Painting Slowly

"Painting a Room" by Irina Kendall and "Slowly" by Donna Masini, are two poems that show readers the importance of changing their life to a positive attitude. The poem Painting a Room is about a person who is painting and getting rid of all her stuff and fears that have beset her for a long time, and she begins to change and feel free. Slowly is about a snake that is eating a rabbit slowly while the author sees everything. Apparently, both poems are different, but they have many similarities such as time, pain, and changes.

The first poem, "Painting A Room," states the time as a reference to past events that will lead the poet to her liberty. She is painting a room and getting rid of her old stuff. When she writes that it is because she thinks that doing so, she will be free and relieved of something that she carries. “All my furniture has been sold, or given away to bohemian friends (lines 4, 5).” It could suggest that the poet is trying to eliminate her sins and bad behavior that have consumed her for many years.

Second, the poet feels pain for something that persecutes her. The poet says, “I am free from regrets but not from pain” (line 13). The author feels sad and melancholy because it is not easy to escape from the past situations and guilt that she has been carrying during many years. Also, she is going to leave her apartment, belongings, and life for an uncertain future. The brush is used by the author representing an emotional inquietude because her heart throbs when she holds it.

Third, the poet starts experiencing changes. The author makes a reference to “Ten years of fears, unrequited loves, odd jobs, of night of phone calls. Now they’ve disconnected the line” (line 14, 15). Something important happens in her life that makes her realize that she has to see life in a different way. Now, she perceives things that she did not before. The poet decides to change and start a new life, changing and leaving everything negative to keep only good things.

The second poem "Slowly" uses time to make us see how time consumes the author. The poet remembers when she was in fourth grade and she went to the zoo. There, she saw a snake which was eating a rabbit slowly. The snake symbolizes a biblical reference to sins. The author sees how her sins are consuming her as slowly as the snake consumes the rabbit.

Next, the poet experiences pain as time progresses. The poet describes when the snake was eating the rabbit and the rabbit did not move or fight for its life. The author realizes that, “taking this in, slowly, taking it into my body: this grief” (lines 23, 24).It means that life progresses and stops for nobody and we do not feel ourselves slowly dying. She also realizes that as the rabbit, she did not do enough things in her life that she could have done and now realizes she does not have enough time to do them.

Additionally, the author thinks of the change. The poet realizes that time will never be back once it is gone. She knows that she can try to change now and begin a new life since she cannot change the past, but she can change the course of her future. 

Even though on the surface "Painting a Room" and "Slowly," are poems that seem very different, but they have many similarities. Both of them talk about time and how the poet wants to get rid of old things that will lead her to reach her freedom. Even with pain, she wants to change and become a better person. On the other hand, in the other poem, the author notices the time that consumes her slowly. She also feels pain because she has not accomplished all that she wants. She feels that it is late, but she knows that she can change and begins a new life because she cannot turn back time.