Only a Snow Man Can

This is this weeks poetry response. I'm starting to feel the cold weather so The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens stuck out to me this week. The poem is simple, only four stanzas with only three lines each. "Pine-trees crusted with snow," makes me think of all the pine trees that surround us here in Colorado and how they look when it snows. He says "one must have a mind of winter" this is true when winter is here and you look out your window you see the snow covered ground and trees. With the first snow people start to think about winter; getting their snow boots and coats out. "In the sound of a few leaves, Which is the sound of the land Full of the same wind That is blowing in the same bare place," this shows famililarity and consistency. Some of the only things that are consistant is the season, winter, spring, summer and fall. That is what is nice is knowing that winter is coming or going and so is the feelings of winter. Brrr I'm getting cold just reading the poem, so I'm going to go get some hot chocolate.

Under Water Experience.

This is last weeks poetry response cause I kind of forgot about it. On Reading Poems to a Senior Class At South High by D.C. Berry is the poem I choose this week. I found this poem to be inspiring. D.C. Berry has a splendid way of creating an image in your head as you read this poem. It feels as though the poem comes to life every time my partner and I have to do poetry in class. The experience is fitting: I could see myself as one of the "fishes" in the "aquarium" listening to Mrs. White help up pick apart poems. I could also see myself as the teacher slowly drowning in the water trying to teach the fishes poetry. The poem exposes the feeling of teaching poetry through an allegory. The first stanza says, "I noticed them sitting there as orderly as frozen fishin a package," I thought of this as fish that have been killed (not in a gory mean way) just simply bored or waiting for life. Then as the reader begins to read the poem the room fills with water and becomes an aquarium with live fish. It ends with the cat bringing him back life which is ironic because cat's eat fish. The poem was just intriguing to me. The imagination is fasinating and almost childlike which again is ironic because he is reading to a senior class. Imagining our classroom fill with water and Ana Garcia, Corey Coffman and the rest of our class swim around like fish makes me wish I was a kid again.

Once Upon A Spooky Night.

This is how it goes... Being a senior of course I procrastinated with my poetry blog and was like "hey I'm old and Halloween is for the young so I can do it Sunday!" Then I started watching Shutter Island with Emily Kirk and Ellen Lenz my best friends and we fell asleep by nine. When I arrived to my house around ten knowing it was a school night I was suddenly kidnapped by gouls and goblins. Hence I'm not writing my blog this week. The end.

P.S. Happy Halloween

Did Curiosity Kill the Cat?

According to Alastair Reid "Curiosity will not cause us to die- only the lack of it will." The reasoning is in the beginning of poem: the cat did not die because it was curious, it was just not lucky. When I read this poem I felt like it wasn't a poem at all but merely like reading someone's thoughts on death or curiosity. This is odd because I've been known as the one in my family that is the most curious and being curious has helped and hurt me. To be curious means you want more knowledge and that is the greatest thing of all, is to gain more knowledge. I agree it is " Only the curious have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all." Some of the most heroic or advanturous people had to be curious to begin their journey. Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther King Jr., even Helen Keller had to be curious, and it is their stories in which we learn about repeatedly in school. In the poem Reid personifies cats and dogs; it is as if the dogs and cats were human. Cats are the ones who are curious and live, and dogs are the ones who die with no story to tell and no life that was lived because to live you have to be curious. The conclusion of the poem is astonishing, Reid says, "dying is what the living do, and the dying is what the loving do- dying is what, to live, each has to do." You have to live to die and you have to die to live- even if that means you have to be curious. The poem starts off as a thought toward being curious and ends in how to live or die.

Some Words are Wallflower Words.

"Wallflowers" by Donna Vorreye sounds like it isn't about words, but it is. This poem brings words that aren't used to life by explaining how there are words that aren;t used very ofter and are the wallflowers of words. She uses words in the poem like gegenshein and zoanthropy which don't relate to the poem at all and mean almost nothing. It makes me think about why she wrore this poem. What made her think about unused words? The whole poem is a personification of words which makes in enteresting.

Behind on number six

For poetry response number six I choose to read and respond to "In Blackwater Woods," by Mary Oliver. This poem showed good imagery, I could picture the woods and I could feel myself in the poem. There is a lot of metaphores and personification. The trees come to life and wood is a person itself. The whole poem is three sentences broken up into nine stanzas each with four lines, this showed how the woods are so real and how it felt being in them. This poem is from a book by Mary Oliver called, American Primitive. It is a book of collected poems by her. The poem almost puts off a melonchally tone and could make you almost feel sad or maybe just relaxed. The part I thought most about is when she says, "... every pond no matter what its name is, is nameless now." It made me realize how true that could be and how things that once mattered could simply not matter anymore. "In Blackwater Woods" is an enteresting poem.

Back in the day.

"1943" by Donald Hall is one of the poems we have decussed in class, but I feel as though it's a little hard to get my opinion out when I'm sitting there. Here it is. After reading this poem my first reactions were I felt like the poem was taking me back in the day. The war was obsorbing the men just as they got out of high school or were still in high school. Hall expresses how he felt about the war, the duties and sadness the war caused. You can really see the emotions in the poems words and style. two lines to the five stanza's is just right amount to express 1943. The poem is excellent and is one that could have an interesting antecedent scenerio. That is up for your oppinion.

Repsonse to Poetry.

The Giving Tree (I can't figure out how to underline this) was my first thought when I read the poem "Lost Brother." This man relates himself to a tree that he claims is his lost brother. Everything that happens to the tree he feels happening to himself as well. I never really thought about it but trees, and nature in general, are very comforting and reliable. Trees' are useful in many ways; they provide oxgyen, a playground, shade, food, and much more. They live to be very old and are one of the few biotic things in the world. Stanley Moss is the author of the poem and he says "I am prepared to live as long as he did (it would please our mother.)" This part really stuck out to me. I'm assuming he is talking about mother nature and that makes his thoughts about being the brother of the tree so real. We are related someway, somehow.

Poetry response three.

This weeks poem is "Still Memory," by Mary Karr. I thought this poem was nice, and I enjoyed it. When she begans to dream about her life when she was ten I began to think about my own life when I was ten. The end wraps it all when she describes how she would write about her life as it was happening so that she could remember it. This relates to me because I was taught as a child to write in a journal or a diary. I have kept a journal for quite some time and still do. Writing helps me remember the simple things like smell, noise and how I felt. Mary does the same thing in the poem which is a dream of her writing so she could remember. It is wonderful remember the good things about being a child and how recording it can help. I should have picked this poem to share in class because how much I could relate to it and how much I enjoyed it.

Always wondering why the blackberries are for Amelia? (poetry entry dose)

This week's poetry choice is "Blackberries for Amelia" by Richard Wilbur. This is the first poem on our poetry packet and everytime I open my binder to the packet the first thing I see is "Blackberries for Amelia." When I open to my poetry packet I'm usually on a different mission, and just notice this poem. So this time I opened my binder on a mission to read and get to know this poem.

My first question was who is Amelia? As the poem ended I made the inference that Amelia is Richard's grandaughter. The rhythem pattern is a, b, b, a, c, d, d, c. and so on. I enjoyed this because it is somewhat uncommon. As the poem progresses the blackberries grow and rippen. It begins in June with just branches and leaves. Then as the weather starts to change the flowers bloom then it ends in August when the blackberries rippen and are ready to be picked. The build up of the blackberries ready to be picked is intense. It ends sweetly saying how he needs a grandchild to talk to him as he picks the blackberries make them even better. I really enjoyed this poem and now i don't have to wonder what it's about everytime I open my binder or see my poetry packet.

Poetry response numero uno.

The poem from the list we got in class I chose was "To Myself" by W.S Merwin. This poem stuck out to me; it doesn't rhyme and it's not very long nor short. I feel the need to use the new "describing poems"thing we got in class.
The meaning of this poem is personal. It is about being lost but not exactly. The feeling is as if you lost yourself but you really didn't. W.S Merwin's antecedent scenario was probably that he felt like he was lost and when he went to look for himself he didn't need to look because he wasn't really lost. The whole poem is one stanza with no speicific line count. The climax would have to be the end when you discover when you're lost you really aren't. That part explains it all and just sums it up. Tone is important and the tone used in this poem is realization, or explaination because the author is explaining what he realized. In general I really enjoyed this poem because it is unique in style and tone.

The Great Gatsby

I am surprized how well I enjoyed this book. It made complete sense to me: Gatsby's dream and life is the American dream. There was so much lying and distrust, that's how America was at the time. The combination of romance, affair, misguidence, and history is extrodinary.

The want for wealth was extreme in both the book and America at the time. The book seems to be familar to Fitzgeralds. He feel in love with a woman who wanted wealth. The Great Gatsby shows how the want for wealth could tear apart someone or even kill someone. Gatsby was wealthy and powerful yet he died for love, a love that was an affair. I felt the sadness and anger as i read the book. The thought of the "American dream" is shown through Gatsby and his reaction is what makes him so great. The connection between the character and the author is huge.

I had heard about this book a few times and never thought it would be as interesting as it was. I did some reasearch about Fitzgerald and he resembles Gatsby. After this I would like to read more Fitzgerald books.

Is your heart full of darkness?

For me there isn't much to say about the book, maybe later in class I'll have more to say.

This is an adventure up the Congo river in Africa. When I first read the title of this book I had no idea what expect, but if i did expect something it surly wasn't what this book is. The Heart of Darkness is a great title for such a book. The main character Marlow is full of adventure but his adventure doesn't seem to be a good one. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to travel the Congo river and experience the culture of Africa along the way. It is full of secrets and illness.

The book is gloomy, and dark, I didn't like it that much.


The pilgrims and the company seemed to catch my attention; it is interesting how the pilgrims don't try and achieve the goal they're after. Marlow is disgusted with the company and how Kurtz is degenerating. This all the adventure is about. Marlow is aboard a ship full of brutality and the morals of Africa's civilization. Marlow is interesting because in his actions he seems like a typical hero but he also is somewhat broken. As a read you have to be open-minded when thinking about Marlow. Now Kurtz is different, Marlow thinks of him as "hollow," but don't take is as a bad thing because his "hollness"could be what makes him who he is.

I can't seem to pull anything else from this book, maybe later but as of now I'm done.

The Kite Runner: My Thoughts

The novel is extroidinary, and captivating. Khaled Hosseini did a wonderful job with symbols and themes. The Character's are unique but connective. Amir (the main character) grows throughout the book, and the readers see Amir change from being a rude child to a well changed adult. I enjoyed seeing his selfish ways change. Amir had everything he wanted except his fathers approval. There wasn't a strong emtional connection between Amir and Baba. To me this was the central reason for Amir's selfishness when he was young. Just because his mother died giving birth to Amir Baba threats him differently. When Amir sees Baba give Hassan attention Amir becomes jealous and does the selfish things to Hassan. It is interesting to see this kind of conflict in a different culture because I never think things like this happen to other societies. My eyes began to open up to Amir's culture as he began to grow and become selfless.

The difference between Amir growing and Hassan staying the same is truly symbolic. You are either an "Amir"or a "Hassan." While it takes time and effort for Amir to become Selfless and grow, Hassan stays the same, well natured person. They both end strong wise men. Amir had to work to become who he was, while Hassan had been himself all along. This shows that people are different depending on how they are raised and the challenges they are faced with.

It doesn't take wealth and popularity to improve relationships. Baba and Amir see that throughout the novel. At the beginning when Baba is very wealthy and Amir gets everything he wants their relationship is weak, but when Baba becomes a low paying worker his relationship with his son grows. Money can't buy love or even emotions it takes effort and challenges to see that you can love and have emotions. Hassan, who is born into a low paying family already knows how to love and care but Amir has to learn how. The kite running has a lot to do with who each character is inside. It symbolizes the guilt and pain Amir is faced with. The ending is just an emotional slide. It made me cry. I felt the emotion as Hassan and Farzana got killed and the selflessness Amir had when he needed to repay Hassan buy helping Sohrab.

Even though the book made me cry I learned a lot from and enjoyed the symbols and growth in the characters.