Getting into the SWING of High School

Yes, you are now in high school. Big, bad high school, but your not too cool to get on the old park swing. In fact, high school is extremely similar to taking a ride on the swing.

You get on the swings. A row of 6 swings open waiting for you and your friends. Start slowly, easy going, barely any problems. Your friends are right next to you. Stay close to the ground, your just happy to be on for the ride. You have seen the swing forever, you have waited, and now it's your turn. You are excited for the ride! You are Fresh.

You and your friends get comfortable. You climb slightly higher, getting into the constant rhythm of the swing. Your friends are right there next to you, laughing and giggling. Thinking you've got it all down. You can't imagine the obstacles that lie ahead. The people who climb higher at your pace are the ones you are always around. This is when you decide to take an easy ride, or strive for the highest level. You are sophomore.

This is the tough part. You have been on the swing for awhile now, yet you still aren't high enough. Your legs are still strong, not tired yet. You make the choice to climb high, to push yourself because you know that will get you to the top. Your "friends" who cannot keep up, slow down. They waver at the bottom, closer to the ground. They are moving slowly, so slowly that it barely shakes the whiskey in their hands. These people won't get to their max, it makes you sad, but you learn from them. An older boy steals your heart and adds more stress to your already hectic ride. Your close friends climb with you. Their cheers and encouragement get you through this tough stage. The rhythm has so many distractions now. You may want to slow down, to go with the less focused people. You may want to take a break but that will diminish all the previous work and vigor you went through. The people at the park see your success and are proud. They know the work you did now will pay off in the end. You and a junior.

The swing has made you tired. You are at the top. You're so used to pumping your legs hard, that it's no longer a burden to keep up the work. You are ready to be done. You're glad you're so high up, because you have every intention to jump. The people who are with you now are the ones you love, the ones who love you back, and the ones that want you to jump far and land beautifully. You are scared. You're so high up, the jump, you know, will be fun. Yet, the anticipation is so stressful you have to cry. You find ways to deal, no matter what. Your friends stay by your side. you have made it this far, there is nothing that could tear you apart now. The kids who swing close to the ground have no room to jump. They can step off the swing, but they won't get as far as you. You make all the preparations for your ejection. You are so nervous, but you have watched countless generations do the same thing. You jump! Your done. It's bitter sweet. Your friends go to the tire swing, to the spider net, to the tube slide. You go to the marry go round. Yet, it is still all the same park.

<3

The Halo That Would Not Light- poem response 5

A very sad, dark subject is childhood death; which is why writing a poem about it makes said poem so powerful. In class we talked about effect of this poem, and how it made us feel. The detail and description said in so little words is extremely effective in creating a vivid picture in my head. The overwhelming theme of descriptive words were ones that portrayed dark images. The first line has the darkest, yet most descriptive word as "Raptor." A raptor as a way to describe a bird is so dark and gloomy that it immediately starts the poem off on a sad note. The next line had the words "scarab- colored hollow." This creates the image of a dark hole in the ground, AKA a grave. Saying that the raptor put the tiny baby into a grave is horrid. My favorite lines of the poem are, "Hunting as the leather seats of swings go back and forth with no one in them." The wind, or the raptor (I'm not quite sure which one) are hunting these abandon, old, parks. I just imagine this dark, foggy, cold, breezy, play ground. It has squeeky, creepy swings that children once played on, yet now, those children are dead. I am amazed that only a couple of lines could produce such a vivid picture in my mind.

I really liked what someone said in class while discussing the line, "Of your endless childhood." I was very confused when the poem said this, because I feel like the child didn't really have a childhood. Someone suggested that maybe the endless childhood, is how people will remember that child. No one will ever know anything about the child, because they had died so young, with so much of his or her life undetermined. Therefor, in everyone's memory, the child who passed, will always be stuck in childhood. Such a sad concept, but very profound. I was again amazed how the author was able to say and portray so much in so little words.

Poem Response 4- To Myself

W.S. Merwin's poem "To Myself" is very reflective of how a person views him or herself. Merwin has a background in Buddhist philosophy, and I feel this poem is very deep and from a philosophical point of view; although, many people can relate to it. To me this poem very much told what I feel about myself. I thought it could be referring to another person. Kind of like the author writing a poem to himself, about a desired person. The poem is more meaningful if it is talking about himself, or in the case of the reader, talking about the reader. The strategy I used was to take it line by line. The first line says, "Even when I forget you... I go on looking for you." I thought about how many times I have lost myself, or lost what I once was and have become something different. Yet, I still look for what I once was, and try to remember. A couple lines later the poem talks about remembering the subject from a long time ago, or just a second ago. I interpreted this to mean that I am always changing. Who I was years ago is completely different than who I am now, which is completely different from who I was even a week ago.

"... and the air is still alive around where you were," is one of my favorite lines of this poem. My family goes to the exact same place for summer vacation every year, and every year I am a different person. The place remains the same, and when I arrive at the condo's, the air around the place is alive from who I was last year. The poem shifts view point a little when it says that the subject "pretend to be, but who are not." A very impacting thought. What I am is not what I pretend to be, or not what I pretended to be. The awkward meanie stage I went through in middle school was not who I was, it was what I thought I had to be. This leads me to ask how do I know when I am not pretending? This poem is a great poem to just make the reader sit and reflect on their life. At least I did!

<3

Blackberries for Amelia - Poem response 3

Blackberries for Amelia is a time line of a blackberry bush. The bush intertwined in the thick, dense, bushes of a forested area. The blackberry bush starts out with "new leaves" then sprout the flowers. Then the author talks about the leaves and the flowers disappearing until only blackness remains. This blackness reveals itself to be blackberries. The berries that were worth the wait. The tone in the last stanza changes and becomes more playful. This is where the author incorporates the title and talks about Amelia. The very last line, which is the emphasis or the climax of the poem reads, "And a grandchild to to talk with while we pick."

The structure of the poem is 5 stanzas of four lines in each. Lines 1 and 4 rhyme, and lines 2 and 3 rhyme. This combination produced a poem that flows very well, and is easy to read. The poem is mostly straight forward, talking about a moment the author really cherishes. The third stanza was the most confusing to me. It was talking about stars in the night sky, and how the stars are burning out until only blackness remains. I was confused, but then i visualized what the poem was saying. I envisioned the white flowers on the bush so delicate and pretty, yet they will leave as the season changes. Then what is left is the blackness, or blackberries. That's a pretty big metaphor,and it is very visually appealing.

I enjoyed blackberries for Amelia because it was a simple thing in the author's life, that had a great impact on his life.

<3

Mr. Fear- Poem Reponse 2

Stephanie and I taught this poem to the class, so I figure it's be a great one to evaluate on my Epistle.... "Can I please have someone read the poem?"... "Ok, now can I have someone read it again?" The first thing that sticks out for me is the line "Mr. Fear, we say in our dreams, what do you have for me tonight?" This is very straight forward, what fearful thing, or scare must we overcome in our dreams? The author might be suggesting that people are nervous or antsy to go to bed because they are afraid of what Mr. Fear will make us deal with while we sleep.

I remember Jordyn R. suggested that possibly the title having the Mr. in front of it suggested the authoritative figure that fear has over us. We respect it, yet it always will have some amount of control over us; hence, MR. Fear. I agree with her interpretation... Although I would like to include that possibly, the author feels formality must be used when talking to the "fear" because it controls us in our dreams.

After reading The Heart of Darkness, I noticed the obvious symbolism with black and white. There is a line in the poem that reads, "And he looks through his sack, his black sack of troubles." The reference to black in that line is clearly a negative symbol of fear. Fear is the unknown, intimidating, scary, therefor it must be represented with black.


The last thing I would like to comment on, is the last stanza which talks about what the author heard, or experienced right before they fell asleep. I think it is pretty well known, that what a person experiences right before he or she falls asleep influences the dream more then anything else. So what if right before you fall asleep, while your laying in your bed trying to sleep, you think about something happy. Something that you could never be scared of... Maybe that will overcome Mr. Fear.

<3