In "Persimmons," Lee-Young Lee begins with his childhood confusion between the words “persimmon” and “precision.” Although their meanings are totally different, he connects them somehow by didactically explaining the skill of picking ripe “persimmons” with “precision.” He later mentions his other childhood confusions with “fight” and fright,” and “yarn” and “wren,” in the fourth stanza, and links these words that sound similar, but have different meanings. The vocabulary used in the poem is simple overall, which is consistent with the voice of poem – a Chinese accent. There are no significant grammatical errors, but the structure of poem resembles that of a Chinese accent, spoken in short intervals: “I teach her Chinese. Crickets: chiu chiu. Dew: I've forgotten. Naked: I've forgotten. Ni, wo: you and me.” The language of the poem is direct, but the connotation of the latter half of the poem, explaining the father’s blindness, makes the reader think about picking persimmons in a different light, as the father, blind, remembers the weight and texture of a ripe persimmon – the kind of age old habit or skill that one might have, and will never forget, even if one goes blind.
I really like the end of the poem where the poet talks about the who one never forgets some things even though they might lose their eyes. The poem has very deep meaning, although it is very simple. Good job on summarizing the poem, but perhaps you could comment on the poem's meaning more than just summarizing the poem.
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I liked how in your analysis of the poem you focused on the structure, and grammar; because those are parts of poems that are overlooked, but do add a lot to a poems meaning. You did a good job summarizing the poem. In addition, you did back up your opinions with quotes from the poem.
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