www.studentvp.com/rcsd
Continue to read poems by:
Louise Erdrich
Sherman Alexie
Michael S. Weaver
Patricia Smith
Marge Piercy
Yusef Kumunyakaa
Lucille Clifton
June Jordan
Sonia Sanchez
Naomi Shihab Nye
Pick one poem and poet that you like. Look up the biography of the poet. Are there other poems in the anthology by that poet?
Post a comment about your poem and poet on the blog.
1. Five Ways to Begin Writing a New Poem
- Actively seek inspiration by looking in your journal for ideas or reading other people's poems; don't analyze, just seek stimulation.
- Use your five senses Рdon't rely solely on visual images; remember your senses of touch and smell. Pay attention to music, and not just the music we hear on radio and TV: listen to the natural and man made rhythms around you, including the sounds of mechanical objects and engines. Remember to always strive for "fresh language" and avoid clich̩s.
- Make a list of your most memorable experiences from the past year. Are there details you remember that no one else did? Do the same for your early childhood. The chances are, if you have siblings, that you remember things differently than they do. Focus on the images that are unique to your memory.
- Consider your friends, relatives, worst enemies: have you had experiences with any of them that seem contradictory? For instances, is there something about someone whom you actually dislike that you nevertheless find admirable? Have you ever been in a position in which you found your roles reversed? Have you, for instance, ever found yourself "parenting a parent?" or experienced a situation in which you found yourself filled with two strong but contradictory emotions like anger and respect?
- Once you select a subject, start putting lines down quickly. Don't worry about ordering them or otherwise editing them, including whether you are writing in complete sentences.
One of my most liked, was The Mary Morelle Show. I found it interesting how the united states forced them to shorten their names, hopefully it had nothing to do with them being Italian. A mother who was born in Italy but migrated to The United States. For example their youngest son named Franklin Delano Roosevelt Morelle who was now just called Del by everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe author: Denise Nico Leto a southern Italian decent who has co-edited a special issue of Sinister Wisdom. Also has other books such ass -
Wave Form and Forders Rome.
I really enjoyed Sonia Sanchez's poem Present . Some of of formatting is very interesting, such as her use of back slashes and spacing. I also found a lot of her imagery to be very powerful and creative. I could really feel the pacing and rhythm to the poem which really helped me "get" into it.
ReplyDeleteThe Author: Sonia Sanchez is a black poet that has written large amount of poems about race and womanhood.
June Jordan is a very passionate and influential poet. She is a feminist to all woman specifically African American woman. In her poem " A poem about my rights" she discusses a topic as serious as rape and she shines a light on the emotional scarring that occurs for woman experiencing this. She has the ability to take a heavy topic and make it relate able and almost comedic in her poems. I like how she is very pro- woman and she expresses this in all of her works. But, she does also do well with writing about race specifically black and white. In her poem " What would i do white" she expresses, as the title says, everything she would do if she was white. Although the poem isn't specifically optimistic, she makes it this way by adding a comedic feel to it. Overall Jordan is a powerful and talented writer, her death in 2002 was a tragic loss to all writers.
ReplyDeleteAlannah Scardino
ReplyDeletePatricia Smith
Patricia Smith was born in Chicago, IL in 1955. As described in her poem “What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren’t),” Patricia had struggles growing up in the sixties. She felt that it was hard to grow up “if you were truly bone black and you hair practically choked on kinks.” Patricia’s poem is mostly about how she grew up and had to go through school, essentially wanting herself to be white. This is also mentioned in her poem “Blonde White Women.” “Pressing down hard with my carnation pink Crayola, I filled faces in coloring books, rubbed the waxy stick across the back of my hand until skin broke.” This quote explains how she grew up believing that she wasn’t as beautiful as the white woman, which she didn’t discover was true until she grew up more and realized that the black woman can succeed just as far at the blonde.
Patricia Smith has written over ten poetry books and has acquired many awards for her fantastic writing about African Americans. She is a four time National Poetry Slam champion.
Frieda Jones
ReplyDeleteI chose “Can’t Tell” by Nellie Wong. It touches on the deep race issue between different Asian immigrants, especially during WWII. Though they look the same to most Americans, the Chinese and Japanese were on opposite sides of the war. One set of immigrants was considered to be a public enemy and deported to camps, the other set lived in constant fear of being mistaken for Japanese and sent off too. Nellie Wong was born in Oakland, California, on September 12, 1934. Her parents were Chinese immigrants and she was constantly touched by the issue of ethnicity, which can be seen in several other poems in the anthology.
One poem i like was What Would I do White. I found it very interesting because i feel it has to do with racism. Its about how the girl thought she would act of if she was white. but she is black. She wouldnt have to care about anything that she would have to care for if she was black. everything would be handed to her if she was white. What would i do white.
ReplyDeletePoets that were obviously very impressive in this book were Patricia Smith and MIchael S. Weaver, all of their poems were very powerful. But three of the female poets that stood out to me most were Shirley Goek-lin Lim, Allison Joseph, and Jennifer Lagier. Each of their poems didn't contain the most complex language or word choice but portrayed a swaying and powerful story or image simply and beautifully, which is what I really liked about them. Their poems also told the stories of woman and the struggles they went through with different ethnic backgrounds. Shirley Goek-lin Lim is an Asian woman, Jennifer Lagier is Caucasian and Allison Joseph is African American, so they all write from different perspectives of history and life, but each wrote on similar topics. This is what drew me to the three of them together.
ReplyDeleteThe poem i really like is Lost Name Woman. What i like about it is how when they used to their new lifestyle as being stereotypical Mississippian, San Francisco, Massachusetts, and Arizonian etc., they lost who they really are before they came to America.
ReplyDeleteShirley Geok-lin Lim: A Malaccian who had lived in poverty and parental violence.
She has also written; "Writing in S.E/ Asia in English, Sister Swing, Two dreams etc.
link to her bio:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/shirley-geok-lin-lim
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMost likely I liked the poem Crazy Horse Speaks by Sherman Alexie. It's interesting as he talks about his father, how he talks about himself too as if he can't escape. As I searched Sherman Alexie it tells that he most likely talks about his childhood which is common to all writers. But Alexie makes the poem seems as if I was there. The poem Crazy Horse Speaks talks about him and his father seeing there future together and how they cannot leave the room because there's no rooms without doors nor windows as he describes it. Most like it seems as he's dreaming a nightmare. This poem somehow changes scenes which is really interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteSherman Alexie is poet, author, screenwriter and a filmmaker. He won a couple awards throughout his life.
The author whose poems I looked at was Patricia Smith. I liked her poem "What it's Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren't)". It was about the struggles of a black girl and what its like to be one. She sheds a light on black girls' troubles. She illuminates the culture of blacks and the way we think.It shows the pain that we go through and the thoughts we have, whether true or not.
ReplyDeletePatricia Smith was born in 1955 in Chicago, Illinois. She currently lives in Howell, New Jersey.
Other poems: "What Garfield Park kept Saying"
"An Open Letter to Joseph Peter Naras, Take 2 or, Today’s After-School Special Veers into Explosive Territory"
The poem that caught my attention was called Song No. 3 by sonaia sanchez is about her and is talking about hoe everyone is not perfect everyone has there defects about them and she was just explaining how she knows she the way she is .
ReplyDeleteSonia Sanchez (born Wilsonia Benita Driver, September 9, 1934) is an African-American poet most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. She has authored over a dozen books of poetry, as well as plays and children's books. She was a recipient of 1993 Pew Fellowships in the Arts.
this poetry is horrible and makes me want to vomit, however, one poem that didn't piss me off so bad was "The Battle, Over and Over Again" by Safiya Henderson-Holmes. it is about a young black girl's struggle being called ugly at her school, and her mom comforts her. I hate the style it was written in, felt angsty and gross, but it had a decent message so whatever.
ReplyDelete(Hetep Shekem)
One of my favorites of the few poems i read by Lucille Clifton was "Sam". One line that particularly drew me to the poem was "if he could have gone to school he would have learned to write his history not live it". I found this interesting because from this line alone you can pull out a lot of details like most likely Sam is a different color other than white and he's not allowed to attend school.
ReplyDeleteThe author: Lucille Clifton has many other poems and books such as "Three wishes" and "The boy who didn't believe in spring"
Marge Piercy is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Gone to Soldiers, a sweeping historical novel set during World War II. One of the poems I liked by Marge Piercy was called Barbie Doll. As far as I know she does not have any other poem like that but, i'm hoping she will in the future
ReplyDeletethe author who caught my attention was patricia smith. i like her style of writing after i read what its like to be a black girl (for those of you who arent) it was about the things black girls go through and their struggles. i liked it because i can relate. patricia smith was born in 1955 in chicago. she not lives in new jersey
ReplyDeleteThe poet I chose was June jordan. I like the poem I read by her that was called 'these poems'. You can really feel where she is coming from . Even though she greatly uses personificatnpiin but in poetry who doesn't. You can still feel the realistic feel of it all. In her comparisons without having to ask why and how she intended it to be used and understood. You understand her writing with a little thought and it works so deep. Through the poem I feel her passion for poetry I could feel her he a and want to write rhythmically. I Love It!
ReplyDeleteLeilanis Molina Grade 9