Note 1: Hard Times

"Hard Times" by Michael Ryan 


Michael Ryan's poem, "Hard Times", characterized by a gruff, sarcastic, and terse tone,

illustrates a picture of a child's (perhaps his) rotten and base family life. The picture of the

pathetic parents, the "lousy job [his] father lands", and his "mother's rosary-pinching hands"

expresses a resentment towards the mother and father. The pigs in a blanket served for

dinner by the mother is referenced and observed as more than a delicacy. The "Teeny

uncircumcised Buddha penises (cocktail hot dogs in strips of dough)" are referred to as

"puffed-up weenie geniuses" who tells the author to get the "fu*%" out of this home life as

fast as possible.

The sultry, simple and yet potent language of the author flumes an

atmosphere of frustration and perverseness. Within the last stanza, the dad is depicted as

unappreciative and perhaps verbally abusive, while as the mother is painted out to be

emotionally overwhelmed and in tears. Finally, in the last line, the author writes, "I

don't know who to hate or how to feel." The plain words of those lines are as powerful as the

running emotions in this poem. In the end, the readers are left to contemplate how the

the kid will approach the situation and whether the kid overcomes this state of malcontent.