Everyday Barf by Myles - Essay Example

Barfing is simultaneously empowering and weakening. In “Everyday Barf,” Myles describes the daily happenings, emotions, and thoughts that make people spill their guts. For her, it started with the political sestina, which became a voyage through the earthly pukes within and around her. The most compelling aspect of the poem is how it seems to ramble from one story to another, and yet an overwhelming theme unites them, the theme of identity and its expression. To puke is to be one with oneself and with others too. When people barf, they are spilling themselves for them to see who they are and for others to see more of them too.

Barfing is something that is universal and yet so private, which makes it a perfect symbol of identity. Myles is telling a story about her political sestina, and then she narrates a story concerning a boat of barbers. She wants to puke herself because of her poem and her feelings for it. She wants to express her sincere emotions like a barf would have. In real life, however, it is hard to be “real” without being judged as fake. I believe she wants to say that to puke is “to be,” in the terms of “identity.” To puke is utterly natural in a most disgusting way. Who said it is disgusting anyway? Why cannot people freely barf without being judged? In other words, why cannot people be who they are and who they want to be without feeling the disgusted eyes of the people around them? Myles is showing the way to knowing thyself through the art of barfing the inner contents of oneself.

Myles’ relationship with her mother is troubled and the center of her barfing because her mother, is her foundation as a person. Myles, nevertheless, admits her complex relationship with the woman who gave birth to her. On the one hand, she wants to be near her again. I want to confirm with Myles if it is for companionship. Does she want to be with her mother because of her failed relationships with other women? She might be craving comfort from the original woman of her life. Or, Myles might be blaming her mother for controlling her life, so she might as well suffer with her. Despite the restless emotions, Myles understands that her mother has not destroyed her. Living with her mother has turned her into a puke hater. She must have wanted to puke because she has a hard time being who she is with her mother. Myles cannot directly express her identity to her mother. Puking is her release. It is her way of “being” without being so blatant about it.

Forming and expressing one’s identity is a process of barfing. It is hard and easy at the same time. Always, people are judging. Always, people judge their puke. Byles is suggesting that now is the moment to be. In her prose, the President is thanking people for the god in the White House. Myles is saying that it is good to be here. Godliness is in the present. What people do at the present is what matters. Read More