Poetry+responses

=Christina=


 * Nights Kevin Hart There’s nothing that I really want:

The stars tonight are rich and cold

Above my house that vaguely broods

Upon a path soon lost in dark. My dinner plate is chipped all round

(It tells me that I’ve changed a lot);

My glass is cracked all down one side

(It shows there is a path for me). My hands—I rest my head on them.

My eyes—I rest my mind on them.

There’s nothing that I really need

Before I set out on that path. ||

=**Katie B**= The Summer I Was Sixteen Geraldine Connolly <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The turquoise pool rose up to meet us,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">its slide a silver afterthought down which

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">we plunged, screaming, into a mirage of bubbles.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Shaking water off our limbs, we lifted

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">up from ladder rungs across the fern-cool

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">lip of rim. Afternoon. Oiled and sated,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">we sunbathed, rose and paraded the concrete, <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">danced to the low beat of "Duke of Earl".

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Past cherry colas, hot-dogs, Dreamsicles,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">we came to the counter where bees staggered

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">into root beer cups and drowned. We gobbled <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">shared on benches beneath summer shadows.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Cherry. Elm. Sycamore. We spread our chenille

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">blankets across grass, pressed radios to our ears, <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">mouthing the old words, then loosened

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">thin bikini straps and rubbed baby oil with iodine

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">across sunburned shoulders, tossing a glance

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">through the chain link at an improbable world.

=Jordan=

=Football=

Louis Jenkins
I take the snap from the center, fake to the right, fade back...

I've got protection. I've got a receiver open downfield...

What the hell is this? This isn't a football, it's a shoe, a man's

brown leather oxford. A cousin to a football maybe, the same

skin, but not the same, a thing made for the earth, not the air.

I realize that this is a world where anything is possible and I

understand, also, that one often has to make do with what one

has. I have eaten pancakes, for instance, with that clear corn

syrup on them because there was no maple syrup and they

weren't very good. Well, anyway, this is different. (My man

downfield is waving his arms.) One has certain responsibilities,

one has to make choices. This isn't right and I'm not going

to throw it.

The theme of the story is football. The imagery in this poem is when he says he takes the snap from the center and fakes to the right. That is good imagery because I can see him taking the snap and fake throw to the right. My favorite line is this is not right I’m not going to throw it. That is my favorite line because it shows that he is a good quarterback and leader because he decides not to throw it. There is alliteration in the paragraph when he is talking about the football having a cousin. I chose this poem because it reminded me of football. This poem relates to growing up because at first he wants to throw the ball then he stops and decides that it is too risky. I think that shows maturity.

=Sean=

=Cartoon Physics, part 1=

Nick Flynn
Children under, say, //ten//, shouldn't know that the universe is ever-expanding, inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies

swallowed by galaxies, whole

solar systems collapsing, all of it acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning

the rules of cartoon animation,

that if a man draws a door on a rock only he can pass through it. Anyone else who tries

will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds should stick with burning houses, car wrecks, ships going down -- earthbound, tangible

disasters, arenas

where they can be heroes. You can run back into a burning house, sinking ships

have lifeboats, the trucks will come with their ladders, if you jump

you will be saved. A child

places her hand on the roof of a schoolbus, & drives across a city of sand. She knows

the exact spot it will skid, at which point the bridge will give, who will swim to safety & who will be pulled under by sharks. She will learn

that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff he will not fall

until he notices his mistake.

= =RJ= <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Hate Poem <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Julie Sheehan <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I hate you truly. Truly I do.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Everything about me hates everything about you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The flick of my wrist hates you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The way I hold my pencil hates you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The sound made by my tiniest bones were they trapped

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> in the jaws of a moray eel hates you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Each corpuscle singing in its capillary hates you. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Look out! Fore! I hate you. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The blue-green jewel of sock lint I’m digging

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> from under my third toenail, left foot, hates you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The history of this keychain hates you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My sigh in the background as you explain relational databases

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> hates you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The goldfish of my genius hates you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My aorta hates you. Also my ancestors. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A closed window is both a closed window and an obvious

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> symbol of how I hate you. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My voice curt as a hairshirt: hate.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My hesitation when you invite me for a drive: hate.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My pleasant “good morning”: hate.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">You know how when I’m sleepy I nuzzle my head

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> under your arm? Hate.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The whites of my target-eyes articulate hate. My wit

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> practices it.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My breasts relaxing in their holster from morning

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> to night hate you.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Layers of hate, a parfait.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hours after our latest row, brandishing the sharp glee of hate,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I dissect you cell by cell, so that I might hate each one

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> individually and at leisure.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My lungs, duplicitous twins, expand with the utter validity

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> of my hate, which can never have enough of you,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Breathlessly, like two idealists in a broken submarine.

I chose this poem because, well to be honest I don’t really like poems. Its just something about the sententce- write a poem by tomorrow class-. And I like it because he doesn’t tell you what he’s writing. But you can tell he’s writing about hating poems. 1.The theme was hate of poems. 2.I did not find any imagery. 3.Like the two idealist in a broken submarine 4. I could not find any 5. because I don’t like poems 6. because I’m growing up writing poems

=Aaron=

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">The Dead <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Susan Mitchell <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">At night the dead come down to the river to drink.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They unburden themselves of their fears,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">their worries for us. They take out the old photographs.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They pat the lines in our hands and tell our futures,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">which are cracked and yellow.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Some dead find their way to our houses.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They go up to the attics.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They read the letters they sent us, insatiable

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">for signs of their love.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They tell each other stories.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They make so much noise

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">they wake us

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">as they did when we were children and they stayed up

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">drinking all night in the kitchen.


 * 1) The theme of my poem was the dead.
 * 2) I found imagery in the whole concept of the dead.
 * 3) They unburden themselves of their fears, their worries for us. They take out the old photographs. They pat the lines in our hands and tell our futures, which are cracked and yellow. I like this because it seems to make death like peace.
 * 4) Alliteration.
 * 5) I chose this poem because it was something that I wish to believe.

=Sarah Gooderham=

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Martín Espada <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">At sixteen, I worked after high school hours

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">at a printing plant

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that manufactured legal pads:

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yellow paper

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">stacked seven feet high

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and leaning

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">as I slipped cardboard

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">between the pages,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">then brushed red glue

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">up and down the stack.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">No gloves: fingertips required

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">for the perfection of paper,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">smoothing the exact rectangle.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sluggish by 9 PM, the hands

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">would slide along suddenly sharp paper,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and gather slits thinner than the crevices

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">of the skin, hidden.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The glue would sting,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">hands oozing

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">till both palms burned

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">at the punch clock. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ten years later, in law school,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I knew that every legal pad

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">was glued with the sting of hidden cuts,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that every open law book

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">was a pair of hands

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">upturned and burning.

The theme of this poem is how someone realizes what goes into the most everyday things and how they taint the way he sees them. Some imagery I found was the person's reference to how his hands were oozing and both palms were burned. This put a rather vivid image in my mind -- of hands oozing puss in a dark room. Ew. Even though this was the most disgusting part of this poem, it was my favourite line because of the imagery. I like being able to picture thing vividly.I chose this poem because it was so interesting just to be reminded of what we basically already know -- that everything, including making this computer that I'm typing on, requires some labor and even some suffering. This poem relates to the theme of growing up because it shows how he went from working in the legal pad factory to when he was using them himself, and how he knew first-hand (haha -- get it, "hand?") what kind of labor went into making such a simple, everyday thing. The older he got, the wise he got about this specific topic.

=Dan G = =The Bagel= <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">David Ignatow <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I stopped to pick up the bagel

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">rolling away in the wind,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">annoyed with myself

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">for having dropped it

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">as if it were a portent.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Faster and faster it rolled,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">with me running after it

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">bent low, gritting my teeth,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and I found myself doubled over

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and rolling down the street

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">head over heels, one complete somersault

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">after another like a bagel

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and strangely happy with myself.

Dan 7-4

1. The theme of this poem is a guy chasing a bagel he dropped. 2. There was imagery when the author wrote “head over heels” 3. My favorite line is “strangling happily with myself” because struggling is usually a stressful and annoying thing but in this the author made it seem happy and good. 4. There was only one place in this poem where there was imagery and it was the “strangling happily with myself” 5. I chose this poem for many reasons. One was it seemed that it was a last minute, during breakfast, almost late assignment. Another thing is that is was kind of funny and random. It seemed that when the person was trying to think of an idea when they were eating breakfast. 6. This poem seems to relate to the troubles of life, when you drop the bagel and it starts to roll away, you have to chase after it and get it back before it gets away.

=Hannah= <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Immortality <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Lisel Mueller <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In Sleeping Beauty's castle

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the clock strikes one hundred years

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and the girl in the tower returns to the

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">world.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So do the servants in the kitchen,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">who don't even rub their eyes.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The cook's right hand, lifted

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">an exact century ago,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">completes its downward arc

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">to the kitchen boy's left ear;

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the boy's tensed vocal cords

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">finally let go

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the trapped, enduring whimper,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and the fly, arrested mid-plunge

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">above the strawberry pie,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">fulfills its abiding mission

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and dives into the sweet, red glaze. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As a child I had a book

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">with a picture of that scene.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I was too young to notice

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">how fear persists, and how

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the anger that causes fear persists,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that its trajectory can't be changed

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">or broken, only interrupted.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My attention was on the fly;

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that this slight body

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">with its transparent wings

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and lifespan of one human day

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">still craved its particular share

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">of sweetness, a century later.

1. The theme of Immortality by Lisel Mueller is the resuming of time after 100 years.

2. There is lots of imagery in this poem. The servants in the kitchen and the cook and the fly are all described doing different things.

3.This was my favorite sentence:

“I was too young to notice

how fear persists, and how

the anger that causes fear persists,

that its trajectory can't be changed

or broken, only interrupted.”

I liked this sentence because I thought it was a good point about persistence and dedication.

5. I liked this poem because it was saying that even if you are frozen in time for 100 years you still are focused on whatever you were doing. Even the fly that doesn’t have a great life still wanted its piece of sweetness.

6. This has to do with growing up because as you grow up you are still focused on finishing whatever you were trying to do. You stay dedicated to something all your life sometimes.

=Drew= <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Halloween <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Mac Hammond <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The butcher knife goes in, first, at the top

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And carves out the round stemmed lid,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The hole of which allows the hand to go

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In to pull the gooey mess inside, out -

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The walls scooped clean with a spoon.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A grim design decided on, that afternoon,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The eyes are the first to go,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Isosceles or trapezoid, the square nose,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The down-turned mouth with three

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hideous teeth and, sometimes,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Round ears. At dusk it's

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Lighted, the room behind it dark.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Outside, looking in, it looks like a

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Pumpkin, it looks like ripeness

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Is all. Kids come, beckoned by

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Fingers of shadows on leaf-strewn lawns

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">To trick or treat. Standing at the open

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Door, the sculptor, a warlock, drops

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Penny candies into their bags, knowing

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The message of winter: only the children,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Pretending to be ghosts, are real

The theme of the poem I chose was Halloween. The imagery in this poem I found a sentence where you can imagine a pumpkin with very simple designs. They are designs you think about in a pumpkin. My favorite line in the poem is “only the children pretending to be ghosts, are real”. I like this poem because of the reality it holds to it. Their was an alliteration in the poem. I chose the poem because of the theme of the poem. The theme was very intriguing and I enjoyed it. It relates to the theme of growing up by using the theme of a children holiday that sometimes you out grow.

=Rachel=

=Before She Died=

Karen Chase
When I look at the sky now, I look at it for you.

As if with enough attention, I could take it in for you. With all the leaves gone almost from

the trees, I did not walk briskly through the field. Late today with my dog Wool, I lay down in the upper field,

he panting and aged, me looking at the blue. Leaning on him, I wondered how finite these lustered days seem

to you, A stand of hemlock across the lake catches my eye. It will take a long time to know how it is

for you. Like a dog's lifetime -- long -- multiplied by sevens.

The theme of this poem is death, or something dying. There is one line in the poem that describes what fall is like “With all the leaves gone almost from the trees”. In this line I can just imagine the leaves falling, it getting somewhat chilly, almost winter. My favorite line in the poem is the last one “Like a dog's lifetime -- long -- multiplied by sevens”. This line makes me think about it, it stands out form the rest. Does the dog have a long life because it has been so full? Or is it long and lonely? Do we all take life for granted? Not many times does something stand out but this line put me in deep thought. In the first line if the poem they use personification, “When I look at the sky now, I look at it for you. As if with enough attention, I could take it in for you”. This is personification because you can’t hold the sky, you can look at it but never touch. I choose this poem because I thought, as sad as it is, that it is in its own way beautiful. It has something about it that pulls it to you. This poem is like growing because you are beginning to realize new things, when you are younger it is growing up, learning new things, not being a child. When you are a adult and are ‘growing up’ it may seem scary almost because one day you could be in the dawn of your life and the next dusk.

=Erica=

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">A Birthday Candle <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Donald Justice <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">Thirty today, I saw The trees flare briefly like

The candles on a cake,

As the sun went down the sky,

A momentary flash,

Yet there was time to wish

A Birthday Candle Response 1) I think that the theme of my poem is growing up because the author is talking about turning thirty and how the day is going by in “a momentary flash.” 2) I found some imagery in my poem and it was “As the sun went down in a momentary flash.” This is imagery because you can really see the sun going down in a momentary flash. 3) My favorite line in the poem is the tree flares briefly like the candles in the cake. I liked that because I thought that it was a really good simile and it gave me a good image in my head. 4) The author used a simile in the poem 5) I choose this poem because I though that it was short but it as written really well and flowed very well. 6) Yes this poem did have to do with growing up but not from a kid but turning 30.

=Emily=


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Alley Cat Love Song <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Dana Gioia <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Come into the garden, Fred,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">For the neighborhood tabby is gone.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Come into the garden, Fred.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I have nothing but my flea collar on,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And the scent of catnip has gone to my head.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I'll wait by the screen door till dawn. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The fireflies court in the sweetgum tree.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The nightjar calls from the pine,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And she seems to say in her rhapsody,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">"Oh, mustard-brown Fred, be mine!"

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The full moon lights my whiskers afire,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And the fur goes erect on my spine. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I hear the frogs in the muddy lake

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Croaking from shore to shore.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They've one swift season to soothe their ache.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In autumn they sing no more.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So ignore me now, and you'll hear my meow

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As I scratch all night at the door.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In my poem, there is a cat named Fred who is in the garden. He is scratching at the door of a house. I think it is the house of the cat he loves. There is some imagery. Fred is listening to the fireflies, the nightjar, and more. he also smells catnip. and sees the moon. My favorite line of the poem is “and the fur goes erect on my spine”, because it really puts a picture in my head. I chose this poem because I love the way the author wrote this. She shows, not tells. Also, I love cats (and any other animal). This poem relates to growing up because it is about love won and lost and it just has a feel of poor Fred having to face the challenges of getting older. ||

=Charles= <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Smoking <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Elton Glaser <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I like the cool and heft of it, dull metal on the palm,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And the click, the hiss, the spark fuming into flame,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Boldface of fire, the rage and sway of it, raw blue at the base

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And a slope of gold, a touch to the packed tobacco, the tip

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Turned red as a warning light, blown brighter by the breath,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The pull and the pump of it, and the paper's white

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Smoothed now to ash as the smoke draws back, drawn down

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">To the black crust of lungs, tar and poisons in the pink,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And the blood sorting it out, veins tight and the heart slow,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The push and wheeze of it, a sweep of plumes in the air

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Like a shako of horses dragging a hearse through the late centennium,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">London, at the end of December, in the dark and fog.

The theme of this poem is that smoking is terrible for you, but if you are addicted to it, you can’t stop doing it because it feels so good. There was also quite a bit of imagery in this poem. My favorite example of imagery is when the poet talks about the feeling of dull metal on the palm. Also, when the word “wheeze” is mentioned, it recreates the experience of wheezing for me. My favorite line in the poem was the line where he talks about “the black crust of lungs.” This is because the word “crust” is very descriptive and really helps me envision the lungs he is talking about. There are other places where figurative language is used in this poem. For example, this simile really struck me as well-written: **“The push and wheeze of it, a sweep of plumes in the air like a shako of horses dragging a hearse through the late centennium, London, at the end of December, in the dark and fog.”** I chose this poem because I really like the imagery and similes used. These really aid the description of the lighting of the cigarette, and how smoking affects your health/body.

=Simone= <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Jane Yolen <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I am thinking of a fairy tale,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Cinder Elephant,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sleeping Tubby,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Snow Weight,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">where the princess is not

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">anorexic, wasp-waisted,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">flinging herself down the stairs. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I am thinking of a fairy tale,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hansel and Great,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Repoundsel,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Bounty and the Beast,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">where the beauty

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">has a pillowed breast,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and fingers plump as sausage. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I am thinking of a fairy tale

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">that is not yet written,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">for a teller not yet born,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">for a listener not yet conceived,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">for a world not yet won,

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">where everything round is good:

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the sun, wheels, cookies, and the princess.

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale =

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jane Yolen
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. The imagery I found is also a simile: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> fingers plump as sausage.

3. My favorite line is this: where everything round is good: the sun, wheels, cookies, and the princess. I like it, because to me it felt like the whole poem was building it’s self up for that line. The author was characters with names that gave off the vibe of “fat it not a fairy tale”, but when she said that “everything round <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is good” the whole poem make sense.

4. In this poem there is more than one spot where the author used imagery for example, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">where the princess is not anorexic, wasp-waisted, flinging herself down the stairs is great imagery.Bounty and the Beast, where the beauty has a pillowed breast, is also imagery.

5. I choice this poem, because it gives a great message. It is saying that the people who make fairy tales are saying that you have to be skinny to be a princess. However, the author thinks differently. The author is saying that everything round is good. This is a very important message to put out to the world, so people don’t think that being anorexic is a good thing.

6. This poem relates to the theme of growing up, because when you grow up there is a lot of pier pressure into being what people want you to be like or what people want you to look like. Also people might judge you on what you look like; so, the author is saying that it doesn’t madder how skinny you are. She is also saying that people worry about their weight too much and being “round” is good.