In the fiction packet I enjoyed just about all of the stories and for some of them I wished that they did not end as soon as they did.One of my favorite stories in this packet is called "Wallet" by Allen Woodman. This one was amusing to me because this man goes through all of the trouble of making a fake wallet to be stole at a mall and then runs away when the people who got it back for him, try to give it back. I am not sure why this one was so interesting to me, I just found it entertaining.
This next story I found rather odd. it is called "Walking The Baby To The Liquor Store". This title was the first thing that caught me off guard because who in their right mind would take their child to a liquor store? In the story the man says "The baby adores going to the liquor store.In her infant mind there is, perhaps, nothing so beautiful or significant in this world as sitting up in her yellow stroller and rolling bravely west toward some exotically remote BUNNY'S-or, on Sunday's, a place as unimaginably far away as KIRBY'S LIQUOR." I don't think that it is the store that the baby enjoys so much as the walk there. How can an infant know that they are going to a liquor store? Although this story was different it was still pretty good in my opinion.
One more poem that I found to be interesting is called "Poetry" by Sharon Krinsky. She explains how she wrote these poems for a guy that she had a crush on but he just rolled them up and put them in a plastic cup. She isn't offended that the guy is just rolling her poems up and basically saying that they don't matter. all she is thinking about is that he should be putting them in a china cup. I just found this one interesting because if it were me I most likely would have gotten upset.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Response to Ed Roberson
In reading the second half of City Eclogue, I found that it was easier to grasp the meaning of his poems because we went over the first half of the book in class. One of my favorite poems in the second half of the book is on page 101 and is called "A Sampler". This poem caught my attention becasue in my opinion it is simple, but in a good way. In this poem Roberson really "shows" what he is writing. For example he wrote "All this communication, nothing said. Nothing is voiced. The moon embroiders with its almost texture the sky, the seen wears its satiny light over what is there to say." As I read this poem, this part really stuck out to me because of all of the details he used. The words that he use to describe the moon and the light gave me an amazing visual.
Another poem that caught my attention is called "When The Morning Come" on page 120. This poem first caught my attention just because of the title and after reading it I figured out why. At the end of the page, there is a song, and not just any song. The song that he placed there has been sung in my church since before I was born and the poem Roberson wrote to go along with it confuses me. While you are in church there isn't supposed to be talk of suicide at least not in the way were it would come up easily in a conversation. This poem sounds like it is a man who is about to commit suicide but stops to think about what he is doing. It almost seems like he wants to step back and not kill himself but then a group of people come so he doesn't have a choice anymore and just decides to get it over with. This poem gives me an entirely different way of looking at this song.
In class we were instructed to write an "After Ed Roberson Poem" on any poem that came after page 63 in his book City Eclogue. I chose the poem entitled " Spontaneous Supremacies" on page 110. This poem was interesting to me but honestly I am not sure why I chose it. While I was reading it I pictured a man, going into a hospital looking for his wife day after day even though she died a few months ago. Here is my "After Ed Roberson Poem"
He is back, his world gone, locked doors lead to nowhere
but open wide.
He wants it back, her back, life back.
Dressed in white they come and go
speaking "words that no longer count".
Agony, lost hope, a dying heart.
The walls claim death and give life.
Wearing the garb of empty regret, no emotion shows.
He wants it sealed,
untouched, wants back what
can't be given back, won't be given back,
bright light signals
life, time, unequal in comparison.
Another poem that caught my attention is called "When The Morning Come" on page 120. This poem first caught my attention just because of the title and after reading it I figured out why. At the end of the page, there is a song, and not just any song. The song that he placed there has been sung in my church since before I was born and the poem Roberson wrote to go along with it confuses me. While you are in church there isn't supposed to be talk of suicide at least not in the way were it would come up easily in a conversation. This poem sounds like it is a man who is about to commit suicide but stops to think about what he is doing. It almost seems like he wants to step back and not kill himself but then a group of people come so he doesn't have a choice anymore and just decides to get it over with. This poem gives me an entirely different way of looking at this song.
In class we were instructed to write an "After Ed Roberson Poem" on any poem that came after page 63 in his book City Eclogue. I chose the poem entitled " Spontaneous Supremacies" on page 110. This poem was interesting to me but honestly I am not sure why I chose it. While I was reading it I pictured a man, going into a hospital looking for his wife day after day even though she died a few months ago. Here is my "After Ed Roberson Poem"
He is back, his world gone, locked doors lead to nowhere
but open wide.
He wants it back, her back, life back.
Dressed in white they come and go
speaking "words that no longer count".
Agony, lost hope, a dying heart.
The walls claim death and give life.
Wearing the garb of empty regret, no emotion shows.
He wants it sealed,
untouched, wants back what
can't be given back, won't be given back,
bright light signals
life, time, unequal in comparison.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
City Eclogue
When I first started to read Roberson's City Eclogue, I knew that it was going to be a bit of a challenge. Although I did enjoy reading his book, many of the poems were rather confusing and took me quite some time to figure out. After doing so, I realized that I enjoyed his poems for a few reasons but the main reason is that they are different. His poems talk about things that I personally have not seen from other authors.
One of my favorite parts is on page 50 under the section " Beauty's Standing" when he wrote "...we blink our eyes to erase what we see or to clear the eyes to see what we don't...". I am not at all sure why this part stuck out to me, I just find it very interesting. I also like how this part of Beauty's standing has a historical reference to it. I would not have noticed this if one of the people in my group yesterday did not point it out and it was awesome that she could connect the two.
Something else that I enjoyed about this book is that it is not all about one thing. For example in some parts of the book Roberson talks about nature and then in others he gives historical references. On page 16 Roberson goes for the nature theme. He says "Beautifully flowering trees you'd expect should rise from seeds whose fluttering to the ground is the bird's delicate alight or the soft petal stepping its image into the soil...". Then on page 45 he goes into talking about the civil rights movement. If there was a poem book that was about the same thing the entire way through, unless it was very well written, I would not be inclined to read it. Roberson does a good job of making his poems interesting and original.
One of my favorite parts is on page 50 under the section " Beauty's Standing" when he wrote "...we blink our eyes to erase what we see or to clear the eyes to see what we don't...". I am not at all sure why this part stuck out to me, I just find it very interesting. I also like how this part of Beauty's standing has a historical reference to it. I would not have noticed this if one of the people in my group yesterday did not point it out and it was awesome that she could connect the two.
Something else that I enjoyed about this book is that it is not all about one thing. For example in some parts of the book Roberson talks about nature and then in others he gives historical references. On page 16 Roberson goes for the nature theme. He says "Beautifully flowering trees you'd expect should rise from seeds whose fluttering to the ground is the bird's delicate alight or the soft petal stepping its image into the soil...". Then on page 45 he goes into talking about the civil rights movement. If there was a poem book that was about the same thing the entire way through, unless it was very well written, I would not be inclined to read it. Roberson does a good job of making his poems interesting and original.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Shakespeare, Mullen and Berrigan.
The poems and sonnets by these three authors were very interesting but there were a few of them that really caught my attention. The first one that caught my attention was by Shakespeare and it was a sonnet, it doesn't have a title, the only thing that is over it is a number and that number is 130. This particular sonnet caught my attention because before this one, Shakespeare was talking about love for the most part and then it is just like he had a sudden change of heart. In the sonnet with the number 130 over it, Shakespeare wrote about a mistress and when I read the first sentence, I thought that this would be just like the other sonnets talking about he is head over heels for his mistress but no, he switches everything around completely. He seems to give his mistress a compliment and then destroy it by saying something crude about her right after. The reason I enjoyed this sonnet so much was because it seemed closer to reality then any of his other ones did. Everyone wants to believe in a fairy tale love but this showing the flaws of this woman and in the end he writes "And Yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare!". In this I believe he means that even though his mistress has all of these things that are nowhere close to perfect, he still loves her for what she has.
The next sonnet that caught my attention was the one by Ted Berrigan. This sonnet does not have a title to it just like that last one. The number that is over this one is XV which is a roman numeral, I am not familiar enough with these to know what number this is so I will just refer to it as that. This sonnet caught my attention because it was extremely confusing to understand. I tried to read it in different ways to see if i could get a better understanding of it but nothing worked. Then today in class, one of the other students said how we should read it going from the first line to the last, then the second line to the second to last line. It was pretty awesome. I really like how Berrigan wrote this and I am going to try to mimic his style.
There was also a poem in this packet that was very interesting to me. This poem is called Dim Lady by Harryette Mullen. The reason this poem caught my attention was because it is just about the same as Shakespeare's sonnet with the number 103 over it. It may be a man talking about his girlfriend (hopefully not) or it could be a woman writing from what she thinks a man's point of view could be. Just like Shakespeare's sonnet, I enjoyed this one because of the rawness of it. This person is not writing about butterflies or rainbows but something that can catch a person's eye if they are just flipping pages through a book.
The next sonnet that caught my attention was the one by Ted Berrigan. This sonnet does not have a title to it just like that last one. The number that is over this one is XV which is a roman numeral, I am not familiar enough with these to know what number this is so I will just refer to it as that. This sonnet caught my attention because it was extremely confusing to understand. I tried to read it in different ways to see if i could get a better understanding of it but nothing worked. Then today in class, one of the other students said how we should read it going from the first line to the last, then the second line to the second to last line. It was pretty awesome. I really like how Berrigan wrote this and I am going to try to mimic his style.
There was also a poem in this packet that was very interesting to me. This poem is called Dim Lady by Harryette Mullen. The reason this poem caught my attention was because it is just about the same as Shakespeare's sonnet with the number 103 over it. It may be a man talking about his girlfriend (hopefully not) or it could be a woman writing from what she thinks a man's point of view could be. Just like Shakespeare's sonnet, I enjoyed this one because of the rawness of it. This person is not writing about butterflies or rainbows but something that can catch a person's eye if they are just flipping pages through a book.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Creative Writing Intro Blog
Hello everyone, my name is Alaisha McClain. I have a quiet personality, but I am also very friendly. When I do speak up in class I will be nervous and there isn't really a reason for it, that is just who I am. I am the middle child in a family of seven although I usually take on the responsibilities of my older siblings. I am a very goal oriented person and I will not stand for anyone getting in the way of something I am trying to achieve.
I am excited for this Creative Writing class because it allows me to work on my writing skills but I am also a little intimidated by it. On Thursday when I heard some of the other students read off their poems, I could tell that I would need some work writing mine. I can write good poems, but not in the small amount of time that we were given. Hopefully by tomorrow I will have something worth reading out loud to the class. I look forward to this semester with everyone!
I am excited for this Creative Writing class because it allows me to work on my writing skills but I am also a little intimidated by it. On Thursday when I heard some of the other students read off their poems, I could tell that I would need some work writing mine. I can write good poems, but not in the small amount of time that we were given. Hopefully by tomorrow I will have something worth reading out loud to the class. I look forward to this semester with everyone!
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