I've Been Known by Denise Duhamel

I’ve Been Known is written by Denise Duhamel. I chose this poem because I thought it was funny and different. I really enjoyed reading this poem because it was about how one person describes herself.
At first, I was a little confused because the short lines ran off into other lines. Also, the author uses so many idioms that I did not understand right away. For example, I had to look up the phrase “to cut a shine” which means to dance (Duhamel 4). After reading this poem a couple of times, I have come to realize that most of the poem is made up of idioms, or sayings and phrases. My favorite lines are lines 13-15 when Duhamel writes: “to / make a stand to / stand for something to stand up for.” She is known to stand up for things she believes in. I think these are powerful lines. She repeats the word “stand,” showing how powerful and determined she is to make a difference.
I believe this poem could be about exactly what the title is: “I’ve been known to…” Also, it may be about how people perceive the speaker of the poem. Maybe the speaker does not actually do these things, but people assume and judge her. Perhaps the speaker does “vamp it up” and “size up” and is just describing herself to the world.
This poet used form free verse. There was no rhyming. However, there was a specific pattern; every sentence or detail about her life was started with the word “to.” This is an example of alliteration. This poem was very realistic in that it described things that many people do. For example, in line 1, Duhamel writes, “to shoot off my mouth to get it off my chest.” Many people, including myself, talk more than they want to or than is needed. This example also has some imagery in it. One can imagine a person running her mouth or letting everything out at once. This poem is written in one stanza. The author did this to connect all of the ideas.
I would recommend this poem to others but I am not positive if I would read another work of literature by this author. I really liked the use of idioms throughout this poem. This detail made the poem interesting, but also relatable.