Week 15 - Yakov Wahnich - Pick-A-Poet “400 Days”

As a quick recap, Kevin Coval is a Jewish-American poet from Chicago - a heritage he often feels very connected to as he describes in many of his poems. Today’s poem, called “400 Days,” was written by Coval in 2017, and once again, his heritage shines through his writing. 

In this poem, Coval reflects on the preceding 400 days and what he’s experienced during that time. His writing begins with a lighthearted tone, but gradually shifts to a more serious, somewhat saddening tone as he discusses more serious topics in his last few stanzas. The style of this poem is consistent with many of his other works - the early stanzas are fun and the later stanzas deliver his message about the harsh reality of living in Chicago. 

In “400 Days,” Coval begins by briefly discussing haircuts, his students, restaurants, and parades, all centered in Chicago, of course. In remembering his students of the last 400 days, he reflects upon “a few [students that] have been shot” in the city, but quickly shifts the focus of his poem to new restaurants and parades as previously mentioned. I think he does this to demonstrate how fast life moves now-a-days, and just as his poem brushed over the death of his student, so too does life in a way - or at least life in Chicago. There’s so much to unpack in this poem, so with Mrs. Ho’s approval I might discuss more in another blog post, but one line that really stuck out to me was the last thing Coval mentioned before moving away from the topic of his students. 

He states that one of his students was shot through the lung, but survived, and another student was shot in a parked car while “waiting to see his son who will now wait forever.” This was really powerful for two reasons. One, this line perfectly demonstrates how poetry is about reading between the lines, and rather than Coval blatantly saying that his student died, the reader puts two and two together with the nuance Coval delivers here. In doing so, I think the message of this line is delivered with more significance, almost like it packs a punch for the reader once they realize what Coval is hinting to. Second, and finally, the message Coval is conveying here is about the value of life and the concept that each person is a world of their own. In the news, someone might have read a headline like “Chicago man shot in car…” and dismissed it quickly, like Coval dismisses this topic in his poem. However, readers of this poem are reminded that the person that died was a father, and his son’s life changed forever after that day. Coval’s line here helps remove some of the desensitization society has experienced with death, and that’s why I think this line is so powerful. 

What do you think?