My Best Friend (voice/style piece written in class)

My dog buddy is quite an unsual dog, he thinks he is a person. He loves attention, any attention that he can get. He is very protective over me and my sibilings, he is a really good guard dog, except for when he is scared. He has a booming bark, that is know as his protective bark. However, when he is scared he will cower behind me or anyone else hoping that we will protect him. He is scared of many things from a stool to a tuba. Anything else and he will be there protecting me from any danger that comes my way. He is always there for me, he is there as my protector and my friend. He will be there when I need him, when i'm happy or sad, mad or glad. He is my best friend :)

The Secret

Two girls discover
the secret of life
in a sudden line of
poetry.

I who dont know the
secret wrote
the line. They
told me

(through a third person)
they had found it
but not what it was
not even

what line it was. No doubt
by now, more than a week
later, they had forgotten
the secret,

the line, the name of
the poem. I love them
for finding what
I cant find,

and for loving me
for the line that I wrote
and for forgetting it
so that

a thousands times, till death
find them, they may
discover it again, in other
lines

in other
happenings. And for
wanting to know it,
for

assuming there is
such a secret, yes,
for that
most of all.
-Denise Levertov

I love this poem :) As I was reading this I thought of the two little girls in a kindergarten class I would help out in. They were together as much as possible and every once in a while I would see them whispering and giggling to themselves like they knew a secret. I always wondered what their secret was, but never did I ask. After reading this poem I start to wonder if these girls had discovered the secret to life. I wonder if that secret is happiness? I'll continue to wonder till I too discover this secret :)

Giving Thanks

As we gather round the table

my brother the big cheese

my mom the sweet potato

my dad at the head

with the turkey.

We break the bread

and give thanks.

Another year brings

Joy as well as sorrow

but we are thankful

for we are still together

and strong.

Each day is a journey

together is the way

each day i am thankful

for each new day

is a day closer

my family becomes.

-by Me!!!

The Coming of Wisdom with Time

through leaves are many, the root is one:
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun:
Now I may wither into the truth.
- William Butler Yeats

This poem reminds me of the changing seasons. Manily the changing of seasons from fall to winter. I have noticed that as the leaves change and slowly fall off the trees and the flowers stop blooming and the snow falls then springtime comes and the never ending cycle repeats itself. As this never ending cycle continues to repeat itself and the years go swiftly by we as people becomes wiser- well most of us do anyway. I believe this poem symbolizes this growth of wisdom as the seasons change.

A Study of Reading Habits

When getting my nose in a book
cured most things short of school,
to know I could still keep cool,
and deal out the old right hook
to dirty dogs twice my size.

Later, with inch-thick specs,
Evil was just my lark:
me and my cloak and fangs
had ripping times in the dark
the women I clubbed with sex!
I broke them up like meringues.

Don't read much now: the dude
who lets the girl down before
the hero arrives, the chap
who's yellow and keeps the store,
seem far too familiar. Get stewed:
books are a load of crap.
-Philip Larkin

I believe that this poet use to enjoy reading, but felt like books have let him down. This poem talks about the many different things that happen in books. It later seems that the poet has felt that books have let him down or may turn out to be too predictable, which makes him think that "books are a load of crap." I on the other hand love books. I spend my free time reading. I love how just picking up a book, I am suddenly transported to another road going through the same struggles as the character in my book is. I can not relate to the way that this poet feels toward books, since I feel the complete opposite, but its my hopes that someday he will change his mind, and really start to enjoy books, like I have and will continue to do. :)

On Reading Poems to a Senior Class At South High

Before
I opened my mouth
I noticed them sitting there
as orderly as frozen fish
in a package.

Slowly water began to fill the room
though I did not notice it
till it reached
my ears

and then I heard the sounds
of fish in an aquarium
and I knew that though I had
tried to drown them
with my words
that they had only opened up
like gills for them
and let me in.

Together we swam around the room
like thirty tails whacking words
till the bell rang
puncturing
a hole in the door

where we all leaked out

They went to another class
I suppose and I home

where Queen Elizabeth
my cat met me
and licked my fins
till they were hands again.
- D.C. Berry


While reading this poem I realized that Berry was comparing fish to his students. In the first stanza he talks about how he notices them sitting there as orderly as frozen fish and I pictured a classroom full of students who are all sitting forward, quiet and listening to the teacher. (even though that doesnt happen very often) The 2nd stanza says "slowly water began to fill the room though I did not notice it till it reached my ears." reading that I thought about how loud a classroom gets as more students fill the room. To me this poem seems like an allusion to how a teacher views their classroom and students, as well as what goes on during their day. It is a really good poem and it isn't as sad or dark as the other poems. ;)

Acquainted with the Night

I have been one axquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-by;
And further still at an unearthly height
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
-Robert Frost

As I was looking through the poetry packet I saw that this poem was by Robert Frost and I immediatly wanted to do this poem. I remember reading many different poems by Frost and how much I enjoyed them, so I figured I would enjoy this one as well. While reading this poem, I feel like that the person that is being talked about this poem is feeling guilty. In the 2nd stanza it says "I have passed by the watchman on his beat and dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain." Reading this I think about my dog and when he has done something that he knows he shouldnt have. My dog, Buddy, will lower his eyes in a way that makes me think that he is saying I'm sorry I know I have been bad, but at the same time, I am unable to communicate with him, so its like he is almost unwilling to explain to me what he did and why he did what he did. I feel like this poem is about dealing with an event in a person's life where they are trying to differintiate between right and wrong, while justifying the wrong.

Disillusionment at Ten O'Clock

The houses are haunted
By white night-gowns.
None are green.
Or purple with green rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings,
None of them are strange
With socks of lace
And beaded ceintures.
People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches tigers
In red weather.
-Wallace Stevens

I decided to do this poem in light of halloween being this week. It felt kind of like it had some of the halloween spirit in it, since it started with the houses are haunted. OoOo very creepy haha. This poem is very descriptive, it talks about what the haunted thing could not be instead of just saying what it is, which is quite interesting. It makes it different, makes it so I have to think about this poem more. The part that made me laugh was where it said 'None of them are strange with socks of lace" because someone wearing lacey socks would not scare or make me feel like I was being haunted. When I think of being haunted I think of the 4 haunted houses I went to last week and how the things that did actually scare me werent lacy at all they were way more frigtening and many people would just jump out at me to scare me. However If someone were to jump out at me wearing lacy socks then I would probably laugh instead of scream, but then again laughing is a good thing to do and I did laugh a lot at the haunted houses. It seems that I laugh a lot when I get scared so maybe I'm afraid of lacy socks? hahaha ;)

Unveiling

In the cemetry
a mile away
from where we used to live
my aunts and mother,
my father and uncles lie
in two long rows almost the way
they used to sit around
the long planked table
at family dinners.
And walking beside
the graves today, down
one straight path
and up the next,
I don't feel sad
for them, just left out a bit
as if they kept
from me the kind
of grown-up secret
they used to share
back then, something
I'm not quite ready yet
to learn.
- Linda Pastan

While I read this poem it brought me back to when I was walking through the Loveland cemetry trying to find Trevor's grave. It was later that day after his funeral, so his gave was not yet marked with a toomstone, but I was determined to find it. As I walked up and down the rows I started thinking about all the people that I know there and how I didnt feel sad being there, but I felt like there was something more that I was missing out on, some secret that still needed to be told. This poem really reflected those same feelings to me, makes me wonder if there is something greater out there. In this huge world of wonder, what else is there? What exactly lies after death? I have my beliefs as you do yours, but we will never know until we experience it for ourselves, so instead of wallowing in the unknown, it is better to enjoy life as of now because you never know when it will be your last day.

My Fear

He follow us, he keeps track,
each day his lists are longer,
here, death, and hear,
something like it.

Mr. Fear we say in our dreams,
what do you have for me tonight?
And he looks through his sack,
his black sack of troubles.

Maybe he smiles when he finds
the right one. Maybe hes sorry.
Tell me Mr. Fear,
what must I carry

away from your dream.
Make is small please.
Let it fit in my pocket,
let it fall through

the hole in my pocket.
Fear let me have
a small brown bat
and a purse of crickets

like the ones I heard
singing last night
out there in the stubbly field
before I slept and met you.

While reading this poem I think of each stanza as one little part. The first stanza to mean just talks about death and that is something that many people fear, so it would be aproppriate to put that in this poem. The 2nd stanza is more of that worrying, the antisipation, which sometimes can be worse then the actual fear itself. The 3rd and 4th stanza are more about our burdens that we carry. Some are worse then others, but we always hope for them to be small, for that makes them so much more easier to carry, but that isn't always the case. I believe that last stanzas to be more about overcoming our fears. We all have our fears, but there is always that great sense of accomplishment when we finally overcome them.

Blackberries of Amelia

Friging the woods, the stone walls, the lanes,
old thickets everywhere have come alive,
their new leaves reaching out in fans of five
from tangled overarched by this years canes.

They have thier flowers too, it being June
and here or there in brambled dark and light
are small, five petalled blooms of chalky white,
as random clustered and as loosely strewn

As the far stars, of which we are now told
that ever faster do they blot away,
and that a night may come in which, some say,
we shall have blackness to behold.

I have no time for any change so great,
but I shall see the August weather spur
berries to ripen where the flowers were-
dark berries, savage-sweet and worth the wait-

and there will come the moment to be quick
and save some for the birds, and I shall need
two pails, old clothes in which to stain and bleed,
and a grandchild to talk to while we pick.

-Richard Wilbur

While reading this poem I started to think about my grandma and all the things we do together while we talk and catch up. It feels like a huge couincidence that I decided to do this poem this week because my grandma ended up going to the hospital- she is okay now, but we had a really long talk today about life and of the things we wanted to do together, while we still could. My grandma is very much like me. She enjoys the same things that I do. We both especially love nature and the little things that go on that most people don't notice and this poem reminded me of that.

Wallflowers

I heard a word today I'd never heard before-
I wondered where it had been all my life.
I welcomed it, wooed it with my pen,
let it know it was loved.

THey say if you use a word three times, it's yours.
What happens to ones that no one speaks?

Do you wait bitterly,
hollow-eyed orphans in Dickensian bedrooms,
longing for someone to say,
"yes, you... you're the one"?

Or do they wait patiently, shy shadows
at the high school dance,
knowing that, given the slightest chance,
someday they'll bloom?

I want to make room for all of them,
to be the Ellis Island of dictation-
give me your tired, your poor,
your gegenshein, your zoanthropy-
all those words without a home,
come out and play- live in my poem.
-Donna Vorrey

Just glancing at the title I immediatly think of flowers draped across a wall, but after reading the poem I realize that its not talking about flowers, but it is in fact talking about words. There are so many words out there, some words that you might not even know existed till you hear them like loquacious or even zoanthropy and gegenshein. Later in the poem it compares words to people at a high school dance. How many people will act like wallflowers (must of been where the title came from) and patiently wait to be picked next. This poem is very descriptive. Pictures will appear as I read this poem I can see the kids waiting in the shadows at the school dance and the hollow-eyed orphans who long for someone to want them. Its a deep poem of comparisons of words and people who desperatly want to be picked.

My own personal poem about high school

High school is a journey
full of choices.

You could go left
or you could go right,
either way the choice
is yours
and yours alone.

There comes a time
when you will decide
whats best for you.

You will leave behind
childish things.

As you grow into
this person.
A person you didn't
know existed.

You will learn that
the choices you made,
made you who you
are, Today.

The Halo That Would Not Light

When after many years, the raptor beak
Let loose of you,

He dropped your tiny body
In the scarab-colored hollow

Of a carriage, left you like a finch
Wrapped in its nest of linens wound

With linden leaves in a child's cardboard box.

Tonight the wind is hover-

Hunting as the leather seats of swings go back
And forth with no one in them

As certian and invisible as
Red scarves silking endlessly

From a magician's hollow hat
And the spectacular castastrophe

Of your endless childhood
Is done
-Lucie Brock-Broido

When reading this poem I started thinking about all the people that I know who have died young, Trevor, Mark and my almost Cousin Emma. All of these people had their whole lives ahead of them but by some taste of fate their lives ended. Trevor went when he was a senior, Mark when he was a Junior and Emma, before she was born. Emma never even got a breath of air before her time was done. So this poem could be talking about her, for her halo did not light. She never got a chance. This poem was super powerful to me. It ment so much more to me because of Emma. It makes me very thankful for what I have and makes me really value everything because after all no one know how much time we have or when our time will come so we should enjoy it while we can. And so I will end this particular blog with a personal quote of mine that I think will end up being my senior quote,
Life is too short to be anything but happy so
Live life to the fullest
Laugh until your belly hurts and
Love always!

Stilll Memory

The dream was so deep
the bed came unroped from its moorings
drifted upstream dtill it found my old notch

in the house I grew up in,
then it locked in place.
A light in the hall-

my father in the doorway, not dead,
just home from the graveyard shift
smelling of crude oil and solvent.

In the kitchen, Mother rummages through silver
while the boiled water poured
in the battered old drip pot

unleashes coffee's smoky odor.
Outside, the mimosa fronds, closed all night,
open their narrow valleys for dew.

Around us, the town is just growing animate,
its pulleys and levers set in motion.
My house starts to throb in its old socket.

My twelve-year old sister steps fast
because the bathroom tiles
are cold and we have no heat other

than what our bodies can carry.
My parents are not yet born each
into a small urn of ash.

My ten -year old hand reaches
for a pen to record it all
as would become long habit.

I had to read this poem several times for me to bettter understand it. Reading it outloud to my self also helped me to better connect to it. This poem is very reflective. I think that it is reflecting on the authors childhood and specific moments that she remembers most. Possibly specific moments that happened regulary.
The description of this poem is very vivid. Helps to paint a picture in my mind. I can see her sister stepping fast over the bathroom tiles and her dad coming home from work so tired that he appears dead. This poem is a story that the poet wants to tell to others. To explain her family to others.
The poem also uses personification "My house starts to throb in its old socket." It would be quite funny to see a house throb like a human. I believe that if I continue to read this poem over and over again I will find more and more meaning in it because after all it could mean something to someone else when they read it. It all depends on the way you look at it.

Beginning Again

"If I could stop talking completely
cease talking for a year, I might begin
to get welll," he muttered.
Off alone again performing
brain surgery on himself
in a small badly lit
room with no mirror. A room
whose floor ceiling and walls
are all mirrors, what a mess
oh my God-

And still
it stands,
the question
not how begin
again, but rather

Why?

So we sit there
together
the mountain
and me, Li Po
said, until only the mountain
remains.
-Franz Wright

When I first read this poem I laughed at the part that says, "Off alone again performing brain surgery on himself in a small badly lit room with no mirror." That part made me laugh because I remember reading a book a few days ago where this crazy scientist was trying to find the cure to save his people from dying from a terrible disease and he cut out part of his brain because for whatever reason he thought that cutting out his brain would help, but it in fact made him more crazy and funny.
On a more serious note, after reading this poem several times I realized that this poem is very self-reflective of the poet itself. The part "And still it stands, the question not how begin again, but rather why?" While reading this I thought about how impacting this one part is. Most people focus on how to begin instead of why they should begin again. I think that thinking about why a person should begin again is more important of the two because the way a person begins again will start a chain reaction which will in turn affect everyone around that one person. Now we should ask ourselves not how we should begin again but why we should begin again.

To Myself

Even When I forget you
I go on looking for you
I believe I would know you
I keep remembering you
sometimes long ago but then
other times I am sure you
were here a moment before
and the air is still alive
around where you were and I
think then I can recognize
you who are always the same
who pretend to be time but
you are not time and who speak
in the weeks but you are not
what they say you who are not
lost when I do not find you.
-W.S. Merwin

While reading this book I started thinking about the meaning of this poem. I thought that the narrator of this poem was talking about the person he use to be, like when he was a child. Sometimes people forget about who they use to be when they were a child. As people grow older they get influenced by the things and people around you and change who they use to be as a child.
I believe the tone to be reflective and a little regretful. This poem is also full of lots of allusions.
I really enjoyed this poem. Its very reflective and really makes me think about my childhood and the person I use to be.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni is a deeply moving book about guilt and remorse. So many things happen in this book and many of them aren't good. Some bad things that happened would be Hassan getting raped by Assef, Baba getting lung cancer and later dying, and Hassan and Farzana getting shot, just to name a few.
I decided to annotate this book to establish territory. While reading this book I found myself forming my own opinion of what I would do in the different situations. I started collecting different quotes that affected me in different ways. Some quotes that affected me the most are "A boy who wont stand up for himself becomes a man who cant stand up to anything." and "I actually aspired to cowardice because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba."
Those quotes affected me in many ways the first quote affected me because I've grown up knowing that I stand up for what I believe in and I stand up for the people I care about. This quote is true because if a person cant stand up for the things they believe in or the people they care about, then they wont be able to stand up for anything. They wont have the courage to, they will just allow others to make decisions for them.
The other quote deeply affected me because Amir was willing to let Hassan be raped, he allowed it to happen because he believed that this event this "sacrifice" was a small price to pay, to allow Amir to win. I dont agree with this, I wouldnt allow something like this to happen to my friend. I would do whatever it takes to help my friend out because friendship means more to me then a persons approval. I care more about my friends then what other people think of me. I know what kind of person I am and the values I have and this book helped me realize them.

Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad takes place in Africa during the late ninteenth centery. The two main characters are Marlow and Kurtz. Marlow is an independent person who is skeptical of the people around him, he is also a great storyteller, and althought he has many prejudices he sees through the world and knows theres more then what he sees. Kurtz is the chief of the inner station and a gifted musician as well as a painter. he is a great leader who has lots of charisma.

I decided to annotate this book to learn how to write. Conrad uses lots of symbols in his writing which helps readers to go deeper with their thinking and to get more out of the book itself. Some symbols he used were the river and fog. The river symbolizes white people being seperate from africans. Its like a barrier between the two races that neither race crosses easily. Fog symbolizes a hazy way of looking at things. Its like when a person gets some information but not enough to figure everything out. It causes people to make wrong decisions.

This book is also full of foreshadowing, which is a great way of hinting at what will come next in the book as well as a wake up call to see if the reader is paying attention and still thinking deep while reading this book.

Also, the way Conrad reads makes it easy for the reader to paint a picture of what is happening throughout the book. The reader can see whats happening as well as feeling what the characters in the book feel. " I dismiss you! I will report you- I wont look at the tusk. I forbid you to touch them. I order you to throw them into the river. You- you!" (p169) While reading this I can see and feel the anger that Kayerts feels toward Makola since Makola sold some of the men for tusks.

Heart of Darkness was a great book that I enjoyed reading. I enjoyed reading about each character as they further developed into better people. Its a great book to read to better understand how people can change based on the people and surroundings they are around.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald takes place in the 1920's. The main Characters are Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker. Nick is the narrator who moves to new york to learn about the bond business. He ends up renting a house right next to Gatsby. Nick notices that Gatsby lives in a huge mansion and has huge parties every Saturday night. One night Nick goes to Daisy and Tom's house and meets Jordan, Jordan tells Nick about Tom's "lover." It is then when I realze that the people in this book are not who they appear to be. They all have their secrets and they will do their best to hide them.

I then decided that I was going to annotate this book by creating trails. This book is fast moving and a lot happens on just one page and I knew that if I was going to keep all the characters and everything that happened straight then I needed to know what was going on when and with who. Annotating helped me do that. I found myself guessing what was going to happen before it did then I became surprised when it did happen. By annotating this book I found that I had to really slow down my reading and thinking and start thinking about what happened so far and summarizing it in my mind and writing down my thoughts.

I really enjoyed the description in this book, everything was very visual in its description and since I am a visual learner, having a book that really painted a picture in my mind helped me to understand this book on a deeper level. I could visualize all of the characters and the setting they were in. The word choice also helped keep me interested, word choices such as "They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house." (p8)

However, I didnt really like how shallow the characters in this book were. All they seemed to care about was money, power, parties and sex. They didnt really care much about things that really mattered like family. They would do anything to get on top. They just wanted to be with the people who had the most money.

My view point of life is very different. I think that people should care more about people inside as well as out and not be so concerned with just materializm. They need to realize that there is more to life then going to a party or how much money a person has. If they would just realize that then they may just find that they are happier with life.