Classmate Response 1, Week 1

In Response to Megan's Original Prompt 2, Week 1:

I really enjoy the sort of heightened approach you take to this rather matter of fact moment, and I appreciate the incorporation of Italian imagery into your narrative. There's a wonderful dreaminess to this entry and I think the challenge here is finding a balance between the vivid and the concrete. There are moments when my understanding falters. Also, before I unpack these moments, is the spelling of Marlboro as Marlborough intentional? I see it as a sort of play on Luca's accent, his tongue's understand of English, and I like it a lot but I feel like that needs to be either pointed out or played out more. Now, going back to what I said earlier, let's take St. Francis for instance. There seems to be a lot of comparisons going on in that first sentence. The cigarette in his (Luca's) hand is like a pigeon in a hole--which is quirky and I like it. But then we talk about nonsensical perches, and St. Francis preaching--is he preaching holes? Is he preaching to the pigeons? I get a little lost there. And again in the wonderful image of the Mary fresco, where I get lost in the exact details but I enjoy the idea of the fading life in her, where the artwork is supposed to represent this eternalness. In fact, I would say that of the two similes, the Mary one works best. Also, at the end you write that you and Luca are both getting what you want—I’d like to see a connection formed between how you are both getting what you want in that moment and how that ties in to the idea of art, in which what you take out of it is what you want to take out of it kind of thing.