Poetry for Presentation

These are some of my poems that I have written within the last year. I've decided to use them as part of support for my final presentation...

Overboard

Swirling, whirling, winding
into an open sea,
on the dive down,
undergoing pieces of transparency.

Through every wave of every current,
this ship has sailed so far--
through whales of paintings, and writings, and workings
of an undergraduate star.

Generations of breaking binds,
sailing through their artists' scars,
reaching the dock, we come to find,
it's a part of who we are.

2011

"Just one of those days?"
Secretly asking,
mocking us
behind their
angelic,
scheming,
dragon eyes.

Just one of those days.
They are
stronger,
richer,
faster than us.

Just one of those days.
We must accept
that no one accepts us.

Just one of those days.
It tears at
our souls,
our minds,
our hearts.

Just one of those days.
HE wishes
will,
strength,
courage onto others.

Just one of those days.
Every picture in its frame,
falsified by shattered reality.

Just one of those days.
We fade into nothing,
not a dragon to notice.

Just one of those days.

2010

What is success?

Success can be something as small as achieving a personal goal, and as major as a career goal. Personally, I need to succeed in certain things in order to have a good life, according my standards. A family, fun career, my own house, and making a difference in life are all important aspects I wish to accomplish. I do not understand how people would not want to succeed in these areas because without them my life would be incomplete. Like, right now, my boyfriend and I are discussing moving in together and planning our future. Most young college students would not consider marriage at all, but that is one of the things I wish to accomplish within a few years. Different people have different preferences as to how they will succeed in their lifetime, and that is why we each lead independent and unique existences.

How to Tame a Wild Tongue

I agree with the quote, "Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war?" The horrific act of war is same as oppressing a person of their individualism. When I think about the army, I think of how they are "broken" and are basically just pawns that the government can use to fight against their own human race. These two scenerios are both stripping people of their humanity, just in different ways. When people are not allowed to speak their own language, they are being deprived of where they came from and what human culture they feel they need to have. Over time, this would slowly conform them into the "Americanized" way of doing things. Whereas, the military does not allow their soldiers to have any opposing reason or thought, and when this happens, they slowly lose sight of the person they were before. Also, killing off innocent people is in the same realm as making an innocent culture lose their souls in a world where they cannot fully communicate with other people. In this way, they get lost and do not belong anywhere in the world because they are not accepted by anyone other than people who share the same struggle.
When Gloria talks about the usage of the word "nosotras," she is surprised by the mention of a female form. In present time, males call their cars and the like "she," representing their control and masculinity. When I hear this, I feel very offended. I thought we as a culture had grown and realized that women are not objects, but unfortunately, this suggests otherwise. As Dr. Cassel says in class, feminism is not about sexism against men; it is about "social equality" between sexes. This is a struggle that is still going on in countries such as Afganastan, where women must conceal their face because they are married. I just do not understand why we as females are willing to have this equality, but men cannot help but to be "superior" towards that idea and to us.

The definition of frustration...

...is excelling in something that you love (in my case, writing) and having one teacher constantly negatively critique your work, and having another teacher tell you that you are doing excellent and acing everything with flying colors. Even if it is an "increased level of writing," I think that it's absolutely ridiculous that if I turn in the same exact paper to each of my literature classes, one would love it and one would give me an 85 on it just because it is not on the lines of her thinking. If I cannot use examples by saying "As discussed," or "Readers recognize this because," and I can't say "I" in my writings, then how on the face of this wide world can I write a decent paper? Given that this is college and we are not writing by any professional means yet, there is no reason to count off for what is not popularly said. Also, it is NOT plagarism if I write something that was from lecture as long as I mention that it was from the discussions in class. The whole reason teachers talk about things in class is to give us a better understanding of the subject matter we are studying and to give us a new perspective that we can work with. I do not understand how I am writing at the same level in two closely-related 200 level literature classes and not receiving the same grades. That does not make sense in the slightest. I realize that writing is all about negative criticism, and we as writers must learn to accept that there are people who will not care for our work, but a teacher has an obligation to assist students to succeed by any means necessary, and most want them to succeed. In my eyes, there are bad teachers out there and they need to recognize that if everyone sees a similiar problem going on with their grade, that is the teacher's problem, NOT the students'. If a student is doing everything in his/her power to make sure his/her homework assignments are done right and on time, then that student has upheld her obligations to her college education. It is then up to the teacher to give that student credit for doing so, and giving the grade that he/she deserves. So apparently, "we are your cheerleaders" does not apply to this particular teacher. It is only up to the students because we are basically teaching ourselves in my Lit 230 class, and we are the ones who are actually holding the foundation of the classroom together. Just because a teacher has all these awards, certificates, and degrees does NOT make her any better than the students who are desperately trying to do well in college, so that they can have a successful future. A teacher that is constantly detering students from learning all that they can is not a teacher at all.

Personal is Political

I believe that you cannot avoid politics if poetry always possesses some kind of personal value. And it truly does. Diving into the Wreck symbolized Adrienne Rich's personal transformation, which was also of a political nature of gay marriage and gay/lesbian couples. Even Gertrude Stein, who said she wanted readers to look at the sound of words themselves rather than their meaning, was a personal and political writer. Because her poems were intensely related to Cubism and thoughts on the war, they had a deeper meaning than merely the sounds of words coming together. For instance, "A Carafe, That is a Blind Glass" represented the ones who caused the war and who are blind to others' differences. "The difference is spreading," she illustrates.

Poetry is not just something that anyone can write. It is real, personal, political, though-provoking, truth to some, and lies to many. It is how we allow our subconscious to rise to the surface. So, how could it not be political and personal in that same mind frame?

What is "the Wreck?"

Adrienne Rich's "Diving Into the Wreck" is clearly about the grand transformation in her life, but I'm going to go a step further and say it is about her having sexual encounters with another woman for the first time. The wreck is her "loss of virginity," per say. For example, the ladder represents the hanging temptation of what she wishes to discover. "There is a ladder. The ladder is always there hanging innocently close to the side of the schooner. We know what it is for, we who have used it. Otherwise it's a piece of maritime floss, some sundry equipment." (Rich 2627) Since poetry is subjective, it could also be taken as other personal transformations or perhaps a regular loss of virginity. "I go down. Rung after rung and still the oxygen immerses me the blue light the clear atoms of our human air. I go down. My flippers cripple me, I crawl like an insect down the ladder and there is no one to tell me when the ocean will begin." (Rich 2627) The downward motion represents the actual act of intercourse. Again, the ladder appears as she is in the process of going through her transformation. As we discussed in class, she is alone in this because she has been in a heterosexual marriage for so long, and does not know where this road will take her.

Do we have a choice?

For the Invisible Man, we had discussed whether or not we have the ability to make our own decision in our lives. Personally, I believe that we have a choice when we are gifted with opportunities. For instance, a princess of England has a lot of opportunities and responsibility, therefore, she has a lot of choices to make in her life. Whereas, a homeless person lacks any other choice but to beg in the street. People in desperate situations do not have many options to work with. So, at the end of the spectrum, people do not have choices. However, if we are presented with opportunities, we a choice on how to live our lives. It is all based upon our own situation. For me personally, I have plenty of choices to make: when to move out, when to get married, what clothes to wear everyday, to pursue my major or to change it, etc. Because I have the opportunities and responsibility to make decisions, I must do so in order to improve my life. However, many people are not in a fortunate situation, and so, do not have many routes to choose from.