1461 days

they have done this
they have done that
they have done everything
they have done nothing.
look at what they do
look at what they have done
look at me.
look.
look.
believe
believe me
trust me
trust what I do
do trust
trust what I have done
what I will do
what I will not do
will not do
not do
not.
one more
two more
four less
1,461 days, please
do what I say, please
all those before me can roll over in their graves, please.
listen.
this is my time
my way
listen.
listen carefully.
I may not be right
but I'm not as wrong as he is.

The Common Cold

Dew freezes on the petals of an amaranth.
Her leaves melt under the hot sun.

Buzzing bees scream to her left,
but the bees to her right will not be heard.

Petal after petal falls to the ground,
but she does not feel any lighter.

Every gust of wind is contaminated.
Every beam of light is darkened.

The sun hides from the amaranth.
She is silenced.

If I ever hear that laugh again

There's always been a fear
In the back of my mind
That I might see you again like this,

But I had myself convinced that if I did
I would finally tell you
That i'm no longer afraid,

But you and I both know that I'm a liar.

I can hear you laugh from around the corner.
The one where you throw your head back,
Where your eyes look even more deranged than usual.

I tell myself to pretend I don't recognize you,
or maybe,
I'll pretend to be another person entirely.

We've never met.
We've never met.
I wish we'd never met.

But you see me.
You say hello,
I say it's nice to see you,

But you and I both know that I'm a liar.

Ghost in the Land of Skeletons- christopher kennedy

          This poem was very interesting. I can tell that it's one of those poems that I will randomly recall during the next week and have a new connection to it. I liked this poem because he not only managed to make a strange belief seem completely believable, but he also managed to make a dark subject seem lighthearted and almost sweet.

          I get a definite dreamy feeling while reading this poem. I liked the misty feeling that comes over me as I read the last few lines.

          The poem obviously has imagination and imagery, and I am assuming that the insight would be that he is already a ghost, but I do think that this poem could be taken a few different ways. I am interested to know what my classmates thought of the poem. I feel like this poem in particular would be fun to discuss. I have a feeling that everyone gets a different kind of feeling when reading this poem.

          As far as the art goes, I think the poem stands alone very well, but I also think that If there would have been a more eerie art piece next to the poem, I may have felt much differently about the poem.

The Parable of the Blind- william carlos williams

          Something is slightly off about this poem. I'm not sure if I like the fact that the poet spells out that he is talking about a painting. I think that it may have been better if more was left to the reader's imagination/interpretation. I do, however, love these lines:

"the faces are raised
as toward the light
there is no detail extraneous

to the composition one
follows the others stick in
hand triumphant to disaster"

          I would also argue that the insight is also in these lines. My only real issue is that for such a complicated and emotional subject, he leaves the emotion completely out of it and uses very simple language and concepts. I think that the insight could have been pushed even further and using more emotion in the beginning of the poem could also do the poem some good.

13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird- Wallace Stevens

          Besides the fact that it seems as if the poets name would sound much better if his last name was his first name and his first name was his last name, I did actually enjoy this poem.

          I immediately appreciate the organization and separation of thoughts in the poem. I think it's very important, especially if the poem does not rhyme or have a rhythm, to organize the poem, and this was a very creative way of doing so. I preferred to hear this poem read out loud rather than me just reading it off of the computer. I think there is an additional value and quality to this poem when it is read out loud.

         I'm unsure of the insight of this poem because I think it can go so many ways. So many different insights could be taken from the poem that it's nearly impossible to name all of the different directions one could go, but I believe that the poem does indeed have insight, and imagination, and obviously tons of imagery.

        I liked the poem so much that it was hard to choose, but I think Roman Numeral IV was my favorite. "A man and a woman and a blackbird are one." So well written. A very good poem.

American Gothic- John Stone

I loved this poem.

          I don't think that this famous art piece could have a better poem written about it. The poet definitely sums it up very nicely and almost comically. I found myself smiling while reading it, wishing I had come up with something that clever.

          I don't think that there is a definite line or stanza that hold the insight to the poem. I think the insight is evenly spread throughout the poem- reiterated again and again in the best way possible. I enjoy the last lines about the woman wondering whether or not she turned off the stove. I found it wonderful that the poet portrayed the couple as distracted and worried rather than angry and creepy like so many people think today. I don't think the art piece was meant to be seen as eerie. I have always had a nice giggle from looking at the painting, so I think that the poem did a fantastic job portraying the couple.

          The organization and flow also add to the successfulness of this poem.

A Hunter in the Snow- William Carlos Williams

          I read over this poem once, and I didn't like it. I tried reading it a second, third, an fourth time, but my opinion did not change. I simply do not like this poem.

          I think that the poet intended for the insight to be in the last stanza, but I don't think it was strong enough. I didn't finish the poem thinking "hmmmm," I merely finished the poem (the fourth time) realizing that it wasn't worth reading again. I think a few lines have some potential, if only they were placed in a more powerful poem. I think that the insight really does scream to be more of a punch than it is.

          The poem doesn't flow very well, but it doesn't seem as if that was intentional. In other words, the "nonflowiness" of the poem comes off as accidental. This made me kind of hobble through the poem in a way. The lack of punctuation in poetry is usually okay, but in this case I think it really worsens the poem. I wouldn't know how to read this out loud if I tried.

The hill is a pattern of skaters

Brueghel the painter

concerned with it all has chosena winter-struck bush for his
foreground to
complete the picture

          This is the best part of the poem, and frankly the only lines I liked. They could almost stand alone as their own poem.

Winter Landscape- John Berryman

I read this poem as more of a story-like description of a scene rather than a poem.
I thought that the imagery was impeccable, though.

Unfortunately, I found myself comparing the piece of art to the poem, and I found myself liking the imagery of the poem better than the piece of art.

The fourth group is stanzas is the section that gives away the insight. "What place, what time, what morning occasion sent them into the wood." I appreciate that the poem leaves the insight open ended- forcing the reader to imagine his/her own reasons why.

A Hand- Jane Hirshfield

I love this poem.
I thought it flowed really well, I like the word usage, and I like the way it's told/ the sequence of lines.
I thought the insight was very strong. I am a firm believer that hands are so much more than just hands. Hands can tell so much about a person's personality, and person's emotion, a person's age (literally and figuratively), and so much more.
I can't pick a favorite line because I honestly love the whole poem. If i had to pick, I would pick the first line because it really sets the mood and immediately hits you in the forehead with a powerful concept.
As for the art, this piece has been on my family's entry wall for years and years. It means a lot to both my mother and father, though they have been long divorced. I think the piece fits nicely with the poem because it is a perfect example of the emotion and symbolism that can be found in something as simple (or perhaps not so simple) as hands.
I really enjoyed reading this poem, and found myself reading it a few times over, not because I didn'd get it the first time, but because I actually really liked the way it was written.

Naked Girl and Mirror- Judith Wright

I found this poem to be longer than It needed to be. I feel as if it would have been equally successful if a few unnecessary lines were taken out here and there, and the randomness of the rhyming is slightly frustrating. I think the poem would be better without the rhymes. It has a natural flow even with out the rhyming words

With that said, I do actually appreciate and relate to the insight of the poem. I think it's a very relatable insight about insecurities, and the vast difference between how we feel inside and how we look on the outside.

Also, I think the art piece goes well with the poem.