the use of profanity

Anna Aycock

When I started to read “The Shit List,” by A.R. Ammons I was a little surprised at just how many times he use the word shit. I am sure that if my mother read this poem she would be offended by how many times this single profanity is used, but on the other hand as I read I am not offended as my mother would be. It just goes to show you that people are going to take shit or any profanity in a different way. It seems as though my mom and my grandparents to seem to have a stronger opinion on cussing and see it as something horrible that should never be said. Then I look at cussing and think that if I am with my friends talking and there is a need for a cuss word I will put it the conversation. Now if I was talking to my mom and felt the same way I would find another word to use into of a profanity because of the way that my mom dislikes it when I use profanity. I mean in my family event the word sucks is something horrible and I am told that it is not lady like to say. I think that if my mom tried to laugh at this poem it would be a little harder to do because of how much cussing is in it. I believe that this piece was written for people who are not afraid to laugh at the word shit, if you have a strong dislike for this particular word than this poem is not for you. People who would enjoy this poem are more open about things and are not afraid to talk about things that would make some people uncomfortable. In some cases the more open minded the person the funnier that they are going to think Ammons really is