December 2011
5 posts
The end?
Wow. This is the last entry for the semester…. Amazing.
This was my last semester of classes before I student teach, and I am amazed at how fast the time went. It seems like we were just sitting down in our crowded, hot, poetry classroom.
During this semester I have learned quite a bit. About poetry, people, and myself. I believe that I have grown substantially as a writer and that I have...
Open Mic
Give me a speech, no problem. Present in front of a general meeting for work, not an issue. Teach a lesson to third graders, okay.
Get in front of a class and talk about your poetry, uh….
Yeah. That’s how I feel like my presentation went. I am generally a great public speaker. I have taught lessons, spoke at the WestPACS General Meeting, and presented in various classes. Yet when I...
My thoughts on revision
So, for our chapbook, we were supposed to include poems that were “substantially” revised.
One of the most substantially revised poems that I created for this semester was a poem titled “Belonging.” This poem was originally two pages long and was shortened to a half page during revisions. Now, not all revisions require limiting length, but in order to make this poem more...
Updating
On updating Tumblr….
Have you ever noticed how time just grabs you by the wrist, pulls you through the semester, and leaves no room to breathe? yeah. that’s exactly how I forgot to update Tumblr. But no fear, I’ve got time on my side tonight. So be prepared for some awesome Tumblr poetry updates.
To start off, a poem from one of my favorites: Shel Silverstein. Here he speaks...
November 2011
3 posts
Prezi
I am seroiusly so excited to be learning about Prezi! After seeing it used by multiple people I have always been amazed at the interesting and professional content one can create with this software.
Also, I will be student teaching next semester and I have so many ways I can use this tool in the classroom!
There is one drawback. Prezi does not work very well on the iPad. Viewing is much...
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and...”
– I’m working on something witty and individual to say about this quote. Perhaps even a poem or two.
But my main idea here is:
The first way to achieve greatness is to care. Care about your job, your classes, your assignments. Care about each thing you do.
Because you never know who depends...
Prosetry
So what is the difference between prose, poetry, and prose poetry?
The only answer to this question would be: the lines are blurry.
Prose can have poetic elements, poetry can have elements of prose, while prose poetry is a mix of both. Confused?
Here is how I understand it. Prose poetry plays with line breaks, word sounds, and all of the fun things that poetry offers. It tells a story, conveys...
October 2011
9 posts
“The line-break is a form of punctuation additional to the punctuation that forms...”
– In this quote, Denise Levertov suggests that the line break is simply another form of punctuation. She further asserts that the line break enables the poet to play with the “melos” or the musical tones and emotional effects of the poem.
While I do agree with Levertov, I also believe...
“Our biggest mistake was getting involved as a nation in lending money to...”
– As I was reading this article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, I was extremely disturbed by this comment.
So many students receive federal aid from the government, and many of us wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Federal Stafford loans. Now I understand, we are in a major budget...
“Compare where you are to where you want to be and you’ll get nowhere
-...”
– As I was driving to SHU today and listening to one of my favorite artists, Sara Bareilles, I was reminded of this simple fact.
If I keep comparing myself to what I want to be, I’m always going to fall short. I can’t wake up one morning and decide I’m Shakespeare and expect to...
On Workshops
Workshops can be pretty scary. As evidenced in my poem, “On Shitty First Drafts,” I’m not the most comfortable sharing my works.
I want people to like what I write. I want it to speak to them. I want to say something important, something that will sound so profound and great. I have so many great thoughts. So many experiences to share with the world.
Yet sometimes my words...
“Sestina: a lyrical fixed form consisting of six 6-line usually unrhymed stanzas...”
– Here is my very first attempt at creating a sestina. The repeating words are: time, glass, fall, color, space, and silent.
When I arrived here that first time,
As fragile as the stained glass
That surrounds this place, while fall
Filtered through the windows and color
Spread all around me,...
“All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say...”
– This reminds me of my high school guidance counselor who told me that I shouldn’t even consider college… because I couldn’t afford it. It didn’t matter to him that I was seventh in my class or that I had been working 40 hours a week since ninth grade. The day I got my...
Haiku
Before fall break, we dabbled with Haiku poetry. This was our first in-class attempt with poetic form. Ironic, because in my first couple attempts I used the wrong form… I mixed up the syllable pattern. Instead of writing poems in the 5-7-5 style, I wrote them in 7-5-7 style… Oh well.
Here are my haiku attempts:
1.(7-5-7 style) in-class exercise
Colorful satisfaction
yummy...
September 2011
3 posts
4 tags
“What I’ve learned to do when I sit down to work on a shitty first draft is...”
– Last week, we read an excerpt by Anne Lammott, called “Shitty First Drafts.” The above quote is exactly how I feel when I sit down to write a first draft. I feel nervous, then I think: “This is worthless…. You’re a literature major, not a writer!” And thus, before...
August 2011
3 posts
Red Wheelbarrow
Ah yes, the infamous “Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams… The poem that all English majors encounter at least once (6 times in my case) during the course of their education.
Thursday, in my poetry class, I gained a greater appreciation of the poem by duplicating the style… Here is try #1:
so much depends
upon
a large bulky
textbook
sitting in a
bookbag
...
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you...”
– Eleanor Roosevelt 