This book was interesting. It was different from other poem books that I have read which I think is what made me continue to read it. Jenifer K. Dick's poems were hard to understand. Many of them I had to read a few times to get even a small hint of what she was talking about. Although they were hard to understand she did a good job of "showing" what she was talking about.
Although this book was rather confusing, there was one poem that stuck out to me and that poem is called 'I want to take back". This poem stuck out to me because it reminded me of Ed Roberson's poem called "Spontaneous Supremacies". It reminded me of this poem because of the way it is spaced out. That was the first thing that caught my attention. Another thing that caught my attention was the first few words of the poem. The first part goes "I want to take back..." and then in Ed Roberson's poem there is a part that says "...it wants everything back". They just seemed similar and it is nice to see two different poets using close to the same style of writing.
Another poem that was interesting to me is called Anti-dote. This poem is interesting to me because it seems like it is talking about a woman who is on drugs but is trying to quit. The bottle that Jenifer Dick is talking about could be some type of medication to keep her from wanting to go back to the drugs, but it isn't working. She is probably looking out of her window and seeing how happy and carefree all of the people are, and wishing that she could be that too.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Response to Wreckage of Reason
The stories that we were assigned to read in Wreckage of Reason were all interesting and some of them were also rather confusing. One of my favorite stories in this book is called New York/LA Whirlwind Romance by Karen Lillis. I found this story very entertaining and it was also one of the easier ones to read. I found this story interesting because it is all dialogue and just what this man was saying to this woman that he hadn't even met yet. In class my group and I believed that these two people must have met over the Internet because they never met in person and were only conversing over the phone at first. While they were on the phone the guy just continuously gives the woman compliments and starts talking about how he could be in love even though he has never met her. Then on page 72 he also says, "I don't want to do the distance thing again...Maybe we should cu this off right now...Maybe we should hold out for someone in our own city." When he said this I believed that he was starting to have second thoughts about talking to this woman. Another example of this is on page 73 going into page 74 where he says, "I think it's going to be fine...I think it's going to be more than fine..I think it's going to be great...Today I woke up from meditating and i realized, it's going to be fine." My group and I thought that since he kept saying this, it wasn't the woman who he was trying to reassure but himself. I kind of wish that we could see what they woman was saying in response to everything that he was saying.
In this story there are also times that he contradicts himself. For example on page 74 he says, "Today I woke up from meditating and I realized, it's going to be fine." Then later on down the same page he says, "I'm not a Buddhist:in Buddhism there's no desire. I DESIRE this. I want this to work." I'm not going to say that Buddhists are the only ones who meditate but it just stood out to me that he was meditating earlier in the day and then comes out of nowhere saying that he is not a Buddhist.
Another place that he contradicts himself is on page 73 when he says. "I think you're a brilliant writer." And then on page 75 when the woman had made it to Los Angeles, he said, "Someday you'll write something real. Not just this id stuff, this ego stuff." And also on page 76 he says, "You've got a lot of baggage. That's what your novel is, your baggage. its psychobabble." He tells her how great a write he thinks she is and then when he finally meets her its like he was holding back the truth and can't stand to hold it in anymore. On theses parts my group and I also thought that maybe the woman could be a Psychologist because id and ego are something that you learn in an introductory course for psychology. This story overall was very interesting and I am glad it was assigned in class.
In this story there are also times that he contradicts himself. For example on page 74 he says, "Today I woke up from meditating and I realized, it's going to be fine." Then later on down the same page he says, "I'm not a Buddhist:in Buddhism there's no desire. I DESIRE this. I want this to work." I'm not going to say that Buddhists are the only ones who meditate but it just stood out to me that he was meditating earlier in the day and then comes out of nowhere saying that he is not a Buddhist.
Another place that he contradicts himself is on page 73 when he says. "I think you're a brilliant writer." And then on page 75 when the woman had made it to Los Angeles, he said, "Someday you'll write something real. Not just this id stuff, this ego stuff." And also on page 76 he says, "You've got a lot of baggage. That's what your novel is, your baggage. its psychobabble." He tells her how great a write he thinks she is and then when he finally meets her its like he was holding back the truth and can't stand to hold it in anymore. On theses parts my group and I also thought that maybe the woman could be a Psychologist because id and ego are something that you learn in an introductory course for psychology. This story overall was very interesting and I am glad it was assigned in class.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Fiction Packet Number Two
There are a few stories that I found interesting in this packet but the one that was most interesting to me was Internal by Brian Evenson. This story caught my attention right at the beginning because the first sentence. The sentence was "My internship, so Doctor Rauch informs me, will consist not only of the dispensal of pill, the administration of pain and relief, the observation of and restraint of patients-in short, the rigorous exploration of all the clinic's faces-but in addition, the covert analysis of Rauch's brother." The reason this first sentence caught my attention was because of the part that says "...the administration of pain and relief..." This was interesting because what psychologists intentionally try to cause their clients pain? Also seeing as this person applied for the internship wouldn't they have checked to see what they would be doing before applying? Analyzing someone's brother should not be a part of the job.
Then there was another part in this story that caught m attention and it was the part that says "...Rauch claimed he could ask this of me because I am "hardly the typical intern."" This is where my group and I started to believe that this intern was not an intern at all but a patient. more evidence of this is on page 60 where the intern says "By what means will Doctor Rauch recall me to the clinic once he feels my analysis sufficient? I cannot be reached by letter, for the mailbox requires a key, a key Doctor Rauch has failed to provide. i am isolated, at the mercy of my advising doctor. I must hurl myself into the analysis and remain engulfed until he drags me forth." this could be further evidence that this intern is a patient because he is cut off from everyone else without any way to communicate unless he or she leaves the apartment that Doctor Rauch has sent this person to. While working under Doctor Rauch and trying to observe his brother, he waited for quite some time and Rauch's brother never showed up.
My group and I later started t notice how this person seemed to be going a bit insane. the intern left Doctor Rauch and went to work for a man named Doctor Kaegan who wanted this person to observe his brother just as Rauch had wanted he or she to do. Under the heading Sharp on page 69, the intern goes into talking about how they will stab the other person in the eye once they look back into the hole and how the other person must be thinking about doing the same thing. Then the intern starts to diagnose himself on page 61 which at least I believe most psychologists do not do, but then again maybe they do.
Then there was another part in this story that caught m attention and it was the part that says "...Rauch claimed he could ask this of me because I am "hardly the typical intern."" This is where my group and I started to believe that this intern was not an intern at all but a patient. more evidence of this is on page 60 where the intern says "By what means will Doctor Rauch recall me to the clinic once he feels my analysis sufficient? I cannot be reached by letter, for the mailbox requires a key, a key Doctor Rauch has failed to provide. i am isolated, at the mercy of my advising doctor. I must hurl myself into the analysis and remain engulfed until he drags me forth." this could be further evidence that this intern is a patient because he is cut off from everyone else without any way to communicate unless he or she leaves the apartment that Doctor Rauch has sent this person to. While working under Doctor Rauch and trying to observe his brother, he waited for quite some time and Rauch's brother never showed up.
My group and I later started t notice how this person seemed to be going a bit insane. the intern left Doctor Rauch and went to work for a man named Doctor Kaegan who wanted this person to observe his brother just as Rauch had wanted he or she to do. Under the heading Sharp on page 69, the intern goes into talking about how they will stab the other person in the eye once they look back into the hole and how the other person must be thinking about doing the same thing. Then the intern starts to diagnose himself on page 61 which at least I believe most psychologists do not do, but then again maybe they do.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Response To the Fiction Packet
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)