Kenneth Koch Personal Reflection

            I have been reading poems by Kenneth Koch recently. At first, I thought that his writing style was bizarre and confusing, especially in “A Momentary Longing To Hear Sad Advice from One Long Dead”. Koch’s writing initially made me think that he was alive in the nineteenth century, but in fact, he passed away in 2002. After reading some more of his poems, I started to like what he was doing with the structure. Several of his works that I have read are not on topics that the regular poet writes about. For example, in “Talking To Patrizia”, Koch just complains about his ex-girlfriend and expresses why he kicked her out of his house. Though this poem’s meaning can be taken literally, Koch manages to add his own style to it. While I would not necessarily say that I enjoy reading Koch’s poetry, it is definitely starting to grow on me.