#16

I was in the grocery store when I heard the best overheard line Here it goes:

Why do hot dog buns have 8 in a package, when hot dogs come in packages of 10

#15

I am going to attempt to do a critical analysis of the one of the villanelle from our packet. I don't really like villanelle because you have to have two rhymes within the poem. I am not a fan a rhyming because I'm just not very good with them. I chose to do The Waking by Theodore Roethke. I found this poem interesting and easy to understand. As much as I don't like villanelle I couldn't really many errors in the poem it was written very precise. However, I did find some things I did not like about the poem. I noticed that in the last stanza the poem, the poet almost seems to rushed to conclude the poem. He kind of left the audience wanting more of an explanation of exactly what was the outcome the poem. An example of this probably would be "I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow" I think he plays with his use of words as he wrote that sentence. Because he could have been thinking about his own death or the death of someone else close to him. This poem kind of leaves his audience out in the open about certain things.

#14

At the start of the week, we were assigned to read the Villanelle and Pantoum packet. When I was reading the packet I was thinking this was going to be very hard for me, and indeed it was very difficult. I took me almost three hours to come up with a pantoum to bring to class today. But of course I did it the difficult way, instead of using all the lines from the sheet. I chose one line and came up with a poem using that one line. But I must say after I went through this overly exhausted process, I discovered that the Pantoum poem was not as bad as I thought it would. It was very difficult for me to get it to flow and come together and actually make sense. I guess you can say I actually found a formed poem that a liked. Well here is the poem I came up with.

A life filled with hardship
But I go on,
with purpose and dignity
praying for better days

But I go on.
Through acts of discouragements
praying for a better day
looking past all obstacles,

throughout acts of discouragements
negative influences and disappointments,
facing all obstacles
letting nothing stand in the way of my dream,

Negative influences and disappointments
arise on defenseless occasions.
But nothing stand in the way of my dream
Motivation is only necessary.

defenseless occasions arise
with purpose and dignity
motivation is only necessary
for a life filled with hardships.

I would really appreciate any comments and suggestions to make this a better pantoum.

#13

I liked my own poem that I wrote this week. I based this poem off Howe's The Beast. In that poem its mainly about sexually encounters with a men. I decided to take a different turn it make it about something that is more playful. I read over all the comments and agree with the majority of them with a little more time to restructure the first part and grammatical errors fixed. I believe this poem has a lot of potential.

Revised Poem

Hearing the sounds
of torture and cries for help

from the living room. Where only
fun filled memories supposed to be held.

Someone is helplessly pleading her case
for anyone to hear

I am listening for that vulnerable voice
wondering what this living thing has

forced on a human being.
I gazed into her eyes and asked

Where is it? Has it
left you hear alone

The day ends, she leaves
early in the morning again for awhile

returning only to be worn out
and out of breath.

This time I sat patiently on the sofa
wishing she would walked through

the door. Finally, it happens.
she bursts through the door

into the kitchen, calmly
reaching in the refrigerator for

a bottle of water. Eventually turning
around saying, it's a dog you know

#12

I am really not a fan of haiku's personally. I have a hard time writing them, because hard to put a definite meaning in three short sentences. A haiku must paint a mental image in the reader's mind. It is real hard to put meaning and imagery in the lines. At times, I have trouble coming with images in poems that may come so easy to others. However, in the packet we read for this week there was one particular haiku that really threw me out but many of my classmates seemed to like it?
Etheridge Knight

Making jazz swing in
Seventeen syallabes AIN'T
No square poet's job

I was like am I missing something or what? cause that theme just went straight over my head. I think when we discussed it in class it made more sense to me. Normally, an haiku includes themes like nature, feelings, or experiences. This haiku didnt fit that description at all, I was expecting something to that nature.

#11

Original Sonnet

Love is the ability to love inspite of
Unless that love is anything like us
They'd have no clue of the sacrifices it took to get here
of pain, of misery, of brand new wounds
Wounds that will never heal and leave a ugly scar
But I am still beautiful in my dreams
Sitting gracefully on my pedestal
I look up to you in a crazy way
So say your prayers and come along now
down the river where we can splash loud
water runs down, inking over dirt faces
We washed and washed to remove our stains
still foul, dirty creatures of God

Revised Sonnet
Love is the ability to love in spite of.
Unless that love is anything like us,
they'd have no clue of the sacrifices it took to get here
of pain, of misery, of brand new wounds.
Wounds that will never heal and leave a scar
but still I am gorgeous in my own dreams.

Sitting gracefully on my pedestal,
I look up to you in a loving way.
High above the clouds and the clear blue sky
So I said my rightful prayers and went down
the peaceful river where I splashed aloud,
water runs down, inking over my face.
I tried desperately to remove the stains
but I was still foul, dirty creatures of God

#10

Mary's Argument
To lead the uncommon life is not so bad.
There is an edge we come to count on
when all the normal signs don't speak,
a startled vigilance that keeps us waking
to watch the moon, the peculiar stars;
the usual, underfoot, no more a solid comfort
than a rock that might move as a turtle moves,
so slowly only the nervous feel the sudden bump
of the familiar giving way to unrequested astonishment.
And for a small time, the sheer cliff of everything
we never knew can rise in front of us
like the warm dark, where the starlight
has its constant conception, where the idea of turtle
blinked and was: a wry joke, an intricate affection

What I got of this poem is that the author accepting that things in life for what they are. She realizes that life is not perfect and it okay to deal with problems and complication that may arise. She is walking through life paying close attention to the sign that the nature gives her. She uses the star and moon as metaphors for guidance that might help her through the obstacles life may bring. The author is already in her comfort zone dealing with the normal aspects of life. Then in the line 6, she says the usual, underfoot, no more a solid comfort. It shows how she has to step out of what she is used to and deal with things that are not planned.The author uses a turtle to create a imagery about life. How slow life seems to appear and unclear to her. She has to take things slower than usual and find new ways to be successfully.

I don't know if I'm right or not but a can also see this poem from the aspect of Mary being a virgin and comparing it to life. How in the beginning she was indeed a virgin and could basically predicate everything that will happen in her life. Then, unfortunately things change and she is force into a unfamiliar view of life and she writing this poem to remind herself that you can make it through any situation that may occur. You just have to think it through thoroughly and know you are going to make the right decisions.