Model Poem

Girl

She said she collects pieces of sky,
cuts holes out of it with silver scissors,
bits of heaven she calls them.
Every day a bevy of birds flies rings,
around her fingers, my chorus of wives,
she calls them. Every day she reads poetry
from dusty books she borrows from the library,
sitting in the park, she smiles at passing strangers,
yet can not seem to shake her own sad feelings.
She said that night reminds her of a cool hand
placed gently across her fevered brow, said
she likes to fall asleep beneath the stars,
that their streaks of light make her believe
that she too is going somewhere. Infinity,
she whispers as she closed her eyes,
descending into thin air, where no arms
outstretch to catch her
-Lisa Zaran


Universal Vision

She gathers drops of rain,
containing them in blue glass bottle,
dubbing them Angel Tears.
Each night a murder of crows gather, in judgment,
she informs. Every day she looks upon the same sunset,
yet the colors all have changed, giving new view upon the sky.
She says dusk is a limbo,
unable to come back, still silent death is far off.
She watches light fade, and darkness spread a wing,
she smiles as the Earth turns eye to light, unable to be phased.
Standing in both sides, sight to every trick,
peace in shadow casting light.
-Chelsey Kimball, modeled after “Girl” By Lisa Zaran

English 4 BNW Response

6. What in your opinionconcerning the use of pharmaceutical drugs in our society? Please duscuss how they are helpful and/or harmfull to the population.

In my opinion people use too many pharmaceutical drugs. It seems people use them for the simpliest reasons that aren't entirely necessary. Which is probaly not good considering, if addicted, people suffer violent withdrawls. Not a good sign. Pharmaceuticals help pain and expand life span and efficiency but they are easy to become addicted to. Addiction is not only harmful to the people addicted but with the drugs that alter the mind and thought process those who are addicted may hurt others.

Only In The Rain

Water falls
In little drops
It rains the way I feel
Warm rain with large drops
That splash on impact
Comfort, calm, relaxing rain
Wash away dismay
Nothing matters, no one cares
Stay in the rain all day
Grey clouds, rough water
But a rainbow is soon to come
Until then I’ll play
In gloomy bright
But only in the rain

The Green Fields Of France by Dropkick Murphys

Oh how do you do, young Willy McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen in 1916
Well I hope you died quick
And I hope you died clean
Or Willy McBride, was is it slow and obscene

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart you're forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The sun shining down on these green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plow
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard that's still no mans land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation were butchered and damned

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And I can't help but wonder oh Willy McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause
Did you really believe that this war would end wars
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying it was all done in vain
Oh Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

-The song is about the story of a young man who died while fighting in a war. An interpretation of the song could be about the general disrespect and disregard that humans have for each other. Humans tend to have the mind frame that their way is right and nothing else is acceptable. We also have an irrational need to be the best. Thus clashing countries are at war all the time. The effects of war on land go away over time but the loss of a person is never fixed. What determines the value of a life? Why should they sacrifice their lives for a cycle that will never stop? There will always be dispute which will always have the potential to go to war. People have differences but it seems if they don’t agree they will force the other person to agree. The song talks of the dispensability of people and how many of the deaths are unnecessary and overlooked. We don’t learn from past experiences and people keep dying for a cause that will never be accomplished. So many people die in wars that the deaths seem to have lost the respect they deserve. Were they given the final respect and admiration or are they just another life lost for the cause?

Dramatic Poem

An apology from me to you,
for going through your room
The books on the shelf, no longer in place
One curtain fell
The closet doors wide open
Clothes thrown from the drawer
And if you can find where your blanket is,
I tip my hat to you
I was looking for something
A hidden treasure of sorts
Safe and sound it has returend to me, a peace of mind

1) What voice is apparent within your poem? Please describe in detail.
The voice in the poem is more of a calm with a silly under tone. A discription of what happened in a slightly humorous way.
2) What type of mood will you try to express when performing your poem in front of the class?
The mood will be mostly mellow and discriptive in what happened but still funny.
3) What types of gestures, nonverbals, and or movement will you be incorporating into your performance?
Gestures for the poem would be pointing out to an invisible room as to what is going on in the poem, such as the doors open or the tip of the hat.
4) What frightens you about this assignment? What seems exciting about this assignment?
I loath preforming or speaking in front of the class. It would be fun to add subtle or dramatic movement to kind of bring the poem into reality, give it life in a sense.
5) How does performance poetry enhance the meaning of a poem? Be specific.
When a peom is preformed it gives it breath. It is moving thus creating an air of life. The poet isn't just saying the words they're living the words which enhance the meaning.

All Hallows Eve

Lurking in the shadows of the dark
Where demons wander like hidden cats
Seen behind the house hangs the noose
Walking path lit by dim burning fire
Creeping from the graves dug shallow
In preparation for tonight is Halloween

Tonight is the night of demons, the night of Halloween
Screams lost from sight in the dark
With each fright breath comes in shallow
Fear not the demon, for it was only a cat
Illuminated in the light of a fire
Hanging behind him death swings by noose

Saturated in the fiber of the noose
The essence of eerie Halloween
The theme of it spreading like fire
Sinister ideas crawling from the dark
Monsters come forth with the glass eye of a cat
My stomach jumps from it’s resting place in my body shallow

Monsters with eyes sunken shallow
Waiting for victims with the noose
Their form as black as the midnight cat
Only out on the nighttime hours of Halloween
When they are free to prowl in the dark
No form to see, not even in the brightest fire

Alluding the best attempt of the fire
Monsters steal away on ground too shallow
Souls like soot, an infectious dark
Ominous dust on the rope of the noose
Creatures come for there limited time here on Halloween
He sits and waits as if to watch the blackest of the cats

Judged tonight by the jinxing eyed cat
There you see the depth of Hell’s fire
Inspiring fear on this Halloween
The grave situation not taken shallow
For I fear the death by noose
There monsters linger to hang in the dark

A quiet mew from the cat and hope becomes shallow
In the fading light of fire, menacing is the noose
The beauteous fear of Halloween, the embodiment of dark

Lost

Not qute sure where to go
Or whether the place is there
Never claimed to know the way
Something is hinting I'm lost
Everything points to nonsense
Nothing directs which direction to take
Signs blocked be censors
Expected to know the way