In the selection of Ada Limón’s poetry, you can see the effects of her childhood experiences in her writing. In an interview with Kaveh Akbar, she says that she spent most of her childhood outside, and there are many ideas and images from nature in her poems. She also tells of the experience of hiding by a creek underneath a road, which is shown in the themes of her poems as well. In the poems The Leash and Instructions on Not Giving Up, the effects of Limón’s childhood experiences are shown through imagery and theme.
In the poem The Leash, by Ada Limón, the imagery clearly shows the influences of her childhood. She begins the poem by talking about how humanity is poisoning the Earth. “Even the hidden nowhere river is poisoned/ orange and acidic by a coal mine” (6-7). This seems to be clearly referencing to the creek she used to hide near as a child. This creek was hidden from the world by the road that went over it, and she is expressing her sentiments about the effects humanity could have on the place she spent so much time at as a child. She goes on to say how much she wants to save this hidden river. “How can/ you not… want to like the creek/ bottom dry to suck the deadly water up into/ your own lungs, like venom?” (7-10). The way Limón wants to sacrifice herself to save some nowhere river strongly implies that she is referring to the beloved creek she goes to in her mind to write her poems. Her experiences and connection to nature is shown further in this poem when she says “Even when silvery fish after fish/ comes back belly up… isn’t there still/ something singing?” (11-14). Limón wants to believe that, despite the irreparable damage we have caused, nature will survive, persevere, and live on. She seems to look past all the harm and wish that nature is still “singing”. Her strong desire for the natural world to hold on and make it through the pain we have caused is likely affected by her childhood spent outdoors. The imagery in Ada Limón’s poem, The Leash, shows her writing is influenced heavily by her childhood experiences spent outside.
The poem Instructi...
