ISU Novel Choice

This is my choice for an ISU novel: C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, The Silver Chair.

Journal #9

-On Poetry-

Now that you've had a chance to dwell with poetry awhile, reflect on what you feel is its usefulness and relative importance in the grand scheme of the universe. What would life be like without poetry? What arguments could be made for doing more poetry than we do in public school?

Did your experience this time around change your relationship with poetry at all? Which was the easiest poem to write? Which was the most difficult? Are you left with any questions about poetry or poets in general? Have you any desire to read and/or write more poetry independently of this class?

Oh my, now that's a good question. Where should I begin? Well, to start, but without poetry, songs may not have reached their conception as we know them today. If we did more poetry in school, of course, I would enjoy that, but not everybody would agree to that idea. "Why not?" you may ask, I believe there is a pretty simple answer that we all can understand. Not all minds are alike, so in conclusion, not all of us are going to be capable of writing effective poetry. Although it is good that most people think differently, it can lead to certain frustrations, time after time.
I wouldn't really say that my relationship with writing poetry hasn't changed all too much, I still enjoy it, even after writing in new styles. Believe it or not, unlike most people, I guess, the easiest type of poetry for me to write is the Sonnet. I managed to take some time in writing a few out and after that, it just occurred to me that sonnets are my favorite type of poems. To me, the most difficult types of poetry would be the Found poetry and Imitation poetry. Behind the wheel of the flat-tired bus that is my mind, moving at a rate of 25 mph, my fragile, egg shell mind, most things work in reverse. If people think it's easy to make found poetry, I'm going to be wasting hours on end, trying to understand how it all works. If it's a sonnet, on the other hand, it will be easier for me, but more challenging for the people around me. That's how 'special' I am, the difficult stuff appears easier, but the easier stuff confuses me over and over.
After working through this 'Poetry Unit' as it is called, I heard that Mr. Pierce said that we aren't going to be studying all types of poetry, which I understand the reasons why. Either if it's not for our maturity or that there might not be enough time to look at all of them. I devised a few questions to possibly ask Mr. Pierce:
- Mr. Pierce, why didn't we try Haikus?
- Are you hiding more poetry from us apart from Limericks and those 'Dada' poems I wrote in the seventh grade?
- What's the next unit again? I forgot.
- Oh boy! if I came back next year, would we be doing the same types of poetry?
- Is it true that if you wear your tie too tightly, that you will lose blood circulation to your brain?
Ahem, now this will be a surprise to you. I would be interested to read and write more poetry in this class, indeed. I enjoy poetry, to read and write, it's what I do.... sometimes.

Dramatic Monologue - Scoutmaster

Remember how I talked about the Scoutmaster in one of my previous notes? Well, here he is! I made him a background story and made in the form of a NARRATIVE MONOLOGUE!!!!!!
Enjoy.

-Scoutmaster Monologue-

Greetings and welcome, who am I,
You may wonder.
Why I am the Scoutmaster,
A man with the brain
A guy with the rulebook,
Following the rules is the plain
Essentials to a moderate lifestyle.
I take your kids in; I take them on trips,
By the fly on my short shorts,
I won't let them down.
I shout out my love for the wild,
The bears and the bees,
Scents that are quite mild
And a deer when it pees.
When the urine is fresh, I stick in my nose,
I stop and sit back, looking at the moss that grows;
What the thing is that the parents don't understand
That life in the woods isn't as crazy as it seems.
Rabies and poison ivy is where it's at,
Mouthwash and toilet paper if you learn to improvise;
Oh my, what the outdoors is!
It is such a wonder and such a glorious day,
Would it be a shock if I told you I wasn't gay?
Like it or not, I taught your kids to use guns,
Don't you dare yell at me, it wasn't for puns.
Next time you're out in the woods
You might get attacked by a bear,
Don't ask for my help
If you can't scare him off.
If your kids act like a dog that begs,
They will help me shave my legs;
Oh, what a life it is...
To take a stroll in the outdoors.
To look for creatures like boars,
Gazing across the street for whores.
Oh, the child's mind, what a device;
A tape recorder, evidence for a lawsuit.

At one point after another, I was brought to court
Accused of violating children,
Corrupting their minds.
I told the judge "I did nothing of the sort."
He glared down at me, after calling me 'Sport';
I reached into my knapsack
And pulled out a dead skunk,
Then I told him "If you send me away,
I'll stick this in your bed."
After squirming in fear, he let me go.
I ran out of the courtroom,
Shouting "Honey, I'm home!"
You may think I'm a monster
Or a perverted, bad man,
Don't worry, sweet pea....
I'm the Scoutmaster, man.

Ode - Ode to Fantasy

Before thinking about what I was going to write a poem about, I thought that all dreams had a purpose, but I have come to learn that not exactly all of them might be easy enough for us to understand. So I chose to write about dreams and fantasies to reflect my thoughts about it.

-Ode to Fantasy-

When we sleep in the night-time, we let go
Of all the struggles that we come to see
We enter a world we seem to know,
A place of comfort, special place to me.
We all dream, we all think of that one dream,
To have it come to life, for good will;
If it's lust or desire, it foresees,
As egg-whites or flour or a fresh cream.
In a barren land, where we are to kill,
Not just an army of men, but some fleas.

Dreams and nightmares, equally one,
The fear that we feel leads to our loss.
It smothers us until resting is done,
Take control of yourself, you are the boss;
Don't sweat it, kid, luck is on your side.
Nightmares just come and go, night after night,
Darkness of the dream world, as we know,
Suck in your gut, show us your pride.
Don't give up on yourself, face the light,
It will wash away, like the melted snow.

When we think of fantasy, we go out

Of our heads to see what is real,

We fear reality, without a doubt.

Consider it a lost cause, what to feel.

In our souls' content, you forget

About all of the times you let go,

Memories lost are moments of old pain.

Truth given away is what you regret;

Take the fantasy apart, take it slow,

Will you live your life or dream once again?

Lyrical Poetry - Brotherly Love

This poem I wrote is just a gathered up set of feelings that I have felt not too long ago which remained glued to my memory. This sounds kind of stupid to say, but this is what I was feeling. I guess that you could say it's like that compassionate feeling you have for a special friend and not like a girlfriend, like a friend that you have a brotherly-like relationship with.

-Brotherly Love-

Where do I begin to tell my story?
It has many ups and downs
Would you take any interest in me
Or just give me lots of frowns?
When we eat our daily supper,
What we consider as our sustenance;
Are you satisfied with what you get?
When it comes down to me, you will feel one of two things.
Either you feel encouraged
Or maybe unwell.
Just open your heart,
Come out of your shell;
You don't have to lie,
No need to hide.
I'll be waiting around for you just in case,
If you get sadly or lonely, I'll stick around,
Because this isn't my story, I'm a part of yours.

Narrative Poetry - Perspective of the Void

This poem may not seem like a narrative poem or narrative at all, so allow me to point this out if need be. The narrator is from the perspective of somebody who may or may not actually exist, made to appear as a minor remnant of existence. This narrator displays their believed to be summarized story of humanity and how it is seen in their eyes. I also must confess that this does relate to me in some ways, but not entirely. Read and comment, please and thank you.

-Perspective of the Void-

Here is a story of the night,
Which causes to fill us with fright.
Why we all live under the light,
Should we fear the force of God's might?
Born of darkness, we are the weak ones,
We tell jokes, stories, lies and puns.
We are survivors, kings of pain;
Full of pride, we take our lord in vain.
Under Lucifer's hand, I stand;
People of Earth, who command,
Beware of the traitors who lurk.
In the night, who wields the dirk
Will harvest the lives of the strong.
You can fear the fact, I'm not wrong.
Light and darkness, which I so hate,
The foggy road ahead lead to my fate.
You conquer a land and want peace,
Once this starts, it will never cease.

Extra Poem - Additional Sonnet

Over the March Break, there was somebody, not going to point any fingers here, but they were getting on my nerves. The point is, they made me angry by writing a poorly made poem about their 'feelings', now that's a new low. Since I knew that this person was aiming below the belt, I thought to myself "Maybe it's not such a bad idea to retaliate back upon someone who thinks so low of me," and that's what I did. After piecing together my thoughts about this person, I wrote it out and here it is. Enjoy :)

Story of the Confused One

You say that I am your own enemy;
You think I am just out to get you,
Bare me your wills child, your dull feelings.
Learn to grow up, your tricks are long past due.
Give up the damn act, I am unimpressed;
You're a slave to your feelings, just a pest,
I hold back the hate, feelings unexpressed.
You make yourself weak and wreck the love nest.
You call me a rat, you call me a snake.
What you don't realize is that I don't care
Of all of those 'episodes' that you make;
We don't play by your rules, they are unfair.
You need to face reality, get a hint,
It's not your fantasy, not a fresh mint.

Journal #8 - Free Write

-Free Write-

Lately, I have been asking myself this question off the top of my head "For each character that I've made up to this point, what is their point?" So far I have come down to the conclusion that most of the characters that I haven't made background information on can still be made during this period of time, before I get to a different topic in my work. For example: one of my older characters, known as the Scoutmaster, has almost no back story at all. I mean, yeah, I made him just for kicks, but he can still be useful some point in the series. On the other hand, the Scoutmaster isn't one of my main characters that I have created, so should I take my time and think up a good set of information for him? The answer to that is yes, even though he doesn't play as a major role at all. Here is my original idea for him - when I made him, I had made him as a redneck stereotype because I wasn't all too fond of rednecks, hell, I'm still not fond of them. The Scoutmaster also had the assistance of the scouts, who each carried a rifle or shot gun, you may be asking why I decided on that, and my answer would be like "Yeah, what do you think scouts learn to do, help the elderly cross the streets?"Okay, that was a bad example because some boy scouts may attend to help the elderly cross the streets.

I also got this general problem with a few villains in the process, some of them tend to share the same motive. Now, sharing motives isn't that bad, but when they start to sound alike, that's when it crosses the line. It's like watching the Brady Bunch re-runs on the television. I manged to fix this problem by diversifying the personalities of the villains and their back ground stories, which really made a difference. For example: the villainess Scorcho. Originally a demon with two serpent heads, which the left head breathed frosty air as the right head spit flames. The newer Scorcho, however, is now a dark sorceress who controls these two demons. After a series of events, she returns as some sort of strange creature on time and time again. Only after that, she comes back one last time as the original dark sorceress for her final showdown.

the Found Poem

-My Found Poem-

an addictive, engrossing, believable, heart-rending story.
"Long live the King," hailed Entertainment Weekly upon the publication of Burger King,
And the man with the diamond patterns on his socks said, "Oh Christ. Oh Christ."
-BIKE OF THE YEAR & OTHER HALL OF FAME ENTRIES-
This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious narrative quotes.
Jill and Eustace must rescue the King from the evil Witch.
Never bend your head. Always hold it high.
An old lady who is about to die, an old friend who once saved your life.

Here are my sources:
From scanning the books 'On Writing', 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time', and 'the Silver Chair'. I also looked upon the cover of a Dirt Bike magazine and glanced at the papers which were stapled to the wall next to where I was sitting at the time.

the Sonnet - Facing the Sun

-Facing the Sun-

I have been in the dark, contemplating.
Left in the shadows without my own light,
Nobody has a sure understanding
That to get out of here, you have to fight.
You live and learn, laugh and play just for fun.
To live or die, this is how we all go;
We live in the heat or we dodge the sun,
We face these conditions before our foe.
Get loose from the rules, get loose from the pride,
Life is an adventure, not a kid's game;
Find your true courage as you make your stride,
The anger in you heart turns into flame.
If you go into a fight, give it your all,
Keep up your speed and try not to fail.

Imitation Poetry - White Fog

Imitating the poetry of famous authors can be a great way to practice writing poetry.

Your first writing task is to find a poem that you like by the poet of your choice, and to write an imitation of that poem. The poem should be at least 8-10 lines in length. If the original poem that you choose to imitate is longer than this, you may choose to imitate just a few stanzas instead. The poem you create should reflect your poet's style, including the following:

White Fog - by Sarah Teasdale

Heaven-invading hills are drowned
In wide moving waves of mist,
Phlox before my door are wound
In dripping wreaths of amethyst.

Ten feet away the solid earth
Changes into melting cloud,
There is a hush of pain and mirth,
No bird has heart to speak aloud.

Here in a world without a sky,
Without the ground, without the sea,
The one unchanging thing is I,
Myself remains to comfort me.

-My Imitation Poem-

Sky-touching slopes are lost
Into the dark whirling mist,
The cold air leaves its fresh frost
Which leaves me to clench my fist.

Darkness surrounds the whole earth
The sunset has come too soon,
Starless skies have given birth
Risen up high comes the moon.

Here in a world without a sky
Without my friends, without my eyes,
The only one person left is I
I am the only one who dies.

Journal #7

"The Myth of Technology"In the 1950's, futurists predicted that the invention of labour saving machines such as the household dishwasher and robots in factories meant that the common worker would enjoy a 3 day work week. Ironically, improvements in technology have led to the disappearance of better paying, skilled work and people working harder than ever before. What is your opinion? How much does technology improve your life and the lives of people in general?

That is a good question to ask, seriously, I am not too sure on how to answer that question. Our technology today is beginning to go from performance to sheer entertainment, our music systems with additional functions. I have come to ask myself this question a couple times "Is it actually necessary to add the extra functions to our hand-held technology?" It really depends on how you look at it because you are getting your money's worth spent on such a device. If you know me well enough, I tend to break things accidentally pretty often so what I would ask for is something that can resist a drop test or whatever else can go wrong. The rate of these things breaking is pretty high, I mean I heard a lot of stories about ipods and phones breaking so I'm thinking that they can't have that function.

Technology in general, it takes a lot to produce, but is easy to use. If we use it for assembly production line, it's alright because who can keep up with that? Machines are good to an extent, but what we don't realize is that we need to work for money, like making burgers, they each need to be made with love. There are some things that really shouldn't be done by machine: making burgers, cloning and of course, being a critic. Machines are just what we use to make our lives easier, not to replace our way of life in an overall sense that we only talk through texting and silly expressions.