Blood Dazzler: Part 1

How does the writer structure the poem and to what effect?

In one of Patricia Smith's poems, 'Katrina', the writer describes the disastrous hurricane Katrina's characteristics by personalizing it and writing it as if she herself was the hurricane. The usage of 'I' in the poem personifies the hurricane and thus has a great impact.

The poem starts with the explanation that it had started elsewhere and then proceeds to the change of its character while it was advancing towards New Orleans and then it ends with what it had done. The line breaks in the poem are dramatic and give the effect of the sequence of events that occurred. The writer's use of words like 'bitch-monikered' and 'scraping toward the first of you' shows the character of hurricane itself. The poem starts with a low tone and then builds to a higher one and then comes to a sudden end indicating the movement of hurricane. Such build-up from start to finish showcases the vicious character of the hurricane.