about myself, I would definitely have a large impact on my self-esteem. So, Muhammad, why did you personally enjoy this poem? I enjoyed this poem because of the way Ellen Bass explores our complicated connections with our body. Like you said, create a positive insight by pushing back against society's expectations of embracing the personal, beauty-filled and diverse shapes and sizes, altering the pressures and perceptions throughout the poem. Venetta, did you enjoy this poem? Personally, I related to this poem in many ways, and it was almost a reminder as well as an encouragement to me to think more positively about myself and my image. It talks about cherishing the body of her loved one, even comparing it to a cathedral of where she prays, and I think it is such a pleasant way to think about yourself, and I should really begin to fall into that outlook as well. Iona, what is the difference between this poem's little A about and big A about? Well, the little A about is being more superficial. It is a sweet poem wrote in regard to loving someone or their significant other and their body. However, the big A about, digging deeper, is more so about the body positivity behind loving that someone, and the mindset is in a growing world's perception of a perfect body, who would love that perfect body, and how you should think of that perfect body of yourself. The problem isn't much of a conflict. She talks about how her wife was ill and lost her beautiful shape to the sickness, and continues to praise her shape and her health. I would say this poem is very upbeat and happy because it shows how much she loves and appreciates her body. Venetta, is there any instance where imagery plays a role in advancing the poem? I believe the imagery adds to the tension of this poem, like when she says, I watch your wondrous flesh that's swelled again, the way a river swells when the ice relents, in lines one to three. She could have just said, I love your curves, but she adds onto it by comparing them to something so beautiful. It shows her love as she says it, instead of you just hearing her say it, which also adds to the tone of the poem. Iona, is there any specific figurative language within the poem that calls your eye? Actually, yes, there was. In line ten to eleven, she says, you were unravelling, as though you were returning to the slender scrap of a girl I fell in love with. Her connection with her past and playing a part of the tension added to this part of the poem really grabbed my attention. Even though she went through physical changes, Ellen loved her either way and stuck by her side. But was praising her body when she returned healthy again, no matter the shape or size. But because the shape or size healthy in this way was larger, she was praising it for who she was. Muhammad, is there anything within the structure of the poem that really grabbed your attention? There were a lot of line breaks that I thought were cleverly thought out and placed throughout the poem. However, there is one that really got me to pause. In line twenty, she begins to say, darling, drench yourself in opulent oil. Then there's a line break, and you think what she's going to say ties back into what she was previously saying. Then she continues with, the lamp of your body glowing. And you think to yourself, there it is. Venetta, what do you think is one line that would be key to understanding the whole poem? I'd say in line twenty-two, where she says, flourish enormous and sumptuous. Sumptuous meaning splendid and expensive looking. Meaning she's large and flourishing while looking and feeling well. Overall, did you guys enjoy this poem? I certainly did. I did too. Me as well.