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Michael Campbell
Essay 1, Jacqueline Lyons
The Way They Say Yes Here


Jacqueline Lyons wrote the poetry compilation “The way they say yes here” to chronicle her experiences in Africa. Most poems seem to be set in Lesotho. Most of her poems have a very distinct style, reminiscent of her days spent in Africa. She likes to interject words from the African languages into her poems, usually without translation, making them very hard to understand.
For the most part, her poems can be placed into two distinct categories. One category would include her shorter poems, consisting of 5-8 four-line stanzas. The other would include works, like “A Map for Finding a House,” which seem almost to be prose.
I really enjoyed the poem “Patience,” on page 12. It begins by highlighting the shortage of eggs in community, saying all the chickens were either too old to lay or dead. She then says that ‘M’e, or mother, told her where to find some. When told in that place there were no eggs, she stood defiant, patience, until eggs were brought out for her. Then the last line, “and I go home to bake my cake.” This line really stood out to me. It’s so simple, making the events of the day seem nominal.
The poem “A Map for Finding a House,” on pages 17 and 18, seems almost to be prose. It looks much like a letter in business format. The poem is composed almost entirely of sentence fragments. It is essentially directions for going to what I would assume would be school, where she is teaching. This poem is very different than her poem “Patience.” The obviously difference is the style; both poems were written in different tones. “Patience,” feels kind of whimsical to me, lighthearted. She needs the eggs, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if she couldn’t get them Especially the last line, “and I go home to bake my cake,” shows the ‘light-hearted’ style. Its extremely apathetic. I can imagine Lyons saying...