Original Poems III

Guitar

(Pantoum)

When I play my guitar,

I feel the mahogany neck,

against the rosewood fingerboard,

As I let my hands take control

I feel the mahogany neck,

Letting my hand glide easily from fret to fret,

As I let my hands take control,

my fingers play the notes they wish

Letting my hand glide easily from fret to fret,

as the notes go through the cord, pedals and out the amplifier

My fingers play the notes they wish,

Pressed against the tough strings

When I play my guitar,

as the notes go through the cord, pedals and out the amplifier,

My fingers play the notes they wish,

against the rosewood fingerboard

PEACE!

(Concrete)

                love     freedom

        peace         calm      equality

     equality          calm         peace

    freedom          calm           love

   love                calm             freedom

   peace         calm    calm      equality

   equality   calm          calm   peace

      freedom                       love

             love                 freedom

                  peace equality

The Year Punk Broke

(Free Verse)

Welcome to the '90's

Original Poems II

Retro(Historenga)


Music has evolved
The genres have changed
From the sixties to the nineties
Blues rock to glam rock
To Seattle's grunge
And now to the 21st century
To see what new musicians will bring us
Even when Eddie Vedder is gone
It'll always be rock n' roll




Cysts and Wrists(Stream of Consciousness)


Once my wrist really hurt
Hurt so bad I brought myself to the doctors
He said "Looks like you've got a ganglion"
Ganglion cysts are a pain
Pain that shoots up my arm and through my fingers
Fingers is what most likely gave me this cyst
Cyst's from typing or playing guitar
Guitar can be difficult with this bad wrist
Wrist's are important, can you imagine your life without wrists?


If I Was A Recipe(Recipe For Me)


First off, you need to read the ingredients precisely
If you mess up one thing, I will be more than slightly off
You must add a pinch of quietness, and shy tendencies
Add a cup of five foot two because that's as tall as I'll ever get
Teaspoon of Ukrainian and Irish
And you cannot forget the tablespoon of Italian!
Make sure to mix your ingredients and wait patiently for the finished product

Original Poems I

Home (Ladder Poem)


Small
Very secluded
Acres of land
Where are the neighbors?
No sound to be heard
Except the loud trains
Against the tracks
We hear
Home


Pillow(Mundane Poem)


Soft or hard
Being used for my neck,
or my body


Scattered on my bed
Too many to choose from
How about we just ignore them all?


Indented in every which way
Holding an image that is no longer visible


A Mother, a Daughter and a Hospital(Memory Poem)


The many times I've "visited"
This has become the worst


My vision went black,
"Lauren? Lauren, heeelllooo?"
You had that angry and concerned tone
I know you get angry
But this time I couldn't control my body if I tried


My vision came back seconds later
and everything was in slow motion
The sudden acid from my stomach crawling up my esophagus
Burning my throat and nose


You helped hold me down
my body shaking out of control
Every minute or two you'd yell my name
Making sure I was still with you
and eventually I was

Vocabulary On My Mind

I had a difficult time trying to figure out what to post on this blog tonight. I've been feeling lackluster lately. I guess I was never "brilliant" to begin with. Also, I've been a little bit more remote than usual. I think it's because I've been investing my time in TV shows, films, books, and discovering more music. There's this guy on youtube who is very garrulous, and has a really excellent taste in music. Every month or two he'll show off the new records he bought. He has a plethora of records, and by records, I mean vinyl. Some people may say vinyl records are obsolete, but I think they're making a comeback. Actually, I've been meaning to go to the record shop lately. There's a thrifty record shop in downtown Albany that I like to go to, but it's sadly not in proximity to either of my parents houses. The employees there are very cordial. I had a succinct discussion with one of them about Janis Joplin's album named Pearl, because it was one of the records I was purchasing. My wrist is starting to hurt, so I'm going to end this blog post. I've tried to keep it quiescent, but it's hard because it's my left wrist (which I use to play the fret board of my guitar). I'm going to the doctors tomorrow so I hope they can give me some type of antidote to help me out.


I'm sorry for the loss of your father, may he rest in peace.

What I Need to Know about WRITING AND WRITERS to Become a Better Writer

All of the writers we spoke with were very knowledgeable and had something different to offer. Out of what all the writers have discussed, the piece of information that stuck out most in my mind was Mr. Leslie's advice for using the five senses when writing. I've never thought about that while writing a non fiction piece, like something that I've experienced. I think that Mrs. Ringler mentioned that as well when writing memoirs. 


I want to stick to the topic of nonfiction...so, a few questions I thought up of was...


Do you think it's easier to write nonfiction if you have experienced it?
Is nonfiction harder to write than fiction? Why?
How needs to be included in a nonfiction story?


I do like the original question, though, which is, what does nonfiction offer that fiction doesn't?

Round Four = Robyn Ringler

The first essay I read was Dissection. After reading the whole essay, I really liked how she named the title Dissection. I also liked the line "I tried to joke so they would like me and fight hard for my life." since she is a nurse. But would you really have to like someone to fight hard for their life? Not sure if it's supposed to be humorous or I'm just slow. I wonder what goes through her mind when she's working with a patient who might not make it. 


The next essay I read was Hanging With Horses. I thought the last line was funny, "Dan stood unfazed." I used to be scared of getting off of horses. I'm surprised the horse didn't freak out a little bit, though (if she was freaking out), because of how horses react with human emotion. If you stay calm, so will they, and vice versa. You just have to assure them. 


The essay Letting Go was heartbreaking. After reading this, I really enjoy Mrs. Ringler's writing a lot more (not that I didn't before). It's nice of her to share these rough moments of her life with everyone, like the death of her father. I look forward to having a discussion with her.


1/12 = *****

Round Three = Stephen Leslie

I liked Stephen Leslie's writing right after I read the first haibun called Her Voice. "Sometimes I wish she was more cordial, but our relationship is all business. When it is time for us to part she is silent ... but I know I will hear her voice again." I really love the way he wrote that, mostly because he's talking about a GPS. I thought it was humorous.


The next haibun, Joe, reminded me of my father. My fathers name is Joe (Joseph, but he goes by Joe). My dad's always been fascinated with history, and his father was in Vietnam. The words "I touch Joe's name" are so simple but at the same time so powerful.


From those haibuns, it seems like most of Stephen Leslie's writing is serious, and heartfelt. I look forward to discuss with him what inspired those haibuns.


My Haibun:


Maxwell Edison


There he lay, softly with his brother and sister. Their different spots splatter their new born body. One of the males rubs up against my leg, begging to be picked up and cradled like the others. He's fragile, and suddenly my hands feel like bear paws.


Picking the one with the black spot on his left side, carefully lifting him into my lap as we stare out the window together.


Maxwell Edison
my Jack Russell Terrier 
best birthday ever


1/10 Speaker = ****

Deb Smith - Travel Writer

1). I read Sit Up Straight about Asissi, Italy. It seems more fancy (the meals), at least the restaurant that they went to does. “Look, it’s Italy. You drink the water fizzy here.”
' “I don’t drink fizzy water. I don’t like olive oil. And I’m not eating pigeons.”
“You don’t have to. But get your head up off the table and decide what you dowant to eat. And close your mouth when you chew. Do you want people to think you’re an American with no manners?” '

It's obvious that there is a difference in the meals. I can really get a feel of Asissi, Italy in this article by the way she talks about the geography. 

2). The audio essay offers more tone of the author than a written essay would, because the author will speak it how they meant it to be interpreted if it had been written down. I listened to the essay Soccer Addict by Deb Smith. The way she said "....or sometimes skirts, and that was the men...." put her tone into the essay more than it would if it was her just reading it aloud. I preferred this rather than reading it because I feel like I would understand her better by listening to her speak the essay. 

3). To Deb Smith:

When you're traveling, are you always focused on the details around you and how you could write about it?

What is the favorite place you have traveled?

4).  1/6 speaker = ****

Round One = Therese Broderick

Therese Broderick is a writer with an MFA degree, who lives in Albany, New York. She is a wife and a mother to a teenage daughter. Broderick wrote a collection of poems about her daughter, called At April's End. "Most of these poems are autobiographically actual, to the extent that it is possible for my memory or my journal notes to be factual."(At April's End) Broderick writes a lot from her own personal experiences, so you can tell that she is open about her personal life as a writer. "NOTES: This poem was inspired by a car trip I took last Saturday."(Come November) I like how she puts notes at the end of her poems on her blog. It helps to know what she was thinking, and it helps the reader interpret it how it she meant for it to be interpreted. "When I write any new poem, I intend for it to be a beautiful work of human language (spoken/heard) that leads to wonder about the human condition" and "Since I have very little control over the readers of my poems...."(Interview) shows that no matter how the reader interprets it, she has worked hard to make it beautiful. You can tell she takes her time with her work. “Choqpee” is an invented name similar to “Chicopee,” an indigenous word for river rapids.(Selenes) This makes me think if Mrs. Broderick does any research before writing or coming up with ideas for her poems, or if she just uses knowledge she has gained over the years.


Questions:
What made Mrs. Broderick want to write a whole collection of poems about her daughter, starting off as when she was born until she turned 18?
What made Mrs. Broderick want to get a blog to post her work?