Limericks

I once saw a very old lady

With a dog at her side named Sadie

She waddled about

With intent, I doubt

And to this day sits where it's shady

I once saw a girl at the mall
She was really incredibly tall
She walked all around
Having to stoop down
So she wouldn't hit her head and bawl 

There once was a girl named Sue

Who knotted the lace on her shoe

She tried to undo it

But totally blew it

And then got it stuck in some glue

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

I like the poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, by Wallace Stevens, a lot.  I found it interesting that it was thirteen, rather than a landmark number. such as ten.  Stevens probably wanted a special number.  Also, there is twenty mountains, instead of 13 or a different number.

    The seasons in this were interesting and made me think of the haikus.  It starts off at winter, then moves to autumn, back to winter, then spring, and finally back to winter again.  It's almost a year.

     There was lots of assonance in this poem. In the first stanza, there was some when it said "twenty snowy," and "among mountains."  Finally, in the third, it said "blackbird whirled."

I noticed some internal rhyming too, in the second stanza, where it said "I was of three minds,” page break “ Like a tree,” another page break “In which there are three blackbirds."  Three, tree, and three again rhymed.  There was also some regular rhyming too, with different stanzas.  For example, in one stanza it ended with minds, and in another it ended with pantomime, and those are approximate rhymes.

Another interesting thing I noticed in this poem was that the “countdown” was in roman numerals.  Maybe because regular ones were too boring?  Also, why does it count up from one? I guess you see it both ways, but for some reason I was expecting it to start at thirteen and go down.

Aren't I a Good Thing?

I have seen people swallowed up by water

The precious moment of life or death

The power of strength

Weakening, Crumbling and Collapsing down

The craziness conquering one

From happiness

To fear

I wind my waves to the confused moments

Because that's when one needs me most

When one is scared

Yes, it is shameful

To give myself to people

But I help, and keep one thriving

Or they would not act the same

I’d rather be Bravery

And give people the courage they need

But I do

I am giving, because

Don't people need adrenaline?

When they are in terror

No matter what that might be

I know how to use myself

And to be where people need me most

Among the frightened,

From a dark night,

When you suddenly swerve

To

A sunny yellow day

But then the sharp sound of a gunshot

I suddenly come out

And with me, they keep fighting

I say nothing, but with me

They know what to do

Because with me

It's the only way they can overcome

Or they would stop their struggle

So aren't I a good thing?

Haiku Poems

Daffodils growing

the cold days are behind us

kids playing outside

A big butterfly

flies around high in the sky

it is a beauty

This tree's good to climb

climb as high as possible

do you have your grip?

Morning paper comes

dog runs out to retrieve it

too wet to read now

Many birds singing

crisp smell of morning

cherry blossoms sway

Fingers tap on phones

kids locked into screens

where did nature go?

A dragonfly there

flies for the first time at all

eaten by a bird

Abstract Thoughts

Fear is night black caves at midnight
Selfishness is sandy tan toys in someone's home
Loneliness is sky grey coffee shops at night
Quiet is paper white libraries
Boredom is dead leaf brown dirt on the solid ground
Dreams are ocean blue pools in Hawaii
Happiness is citrus lime green popsicles
Success is wizard purple parties at the beach on a hot summer day
Love is heart pink chocolates with a gooey caramel inside

Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand

 

        I really enjoyed reading the poem, Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand, by E. E. Cummings, because it talked about how Spring is a hand moving everything around to get ready for it, like placing a flower somewhere.  I found it interesting how Cummings layed his poem out.  He had a large section, and then a separate stanza that said "changing everything carefully," which was referring to what the hand would do.  Then there was another large section and after that the last line was "without breaking anything."

      I didn’t really understand why Cummings had parentheses in some of his lines.  I can see why he would do that, but it seemed like they were put in weird places.  For example, he said “(which comes carefully,” then a line break, then “out of Nowhere) arranging.”   It kind of makes you wonder about the poem though, and that’s good.

      I noticed that he capitalized some words: nowhere, hand, new, and old.  I think he was trying to emphasize them all of them.  He wanted you to really sense the word nowhere, because that’s where the hand comes from, and he wants you to think of where nowhere could be.  When he capitalized hand, the line was “hand in a window.” I’m not that sure why he did that, but it’s probably because he wanted readers to get it into their minds that it was a hand.  For new and old, he most likely meant that new is the Spring things he's putting there, and the old is stuff from Winter that he's taking away.  

      Lastly, he had some repetition when he said “Spring is like a perhaps hand,” in the beginning, and in the last stanzas beginning.  I don’t think there was much else in this poem.  I did really like reading this poem though, to see how Spring was created.

Maggie and Milly and Molly and May

This is a poem called maggie and milly and molly and may, by E. E. Cummings. I really like it because I think it has a great rhythm to it, and it's kind of just a silly poem, unlike the other we read by E. E. Cummings, called l)a.  The poem is about how Maggie, Milly, Molly, and May went to the beach, and then things happen to them.  Maggie finds a shell that sings, Milly befriended a starfish, Molly was chased by something blowing bubbles, and May came home with a stone.

In the third line of the poem, Cummings says “so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and.”  I think that the “and” should be in the next line because it doesn’t really fit in that line as well as it would in the next.  Also, in a different line, it starts out with and, so why shouldn’t the first?

         I think that there was a lot of assonance in this poem.  For example, there was when Cummings said “smooth round stone.”  There was also alliteration when he said “maggie and milly and molly and may.”  Lastly, I thought the last line was the best of all.  It was a metaphor talking about how sometimes one gets lost in life, but they always come back.

Food Enemies

Hamburger BLT Sandwich Taco Pizza Enchilada Mac’n’cheese Shrimp Calamari Mashed Potato Strawberry Banana Apple Blueberry Crackers Kiwi Cherry Sour Apple Candy Chocolate Rocky Road Mint Chip Caramel Squash

Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs. Vs.

Hotdog PB and J Burger Spaghetti Quesadilla Soup Baked Potato Crab Fish Salad Pineapple Orange Cherry Watermelon Cheese Guacamole Blue Raspberry Watermelon Ice cream Vanilla Sherbet Cookie Dough Apple Cheesecake

Rainy Days

Gray Skies

Wet boots

Muddy Kids

Board games

Umbrellas

Sometimes thunder, sometimes lightning

Chit chat of bored people

Quiet voices

The ever continuing pitter patter on the ground

A sudden tiredness

Filled bird bath

Video games

Moths that can't fly

Branches dumping water on one when shaken

Boring beach

Kids letting rain fall into their mouths

A rainbow?

A single sunbeam