Poetry

I have always enjoyed reading poetry, but for some reason I have not read any for a long time. I like that they are full of emotion, and a lot of poems that I have enjoyed the most relaxed me when I read them. Some I have read, did not made any sense. I did not enjoy reading those kind of poems. I just hoped that I do not have to read the type that I don't enjoy, for this class. So far they have been good, and I had not heard any of them before. As a teenager, I did read a lot of poetry and I had always thought that music seemed like poetry because it is so expressive and has a rhythm, just like poetry does. So far I have not learned anything new about it , but I am curios to see if I do.

Of the poems that I have read so far for this class, I enjoyed reading "So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from Americans" by Jimmy Santiago Baca. I found it interesting to find a subject like this written as a poem because it seemed like it would have made a great article in a magazine or newspaper. But then I figured it would have lost some of it power. It was a very emotional poem and obviously the speaker had strong feelings about this subject. I related to the speaker because I don't think that it is fair to say someone can not come to America to work. America is a mixture of people from all over that came here to find a better life, or work, when they could not find it where they were from. Mexicans may have jobs here, but they also spend money here which creates the need for business, and business creates more jobs. I am glad to see someone find a creative way to express their feelings on a subject like this.

Poetry Experiences

I have had some experience with poetry, but not a whole lot. I went to a small high school and there wasn't much emphasis on poetry. I had one class that had anything to do with poetry and we didn't spend a whole lot of time on it. That class was my sophmore year so there isn't a whole lot that I remember about it. I like simple poems that are easy to read and understand and I like poems that rhyme because I find them easier to read and understand. I like to find the rhythm in a poem too. I find poetry intimidating because it's not all laid out for the reader. The reader of poetry has to actually think and try to find meaning behind it. I ended up reading through a few of the poems from this unit more than once because I didn't get a whole lot out of them after reading them only once. Based on my past experiences with poetry, I have mixed feelings about it. Some of the longer poems I found tougher than the shorter ones so that part was confirmed, but because of the poem "Jump Cabling," I was reminded that not all poetry is hard to interpret. I have mixed feelings about the rest of the units on poetry, but I am going to give it my best shot!

Poetry

I have not had as much experince in poetry as other things. I do, however, think it is very interesting and I am excited to be reading and doing poetry. I am not very good at writing poems, I do like to read them though. I always feel that poetry should rhyme, eventhough I know that it does not necessarly have to rhyme. Agian I am very excited about this unit!

Poetry and Me

I am very excited about entering the poetry section of this class as I find poetry extremely interesting. Unfortunately I don’t have that much experience writing poems other than recently writing my son a poem on his Valentines card, although it was the classic Roses are Red, Violets are Blue... he loved it. Reading it, on the other hand, I do have some experience with. When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband would read poems to my belly each night so I got familiar and started to enjoy poetry. I do find some poems intimidating due to the deeper meaning that I sometimes don’t get. I went in to this unit with an open mind and just started reading; I remembered a lot of what I read but also learned new things as well. Growing up, I had always thought of poetry as this romantic thing, only to have found out that it can be a platform for people to express their opinions on many other things besides love: politics, war, culture, and the environment. It can be pretty powerful.

My Relationship With Poetry

What do I think of poetry? I started thinking how reading poetry is kind of like a relationship with a guy. To put it simply, sometimes you love them and totally get it, and sometimes you just don't know what their point is or why you waste your time. My feelings towards poetry are very similar. In the past, I have found poems that really moved me and stirred a longing within to have same ability to capture such incomprehensible things, such as thoughts and feelings, in lines of black and white words. Other times, I have become frustrated with the vagueness or my own inability to find any meaning in a certain line or the entire work. But, I've learned it's the same with guys and poetry, you can always appreciate them for their unique ability to distract and entertain you, whether or not you fully understand their message. Keeping an open mind also helps!

Poetry and Me

I am really going to enjoy this portion of our class. Poetry has always held a special place in my heart. I took 2 poetry classes in high school--reading and writing poetry. I have written several poems, one of which was published when I was very young in our church bulletin and I won $5.00 for it at the time. I have not written poetry for quite awhile so that may be difficult for me now but I am a collector of poems and I have kept all of my favorite poems throughout the years and have even started a "scrapbook" with designer pages. I love applying poems to every day life and sometimes they make me sad, sometimes they cheer me up. We recently had to have our beloved cat of 14 years, Tuffy, put to sleep and it was very difficult for all of us. I read the poem, "Four Feet in Heaven" by Alice Chase and it was very comforting to me to know that Tuffy is being taken care of in Heaven.