Week 17 Analysis: Close Reading - Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?

This is an excerpt from "Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?" by Tracy Smith

Bowie is among us. Right here
In the same way "god" can be among us. Bowie's vibe is felt all around

In New York City. In a baseball cap
In the same style he wore his baseball cap

And expensive jeans. Ducking into
And in his general style

A deli. Flashing all those teeth
He was always happy, friendly, smiling, like an average person
At the doorman on his way back up.

Or he’s hailing a taxi on Lafayette
Smith is listing things that normal people do, humanizing Bowie

As the sky clouds over at dusk.
again, an average day; an average man

He’s in no rush. Doesn’t feel
The way you’d think he feels.

He doesn't feel entitled or more important than anyone else as you would assume a super star would.
Doesn’t strut or gloat. Tells jokes.
He isn't above everyone else, he just wants to be with everyone else; telling jokes is a way to make personal connections 

Works Cited

Smith, Tracy K. “Don't You Wonder, Sometimes? by Tracy K. Smith.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55520/dont-you-wonder-sometimes.