And Still I Rise, Part Two: "Traveling" Summary

Part Two opens with "Junkie Monkey Reel," a sad account of the results of drug abuse. The uses slowly falls apart, from the shoulders, to the arms, then knees and finally, internally, with the brain. The sad diagnosis of life continues in "The Lesson." The poet claims that living only allows a perpetual state of dying. The only reason to endure such tragedy is the love of life. A man visits more decay in "California Prodigal." He explores the ruins of ancient civilizations. The more recent past is visited in "My Arkansas." The poet reveals Arkansas' violent past. The society there continues to live in the past, holding to tradition and hauling along with it "old crimes."

As the reader travels from the past to the present, "Though the...