Anthology Portfolio By: Evan Bianchi
Table of Contents Poetry.................................................................... 1&2 The Stream Where I Played.................................. 3&4 A Change of Wind................................................ 5&6 A Pity, We Were Such a God Invention............... 7&8 Fight Song........................................................... 9&10 I Am Only Me.................................................. 11&12 Questions, Through the Eyes of a Six Year Old Boy.... 13&14 Alone................................................................. 15&16 Past, Present, Future.......................................... 17&18 While You Weren't Here................................... 19&20 Message to Adsent Dad..................................... 21&22 After Filling For Divorce..... ............................ 23&24 Flowers from a New Love after the Divorce..... 25&26 Second Sight...................................................... 27&28 My Lost Love My Lost Child........................... 29&30
I Am the One Who I am the one who Takes the dog on its walks I am the one who Cleans up the dog’s messes I am the one who Protects the dog from needles and thorns I am the one who Feeds the dog what it needs to go on happily I am the one who Is the dog’s best friend I am the one who Is happy for the dog when it finds a new best friend I am the one who Loves the dog for everything it is I am the one who Puts on a smiling face, so that the dog will be happy I am the one who Lies to protect the dad from the truth
Introduction What is poetry? A form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language. But what is it really? What is poetry to us, not just the concrete, generic definition? Poetry is our interpretation of the poetry. Poetry transports us to different ideas and ways of life. When we read or listen to poetry, our imaginations paint us a picture that we never knew existed. But all our pictures are different. When I first started my anthology, it would take me sometimes hours to find a poem that spoke to me. I found that, though all poems are great in someone's eyes, that if they were not great in my eyes, if I didn’t look down at a poem and think this is exactly how I feel or this is the exact situation I’m in, then I was never going to enjoy that poem, no matter how great it was. For this reason, my anthology follows a common theme of divorce, disappointment, failure, but also rising back up again no matter how hard you were pushed down. My dad announced to my sister and I that he was going to be moving out two years ago on the 8th of June. I always knew how common divorce was, but never thought it would ever happen in my family. I remember in the month between my dad telling us and him moving out, I cried every night, wishing that I could go back to being daddy’s little princess, just pleading for a break. About a year after my dad leaving, we had found our swing. We knew that things were never going to go back to normal, so we adjusted. We got used to having four dinners with my dad and three with my mom each week. We had formed two separate families and we were happy. About one year ago, July 2nd, on the one year anniversary of my dad moving out and the day the divorce was finalized, I found letters from a woman to my dad. Six months later, only meeting her about five times, we were moved in with her and her two daughters, and are now planning for the wedding scheduled for July 2nd.
Introduction Through this anthology, I have not only been able cope with everything by writing about stories of the same feelings and situations, but I have also seen the much deeper and amazing power poetry has, which I would otherwise just consider a rhythmic and rhyming piece of literature that’s hard to understand. Poetry can say anything to the right audience. It can make a reader laugh, cry, and ponder all at the same time. It can make the reader feel things in a dozen lines that a whole movie couldn’t. It’s like the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think a poem is worth a thousand pictures. This project has made me realize so much, both personally and literally. I now have no trouble finding poems and I enjoy finding all the deeper meanings they contain, especially when I have those moments where everything clicks and a poem that once seemed to be complete nonsense now makes perfect sense. Poetry has the power to show us things that we could never even imagined, and it is the most beautiful thing that can ever imagine.
Eleanor Farjeon What is Poetry? Who knows?
Not a rose, but the scent of the rose;
Not the sky, but the light in the sky;
Not the fly, but the gleam of the fly
Not the sea, but the sound of the sea;
Not myself, but what makes me
See, hear, and feel something that prose
Cannot: and what it is, who knows? Elledge, Scott. Wider than the Sky: Poems to Grow up with. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.
"What is Poetry? “What is poetry? Who knows?” When I picked this poem to be my first entry, I only picked it because I thought it would be a good introduction, but I didn’t really find anything that I loved about it, so my anthology was not very good. As I went on trying to find more poems, I sometimes took hours trying to find a poem that I really loved because I realized that the ones I had connections to I loved the most. Now, after that experience, I do love this poem because it is describing how poetry is different for everyone because everyone has different personal connections which allow them to really understand and love certain poems. Five of the lines in this poem are metaphors, or more specifically sensory metaphors. Sensory metaphors are among the most common metaphors which refer to our five senses. For example, the first of these metaphors
“Not a rose, but the scent of the rose” is referring to our sense of smell. The
reference to sense is not the only special characteristic of the metaphors found in this poem. These metaphors are working somewhat like analogies, a comparison between two things. For example,
“Not a rose, but the scent of the rose” can be translated into an analogy of “A rose is to the scent of the rose as a poem is to the meaning of the poem.” This analogy is doing the same job as the metaphor because they are both comparing the relationship of a rose and the scent of it or of a fly to the gleam of it to a poem and the meaning of it. This poem is in anapestic trimeter, meaning that the poem’s meter is made mostly of five trochees, strong weak stresses, in each line. Also, each line of the poem rhymes with the line corresponding to the line above or below it. For example,
“knows” and “rose” or “sky” and “fly.” These language
features, plus the repetition of the poem in the word format of the metaphors, make the poem much more memorable and help to allow the reader to internalize the meaning of the poem. Each of the
“Not, but” scenarios. This wording is an example of diction, or word choice. The choice to use “Not, but” scenarios and stage the entire poem as a question gives the poem a quizzical and somewhat argumentative tone, which is “bating” the reader metaphors in this poem, are repeatedly worded in
into finding the deeper meaning. One of the things that I found most interesting about this poem is how
“Poetry” is capitalized and is being used as a proper noun. This use of capitalization tells the
reader right off the bat, that this poem was written with the view that poetry can be very powerful, more powerful than prose, which was not capitalized, when it connects to a reader.
"Who Knows?"
The Stream I played in this stream as a child, When the ravine seemed so endless and wild. The water was clear and smelled so clean, It was so long ago that it seems like a dream. Now this stream is too dirty for my child. The water is scummy and smells vile. The place where I played seems so foul and decayed, And I shed the first tear as the dream starts to fade.
Where I Played Anonymous
Anonymous. "Poems About Pollution." LoveToKnow. The Stream Where I Played, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Poems_About_Pollution
“I played in this stream as a child.” My sister and I used to go into the woods behind our house with our dad and walk along the creek finding small fish, frog, insects and other creatures. We even came up with names for a family of ducks that we always saw. But last summer, when we went to the creek, there were no frog or small fish and the duck family of George, George Jr., and George Jr. Jr. (we were fans of Curious George) were nowhere to be found. This poem is a
“relief” description, a contrast between two things to explain them and make
them stand out, on how the pond transformed from a beautiful place where the author grew up
to be to a dirty and vile place where the author would do anything to keep him/herself and loved ones away. This description of how the stream had changed makes up the moral of the poem, that pollution changed this beautiful place that the author loved into an awful one and it will do the same to others if it is not stopped. The fourth line of the poem,
“It was so long ago that it is
like a dream” is an example of a simile furthermore describing how the steam has changed so much that the author can barely even remember the beauty that it once was. The entire poem is
very dark and a depressing, example of tone, even when reminiscing about how great the stream
used to be because it is always being compared to what it turned into. The punctuation is also an example of tone because the periods and commas at the end of each line make the poem very slow paced and sorrowful. The author of this poem, who choses to be anonymous, chose to use pronouns such as
“I,” an example of diction, instead of proper nouns, allowing the reader to participate in the poem and internalize it and its moral.
The beginning of this poem, first four lines, is in iambic pentameter, five weak/strong stresses in each line, but the meter then changes into anapestic trimeter, three weak / weak / strong stresses in each line. This change of meter is also the change that occurs in
“relief” description. The
more strong stresses in a the faster the line is, so when the meter changed the poem became slower and more sorrowful, like the transition that occurs with the tone of the poem. There is a rhyming scheme of each line rhyming with its corresponding line above or below it. For example,
“child” and “wild” or “decayed” and “fade.” Though this poem has regular meter and
rhyming scheme the poem sounds somewhat colloquial or like regular speak. The author sounds to be having a conversation with someone or possibly him/herself due to the use of descriptive words like he/she is describing it to someone. It is logical that the author is writing or speaking to the reader because he/she is trying to convey the moral of pollution and it devastation to the reader. This whole poem is almost like an argument telling the reader that their pollution destroyed the stream and their pollution will destroy many more.
A Change of Wind Katia Kapovich On the eighth day he coined the word “alone” and saw that it was as good as everything else. A yellow school bus rattled down the lane, a wind blew in a drainpipe, strong, mellifluous.
I brought two empty crates to the parking lot, watched neighbors with briefcases and car keys. At noon a mailman passed by where I sat invisible, like a tree among trees.
Why, why, I asked. I wanted to know why, but only scared a squirrel that dropped his acorn
—
when my voice broke silence unexpectedly a white noise in a wireless telephone.
My club soda went flat in the bottle. With a spit of rain, a wind blew again from the lake. I raised my index finger and touched it, pleading, give me a break, give me a break. Kapovich, Katia. "A Change of Wind." Poetry Foundation. Ed. Arielle Greenberg. Poetry Foundation, 2007. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/57924
In the Judeo-Christian faith we all know about the Seven Days of Creation, but what happened on the eighth? My dad got engaged a month ago to a women that I didn’t even know existed nine months ago. I don’t feel comfortable talking about this to either of my parents because I run the risk of hurting them. Like the main character in this poem I am fighting on alone just pleading for a break. This poem begins with an allusion connecting it to the story of creation when it says
“On the eighth day he coined the word “alone”.” In the Judeo-Christian faith, the story of creation is six days on which God created space, Earth, and all its inhabitants, and a seventh day on which He rested. However, in this poem it is
“On
the eighth day.” In Genesis 2, God created Adam, the first person on Earth. In
“It is not good for this man to be alone.” I believe that this is what the author is referring to when she writes “he coined the word alone.” “On the eighth day god”(god is an example of capitalization because it means that the
Genesis 2:18, God states
god in the poem is not the God of the Judeo-Christian faith) created Adam, but
Adam was not part of creation. An example of the author’s diction or word choice is
“the eighth day” because it is alluding to the fact that Adam is out of creation and that is why he is so alone. Katia Kapovich, the author of this poem, is writing to the ideal reader, the Judeo-Christian community, because other religious communities would not understand the connection. In each stanza there is either a metaphor or simile to give an example of what this lonely life out of creation is like. One example of this is in the last line of the second stanza
“like a tree among trees.” This is a simile further explaining how
Adam is so invisible being out of creation. Or, how in the first line of the last stanza there is the metaphor of
“My club soda went flat in the bottle.” This is a metaphor
to Adam himself, he went flat in the bottle, he became boring, and he became invisible. Adam repeatedly asks why and asks for a break. These similes and metaphors and repetitions are examples of the author’s tone because they are showing Adam’s loneliness and desire to become someone again. This poem is in Iambic pentameter and in Quatrains, and about every other line rhymes. This make the poem easier to remember and internalize than free verse would be. In the second to last line of the last stanza, Adam raises his index finger hoping to feel the touch of God, and for the feel of a human touch, but instead all he felt was the wind blowing from the lake. This final act from Adam shows his utter helplessness and desperation for community.
A Pity, They amputated Your thighs off my hips. As far as I'm concerned They are all surgeons. All of them.
They dismantle us Each from the other. As far as I'm concerned They are all engineers. All of them.
A pity. We were such a good And loving invention. An aeroplane made from a man and wife. Wings and everything. We hovered a little above the earth.
We even flew a little.
We Were Such a Good Invention Yehuda Amichai Amichai, Yehuda. "A Pity, We Were Such a Good Invention." Poetry Foundation. Ed. Arielle Greenberg. Poetry Foundation, 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/58628
If your thigh is amputated from your hip you can not walk. If your invention is dismantled it can’t function. One year ago my parents got a divorce and I could tell you how during the first few months after no one could function. I remember crying every night with my mom because our family had been torn apart. Our family had been amputated. Our family had been dismantled.
“A pity.” This is an example of both tone, word choice to present an emotion or opinion, and punctuation. The word pity is sympathetic, but it is much more sorrowful and it comes from a place of suffering and distress like the rest of the poem. The punctuation also leaves one with this idea of sorrow and distress. The period in this example, and the others in the poem, are full stops which force the reader to slow down and really internalize everything that is being portrayed. This poem is in free verse, meaning that there is no meter or rhythm, and there is no rhyme to the poem. The absence of those language features make the poem sound like it is in colloquial or ordinary speak. This makes the sound less lively and more upset and depressed
like the writer is portraying to be. This is ironical because engineers and surgeons are thought of as phenomenal people whom are making things and fixing things, but in this poem they are destructive people who tore to human beings apart, this is an example of litotes, ironical understatement. In the first two stanzas
“they”, “I” and “we” are repeatedly mentioned. This is
an example of repetition, but also diction. By using a pronoun instead of a noun the reader gets a sense of distance, which is exactly what the author is feeling do to the separation. This also leaves the reasons for the separation open to interpretation by the reader. This poem is built of three stanzas or groups of lines, and each focuses on its own metaphor. Each metaphor is pointing back to the relationship or separation of a husband and wife. In the first stanza we have the metaphor of amputation. The thigh is amputated from the hip by the surgeons, by
“they,” and suddenly the leg is separated into two separate and individual parts. In
the second stanza the invention of the husband and wife is dismantled by the engineers and can suddenly not function. However, in the third stanza we have contrast or relief description from the other metaphors. This metaphor of a airplane made of man and wife flying above the earth highlights on how you can thrive and achieve as a couple, but when you are separated the plane crashes to the ground. Every poetic feature in this poem from punctuation to metaphors makes
We Were Such a Good
the reader, whether they have experienced a separation or not, feel the emotions, loss that is found in a separation.
Invention
Yehuda Amichai
Like a small boat
Fight Song
On the ocean Sending big waves Into motion
Rachel Platten
Like how a single word Can make a heart open I might only have one match
This is my fight song
But I can make an explosion
Take back my life song Prove I'm alright song
And all those things I didn't say
My power's turned on
Wrecking balls inside my brain
Starting right now I'll be strong
I will scream them loud tonight
I'll play my fight song
Can you hear my voice this time?
And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
This is my fight song Take back my life song
A lot of fight left in me
Prove I'm alright song My power's turned on
Like a small boat
Starting right now I'll be strong
On the ocean
I'll play my fight song
Sending big waves
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
Into motion
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Like how a single word Can make a heart open
Losing friends and I'm chasing sleep
I might only have one match
Everybody's worried about me
But I can make an explosion
In too deep Say I'm in too deep (in too deep)
This is my fight song
And it's been two years I miss my home
Take back my life song
But there's a fire burning in my bones
Prove I'm alright song
Still believe
My power's turned on
Yeah, I still believe
Starting right now I'll be strong (I'll be strong) I'll play my fight song
And all those things I didn't say
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
Wrecking balls inside my brain
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
I will scream them loud tonight Can you hear my voice this time?
Know I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Platten, Rachel. "Fight Song - Rachel Platten." - Google Play Music. Google Play, 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rachelplatten/fightsong.html
“This is my fight song/Take back my life song” In the last years my I have adopted this song, especially those stanzas. After everything that had happened to me this last year I found that I could connect to this song more than others. I remember that when I was in Cancun last Thanksgiving with my dad’s family and future step mother, I would replay the lyrics of Fight Song in head and just drift off to space when I needed to. This song gave me and my family the strength to fight through the tough times. This song begins with the simile
“Like a small boat/In the ocean.” This simile is relating
to the author's view of theirself. It gives off this idea of being a loser (The Loser), and a no one because you are not even a speck in a gigantic world. This launch into the song a bit of an indirection because even though there are more sorrowful verses like this one in the rest of the song, this is a mostly inspirational, uplifting and fast paced song, as can be told be the tone. The song starts very slow and sorrowfully, but it later moves into the fast paced and uplifting song that it is liked for. In this song, instead of using commas and other forms of punctuation to form a pause, the author uses the spacing, an example of graphic layout, to slow down and speed up the rate of the song. This is also an example of tone because the rate that someone is talking at can portray their emotions. For example, when someone is depressed and alone because they feel that they are no one, will usually talk at a much slower rate than someone who is very excited. This song is in both Octaves, eight line stanzas, and Quatrains, four line stanzas. It is also in free verse, meaning that it has no systematic rhythm or rhyme. This can make poems and songs harder to remember and internalize, but the author makes up for this by having nonsystematic rhyming and repetition. In most songs at least the chorus repeats, but in this song both the chorus and the verse repeats. There is also quite a bit of repetition and rhyming in the lyrics themselves. For example, in the chorus the lines end
“song” four times and it rhymes with “strong” and “on.” The author of this song only uses pronouns, and example of diction, like “my” and “I” instead of proper nouns because it allows the reader to make personal connections to it because they can “fill in” with
the pronouns to match their situation. This language feature is, in my view, the most important because it allows the reader to connect to the song. I also think that the author used the different language features perfectly because she made it so that people in harder situation could connect so she made it an inspirational and uplifting song.
I am only me, that is all that I can be No more, no less, don’t second guess
I love, I laugh, I live and cry, I’ve wished at times, that I could die Some days I’m funny, others I’m not, sometimes I’m in overdrive and can’t stop
I am a loyal and honest friend,
I Am Only Me Ruth Bourdon
You know that I’ll be there until the end
I am a father/mother, my children my greatest gift, The smiles on their faces always give me a lift
I am a romantic, sensual, and passionate too, to the love of my life, I’ll share this with you
I can be sweet and shy or sassy and bold, I’m quite a handful, or so I’ve been told
I am not perfect, I do have my faults, like when I get scared I put up high walls Or I’m not as forgiving, as I’d sometimes like to be, because when I hurt, I hurt deeply
My logic is all my own, at times misunderstood, because I don’t always do things for my own good
…
I have many facets, like a diamond you see I am only me. Bourdon, Ruth. "I Am Only Me." Poetry of Life. Poetry Life, 06 Apr. 2007. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. http://www.poetryoflife.com/i-am-only-me/
“I am only me, that is all that I can be//I love, I laugh, I live and cry.” In the last year, my life has changed completely and my thoughts of life, other people, and the world as a whole changed too. I found that any situation in anyone’s life and how they cope with that situation, defines who they are as persons. This poem portraits how even in the darkest of times, even times that you want to die, there are always moments where you can’t help, but smile and laugh and think of how much you would miss everyone and everything. The poem begins and ends with the commonly used phrase
“I am only me.” The placement of
this phrase forms the poem into whole, it ties everything together and it leaves the reader with an ending thought of newfound respect for themselves and all of their insecurities. The author of this poem uses very simple and meek words to describe themselves. For example, instead of using the word of
“cry” the author could have used howl or sob to be more descriptive, or instead
“shy” they could have used timid or nervous. The choosing to use simple words instead of
very descriptive ones is an example of diction. Another example of diction is the author's choice of using pronouns like
“I” and “you” instead of using proper nouns like “Rachel” or
“Henry.” By using pronouns the reader is able to place themselves in the poem and really make a connection to it. Also, using “I” capitalizes on the fact that we are each our own person and that that we are all only ourselves. “I have many facets, like a diamond you see…” is an example of a simile meaning that we have many sides and characteristics, some better than others, but all of those features make us who we are and make
“I” “I.”
This poem is in couplets, or two line stanzas. This an example of spacing because each stanza represents a different characteristic or facet of
“I’s” life. For example, the third stanza is about
how some days life can be fun and others it cannot, but the fourth stanza is about being loyal and honest to friends. The punctuation in this poem is mostly commas, which represent brief pauses. The only full stop, represented by a period, is at the very end of the poem, which brings the poem to a close. For the most part, each line rhymes with its corresponding line in a stanza or with other words in the line. For example in the second line. This poem is in free verse, meaning the there is no repetitive pattern of meter. All of the language features in this poem, from diction with the use simple of simple words and pronouns to the free verse, make it seem less artistic and metaphorical than other poems. This makes the poem seem more like a regular conversation with someone, instead of an artistic poem. This kind of poetry is called colloquial, meaning regular speak. This poem is a very casual, but beautiful way of saying that we are all different individuals who live a life of sometimes absolut sadness, but also absolut joy.
Questions, Through The Eyes Of A 6 Year Old Boy
Can you tuck me into bed, Mama? Don't forget to kiss me goodnight. Can you tell me a story, Mama,
Adam T. Cumberbatch
Before you turn out the lights?
Can you kiss my forehead, Mama, Like you used to do before? Can you at least tell me you love me, Mama, Before you close the bedroom door?
Why don't you wanna talk to me, Mama? I miss the sound of your voice. Mama, can you please say somethin'? I guess if you don't, it's your choice.
But Mama, I have to tell you somethin'...
Even though you're quiet, Mama, I know what you're goin' through. I understand why you cry now, Mama, 'Cause I'm hurtin' too.
Why'd you have to leave us, Daddy? I still had some growin' up to do. Did we somehow make you mad, Daddy? Or were we not good enough for you? Do you know that Mama cries at night, Daddy? I think it's 'cause she sleeps alone. Daddy, can you please call the house tonight, 'Cause Mama is waitin' by the phone.
You know Mama still loves you, Daddy? But I hate you for what you've done. You put tears in Mama's eyes, Daddy. And in the eyes of YOUR son.
I thought you said you'd never leave, Daddy?
Cumberbatch, Adam T. "Questions, Through The Eyes
You said we'd be pals, you and me.
Of A 6 Year Old Boy." Family Friend Poems. N.p.,
But you broke your promise, Daddy, Like you broke this family.
Feb. 2006. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/questions
“I thought you said you'd never leave, Daddy?” As a little kid, I knew that divorces occurred, but I never thought that it would happen to anyone in my family, especially my own parents. My dad was the one that wanted the divorce, my mom did not. As a result, I always blamed my dad for what happened and was angry and resistant to him, but I was sympathetic for my mom. My dad broke our family, and my mom, sister and I have to live with it. This entire poem, written by Adam Cumberbatch, is an example of contrast between two things. For example, how the
“relief” description,
“6 year old boy” in this poem, feels about
each of his parents after the separation, and the contrast of his family rituals at the present
“Mama” giving him a kiss on the forehead. At the end of the poem, the author uses the simile “But you broke your promise, Daddy, / Like you broke this family.” The “breaking of the promise” and the “breaking of the family” are one and the same time and in past times, like his
because breaking of the promise to remain as a family always there for each other, broke the family. The author’s use of diction, word choice, in this poem, shows the different emotions that the boy felt after the separation. For example, in the third line of the second stanza the child say to his mother
“Can you at least tell me you love me, Mama,” this shows that the boy does still
love his mother and that he is relying on her for support. But when the boy is addressing to his father, he says
“But I hate you for what you've done,” this clearly shows his resentment for
what his father has done and he is distancing himself from him. Another example of diction is the use of abbreviations, such as
“goin’,” “hurtin’,” and “‘cause” to keep the rhythm of the
poem, but more importantly to make it sound like the speech of a young boy. The rhythm, or meter of the poem is lines one and three of each quatrain stanza is in iambic tetrameter and lines two and four in trochaic tetrameter. Regardless of the type of meter, each line has a masculine ending, meaning that each line ends in a stressed syllable. The rhyming scheme is similar to the scheme of the meter because lines two and four rhyme and lines one and three usually end with the same word, either the repetition of
“Mama” or “Daddy.” The tone of this
poem, which is inspired by the diction, is over all very quizzical, due to all the questions the boy poses, and also very slow and somewhat depressing, due to the punctuation and the full stops at almost every line, slowing the poem down. At the middle of the poem the boy switches from addressing to his
“Mama” to speaking to his “Daddy.” When addressing his
mother, the boy is sympathetic and understanding to his mother, but is also wanting for his old life and family back. On the other hand, when the boy is addressing his father he is angry and resistant to him for the choices that he made that broke the family.
Alone
Jack Gilbert
I never thought Michiko would come back after she died. But if she did, I knew it would be as a lady in a long white dress. It is strange that she has returned as somebody's dalmatian. I meet the man walking her on a leash almost every week. He says good morning and I stoop down to calm her. He said once that she was never like that with other people. Sometimes she is tethered on their lawn when I go by. If nobody is around, I sit on the grass. When she finally quiets, she puts her head in my lap and we watch each other's eyes as I whisper in her soft ears. She cares nothing about the mystery. She likes it best when I touch her head and tell her small things about my days and our friends. That makes her happy the way it always did. Finch, Annie. "Alone." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/58412
“I never thought Michiko would come back after she died.” This poem is told in the perspective of a husband who has lost his wife. The man feels very alone without her. I remember calling my dad the night that he moved out. He had announced to my sister and I two weeks before that he was going to leave and those two weeks of knowing, but him still living with us had been very difficult and awkward and one could tell that he was not in a good place. But, when I called him the first night of him living in the apartment, I had never heard him sound so lonely or isolated in my entire life. This poem starts with the
“widow” husband stating that he never thought his wife Michiko,
Japanese for Child of Beauty, an example of diction which is describing who the wife was, would ever come back after death and that if she ever did, she would be a lady in a long white dress, a wedding dress. This is an indirection, author begins the poem and then transitions it into something else, because the husband then states that the wife did come back, but as a dalmatian. Dalmatians are symbols of friendliness and sensitivity, like you would think of a wife or a mother. This is an example of personification because the animal was given human qualities. When the husband sees the dalmatian, he sees her leased to her new owner or tethered to the lawn, this represents a different kind of relationship from the one that the husband and wife had. Differently, in the other relationship, the dalmatian is thought of as property of it’s owner, but in the relationship between the husband and wife, the two partners stood on level grounds, as equals, who love each other. This is an example of
“relief” description, use of contrast to describe things or relationships, because it shows the contrast between the two relationships.
This poem is in free verse, meaning that it has no rhyme or meter to the poem. Because of this, the poem sounds as though it is regular speech or colloquial. The tone of this poem is very dismal at times, due to the fact that the wife can no longer be with whom she loves, but it is also uplifting that even when the wife is transformed into a new being, she can still see her loved one and receive the happiness of him telling her small things about his day and friends like he used to. In the fifteenth line the husband say
“She cares nothing about
the mystery.” This shows that she cares nothing about what happened to her, but is only grateful for the time that they get to spend together, just like how any friendly dalmatian or other dog would.
Present
Past
Future
Hali My eyes glistening with tears,
Everything's moving with no place to go.
But not yet fallen.
I tell myself that everything's going to be ok,
I'm crying, but they're silent tears.
But it's seizures.
I'm crying on the inside so you are unable to
The time it took to change me.
see
The life I had, I can't have back.
All the pain running through me.
Yet I can't see why all these tears feel so unreal. I'm not the same, my words are still unsaid.
I never sleep,
So instead, I write them on paper.
For fear of what tomorrow might bring.
What I hide is buried deep within me.
How can I be so lost In a place I know so well?
So many tears I have shed in the dark,
How can I be so broken
Hidden away in the privacy of my own
In a family so together?
thoughts,
How can I be so confused
Only to be shelved with morning's first light
Surrounded by so many?
Because of no courage to speak of my pain. And it hurts to know that I'll never be the same,
Always forced to fight.
Knowing I'll never be the girl I used to be. If
A fight I never seem to win.
you only knew what I've been through,
God only knows such a fact.
Or maybe you could take a walk in my shoes,
I've fought for so long.
Because this is sometimes how I feel.
When will this ever end? Sometimes I walk past everyone as if I were invisible.
Mali. "Past, Present, Future." Family Friend Poems. N.p., 17 Feb. 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/past-present-future-3
“And it hurts to know that I'll never be the same, Knowing I'll never be the girl I used to be.” During the summer of 2014, I remember sitting at the bench, away from everyone else, during recess on day. I had been writing a letter to my dad, that he would never see because I did not have the courage to give it to him. I remember writing
“I will never be your little princes again.” I didn’t realize this
until later, but I would never be his little prince, because I had lost my childhood, when everything changed. This poem begins with the metaphor also acting as an allusion
“My eyes
glistening with tears, But not yet fallen.” This metaphor alludes to the commonly used metaphor
“on the edge of the cliff.” You are able to hold back the tears for
as long as you can, but one little thing will happen that just pushes you over the edge. "Shed them in the dark, Hidden away the privacy of my own thoughts,” this is an example of diction or word choice. By using words like
“dark” and
“hidden,” the reader is automatically transported to that dark place inside of their own thoughts. This and the choice of using pronouns, such as “I” and “you”, instead of proper nouns, allows the reader to personally connect to the poem. The tone of this poem is very distressful, hopeless, and different. The difference is shown through
“relief” description, which is contrast between two things to make
their characteristics stands out. In the second to last line of the poem, the girl says
“or maybe you could take a walk in my shoes.” This example of “relief” description, because it shows contrast between the life of the girl and the lives of others. This poem is in free verse, meaning that it has no rhythm or rhyme. The first four stanzas of the poem, consist of lines of short, complete sentences with periods at the end of almost each line. However, in the last stanza, the sentences are much longer and are far over one line each. These characteristics would be an example of graphic layout. The change in layout, occurring in the last stanza, is also when the poem changes from random characteristics of the girl to complete thoughts and conclusions. The fact that this poem is in free verse and the graphic layout of the poem, make the poem colloquial, or of natural speaking. This is yet another way that the author allows reader to fully connect to the poem because the girl is writing down the emotions and usually that writing would not be musical and rhythmic like some poetry is.
While You Weren’t Here Janet Michael While you weren't here
While you weren't here
I cried every night
A whole lot got changed
A million tears fell
My life became different
Still my heart wasn't right
My world rearranged
While you weren't here
While you weren't here
I did what I could
I had to learn to be alone
Hoping against hope
To stand on my two feet
My decisions were good
To make my own home
While you weren't here
So that's where I am now
I gained some in age
At this stage of my life
Things just went on
Still scared and alone
And life turned a page
Still coping with strife
While you weren't here
And oh how I wish that
I just tried to go on
Things could be different
Knowing what didn't kill me
That I could go back
Would only make me strong
To a time in the past
Michael, Janet. "While You Weren't Here." Family Friend Poems. Life Poems, 28 Feb. 2006. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/while-you werent-here
To a time before You weren't here
“While you weren't here a whole lot got changed my life became different my world rearranged.” Over the last two years, my life did rearrange. After my dad left, instead of eating dinner with my family every night, I alternate dinners with my mom and dad through the week, I sleepover at my dad’s on Fridays, I spend half of each day of the weekends with either parent, and I lost my childhood. This poem begins with the beginning of each stanza, when the author is speaking of the past,
“while you weren’t here.” The repetition of this phrase
continuous until the last three stanzas, when the author begins to speak in the present tense. The beginning with past and ending with present tense, also marks the change of stories, which forms in media res. In media res is when a poem starts in what seems to be the middle of a story. In this case, the poem begins with the character telling a story, from the middle of the story, of mourning a loss, and then proceeds to move into the present tense. The authors use of the phrase
“to time before you weren’t here,” at the end of the poem, an example of
diction, shows conclusion and portrays a constant wanting of the character to get their old life back. This shows that the character is constantly being held back from complete happiness, like a runner using a resistance band, they can move forward, but not easily, an example of tone. This phrase also shows contrast between how things were before an example of
“they” left and how things then became. This is
“relief” description because describes two things by showing contrast between them.
This poem is in free verse, because it has no continuing meter, or rhythm. Although, this poem is not colloquial, regular speak, because it has a continuing rhyming scheme, of alternating rhymes, like lines two and four rhyming. There is no punctuation in this poem what soever. This lack of punctuation forms running lines, line with no stops or pauses. The graphic layout of this poem is quatrains, or four line stanzas. In the first stanza, the author uses a hyperbole, an extreme exaggeration, saying that
“a million tears fell.” This whole poem
expresses both the pain of a loss when it first occurs, but also the life long resistance that it leaves one.
Message To Absent Dad Jessica Styles
Dad, why did you leave me when I needed you so much. I tried to reach out to you for that loving touch. I have realized now that I'm no daddy's princess. When I was younger, I actually felt much less. I understand now that it wasn't meant to be, Now my life is better, I have an extended family. I always wanted a sister, and you have given me two, So I will give you credit where credit is due. I realize now I wasn't the reason for you leaving. The time has passed now, and it's done the healing. You may look back and regret the time that's passed. You need to build a relationship, one that's going to last. I don't want you growing old not knowing me. Dad, you are part of my life, you're my family. Styles, Jessica. "Message To Absent Dad." Family Friend Poems. N.p., 2 June 2014. Web. 03 May 2016. http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/message-to-absent-dad
“I have realized now that I'm no daddy’s princes.” When I was little, I never thought of myself as a “daddy’s princess.” My sister and I thought that “being a princess” was too girly and would never allow ourselves to be equated to them, but now that there is separation between my dad and I, all I want is to be his little princess. This poem begins in Media Res, or in the middle of things, because it is starting in the middle the girl reaching out to her father for the first time. This makes the reader play catch up, for the remainder of the poem. By doing this, the reader is inclined to read the poem several times, so that they can fully internalize it. The poem seems to be a very plain, possible letter, due to its graphic layout of one large stanza, to the girl’s father, but has a very important, continuous metaphor. This metaphor compares the relationship between the girl and her father to Adam and his father God in the Judeo-Christian faith. In the Judeo-Christian faith, God created Adam, in the Imago Dei (image of God), on the sixth day of creation, as his first
“child” (follower of God). Painted on the ceiling of the Sixteenth Chapel, is the painting The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo, which this poem is alluding to. The painting depicts Adam, on earth, reaching out to God, in heaven, stated in the poem as
“ reach out to you for
that loving touch.” This metaphor/allusion, continuous through the poem, due to the diction.
“I always wanted a sister, and you have given me two,” which alludes to Adam’s loneliness and wanting, and God’s creation of Eve for Adam, a sister in Christ. Another example of this, is the statement “I wasn’t the reason for you leaving,” which For example, in the statement
alludes to eternal break between God and the Imago Dei, between the father and his children, due to original sin, committed by Adam and Eve. Though Adam and Eve committed this sin, it was to the fault of the serpent, who tricked into committing the sin, that God broke away. The tone of this poem is very cloudy, distant and hopeful, but yet hopeless. This wide range of emotions is caused by the girl’s happiness that she is willing to have a relationship with her father again, but also to worry that they never did have a strong relationship and they never will. Another reason for the tone of this poem, is the punctuation. Every line ends with either a comma or a period, which slow down the rate of the poem, which shows that the girl is serious about what she is presumably writing and is writing her feelings as she goes. The meter of this in iambic hexameter, meaning six iambs in a line. The poem is also in couplets, meaning two rhyming lines, one after the other. These language features make the poem very methodical, but also beautiful and conveys the contrasting feelings that the girl has.
After Filing for Divorce Chelsea Rathburn Your paperwork in, it’s like the morning after a party, the shaken survey of damage, a waste of bottles where there was laughter. It all seems so much more than you can manage: the accusing cups and stubbed-out cigarettes, the sun assaulting the window, your throbbing head. It’s not enough to face your own regrets (though they’re coming back fast, the things you said) because someone’s trailed bean dip across the table, someone’s ground salsa in the rug with his shoe. So you start to clean, as much as you are able, and think how far those hours have fled from you, before the hangover and your sour tongue, when you felt lovely, and infinite, and young.
Rathburn, Chelsea. "After Filing for Divorce." Poetry Foundation. A Raft of Grief, 2013. Web. 23 May 2016. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poemsandpoets/poems/detail/56514
“So you start to clean, as much as you are able.” This is exactly what I did after my dad left, both figuratively and literally. I went around the house and took away every picture, and every momentum that showed he was ever part of the family. I also cleaned up inside, so that I could have a fresh start to the new part of my life, just as the poem says I (you) did. This poem begins in Media Res, directly after juncture the readers must
“you” filed for divorce. By beginning at this
“play catch up” as to why the marriage ended. The author also does
not directly mention in the poem itself, excluding the title, what the paperwork was, an example of indirection, and the reader must deduce that through the simile. Nearly the entire poem is a simile comparing marriage and divorce to a party and the morning after. This simile
“you”. For example, “It’s not enough to face “your” own regrets, because someone’s trailed bean dip across the table.” This shows both “your” regret for throwing a party, “your” regret for throwing “your”
shows the comparisons between the to and what affect they have on
marriage, but also having to physically see the damage that has been done and have to pick up the pieces both inside and out. Through the course of the poem one sees many examples of the
“you” have for playing a role in the divorce, just like the guiltiness of throwing a party. One of these examples is the phrase “sour tongue” which is an example both diction and a metaphor. The literal meaning of “sour tongue” is the swelling or soreness of the tongue guiltiness that
due to smoking and drinking, like what was done at the party. In addition to the useage of the literal meaning, the author also used the figurative meaning, of
“your” rudeness, and ill speak
“your” partner, which led to the divorce. Many of the objects that were described in “your” shaken survey of the damage are example of personification. For example, the “accusing cups” showing your guilt of throwing a party or “the sun assaulting the window,” which is also working as an allusion to the idea of the to
window to the soul. The room of the soul is now dark and empty and is attacked by the contrasting lightness of the sun. The meter of this poem is in anapestic tetrameter, of four anapests in a line. There is an alternating rhyming scheme of couplet rhymes on the odd numbered lines. The tone of this poem is not only formed by the diction and the simile use, but also in the punctuation and graphic layout. At the end of each line of the poem there is some form of punctuation slowing it down and making it same more regretful and discombobulated. The graphic layout of the poem is also very unsystematic, being in one large stanza, instead of being broken up into sections. These language features make the tone regretful, guiltful and discombobulated, in contrast to the loving, infinite, and young tone of before.
Flowers from a New Love after the Divorce Paisley Rekdal
Cut back the stems an inch to keep in bloom.
because they’re beautiful. They glow
So instructs the florist’s note
inside your crystal vase. And yet
enclosed inside the flowers.
the flowers by themselves are nothing:
Who knew what was cut
only a refraction of color that,
could heal again, the green wounds close,
in a week or two, will be thrown out.
stitching themselves together?
Day by day, the water lowers. The red-
It doesn’t matter. The flowers, red
and-white heads droop, blacken at the stems.
and white, will bloom a while, then wither.
It doesn’t matter. Even cut stems heal.
You sit in an unlit room and watch
But what is the point of pain if it heals?
the vase throw crystal shadows through the dark.
Some things should last forever, instructs
The flowers’ colors are so lovely they’re painful.
the florist’s note. Pleasure,
In a week, you’ll have to throw them out.
says one god. Shame, says another.
It’s only hope that makes you take out scissors,
Venus heads, they call these flowers.
separate each bloom and cut
In a week or two, you’ll lose the note,
where you last measured. Did you know
have to call the florist up.
Venus was said to turn into a virgin
With sympathy, you’ll think he says.
each time she bathed? She did it
Perhaps: With love. It doesn’t matter.
as a mark of love. She did it
You’ve stopped bathing. Alone,
so as to please her lovers. Perhaps,
you sit before the crystal
overwhelmed by pain,
vase refracting you in pieces
she eventually stopped bathing
through the dark. You watch
altogether. It doesn’t matter. It’s a pleasure
the pale skin bloom inside it, wither.
to feel the green nubs stripped, watch the stems
You petal, inch by inch.
refresh under your blade. They’re here
You turn red and white together.
Rekdal, Paisley. "Flowers from a New Love after the Divorce - PoetryFoundation." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2012. Web. 25 May 2016. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/56264
“But what’s the point of pain if it heals?” About a year ago, I found letters in my dad’s draw from a women, telling him that she loved him. The night I found letters was the one year anniversary of my dad moving out and the day that the divorce was finalized. Though the pain I felt when finding the letters was the worst I had ever, I would have found those letters a million times over again because I would never be the self sufficient, caring, and mature person I am today if I hadn’t. This poem begins with a section of the florists note
“Cut back the stems an inch to keep in
bloom,” in Media Res because it is starting at a point in the middle of the character starting to date again after the divorce. This line begins the metaphor, which continues through the rest of the poem. This metaphor describes the new love/relationship of the character after their divorce, through flowers. In the title, one finds that the flowers were given by a new love and that they are so beautiful, an example of diction, it is painful for the person. This
“new love,” but also their connection to their old love. “It’s only hope that makes you take out the scissors,” this phrase again states the shows the characters wanting to be with the
characters wanting to be with the new love, but it also shows that they have come to realize that they can never be with anyone else but their old love. From this, one can deduce that that the character did not want the divorce and perhaps feels regretful that they played a part in their partner wanting it to end. The tone of this poem is very dark, and regretful, and somewhat painful because the reader can plainly see how much pain the character is in and how much they want to move on with their life, but just can’t. The section on Venus, in this poem, is another metaphor describing the character. The metaphor states that every time Venus bathed she became a virgin and that she did it to please her lovers. This shows how she believed she could an example of
“start fresh” with each new love, unlike the character in this poem,
“relief” description. But, the poem then states that Venus stopped bathing
because it was too painful to never have a love that lasted forever, like the character. This poem is colloquial, meaning that it has no regular rhythm or rhyming pattern. This makes the poem more serious a depressing adding to the tone.
“But what is the point of pain
if it heals? Some things should last forever.” This is the most meaningful line of the poem, it leaves the reader with an ending thought that they must ponder and also states, in the florist’s note, that some thing, like relationships or loneliness, should last forever because that are what make you, you.
Second Sight Tom Sleigh In my fantasy of fatherhood, in which I'm your real father, not just the almost dad arriving through random channels of divorce,
—
you and I don't lie to one another
shrugging each other off when words get the best of us but coming full circle with wan smiles. When you hole up inside yourself, headphones and computer screen taking you away, I want to feel in ten years that if I'm still alive you'll still look at me with that same wary expectancy, your surreptitious cool-eyed appraisal debating if my love for you is real. Am I destined to be those shark-faced waves that my death will one day make you enter?
—
You and your mother make such a self-sufficient pair in thrift stores looking for your prom dress, what father could stand up to your unsparing eyes gauging with such erotic calculation your figure in the mirror? Back of it all, when I indulge my second sight, all I see are dead zones:
no grandchildren, no evenings at the beach, no bonfires in a future that allows one glass of wine per shot of insulin. Will we both agree that I love you, always, no matter my love's flawed, aging partiality? My occupation now is to help you be alone. Sleigh, Tom. "Second Sight." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2015. Web. 31 May 2016 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/57824
“You and your mother make such a self-sufficient pair.” After about a year of my dad moving out, we, my dad, sister, and I, had become our own group and had adjusted to the new normal. We had become a self-sufficient group, until I found letters from my now future stepmother, forcing the group to expand and for us to adjust to the new, new normal. This poem begins with an example of
“Relief” description. This description explains the
relationship between the father and his step daughter, a relationship of lies to protect each other from the truth, in contrast to the relationship of a standard father and daughter. Through this description, the reader immediately sees that the father and step daughter do not have a good relationship, but that they still protect each other like family. The author then takes an odd turn to the poem by stating that the father would like the daughter to always look at him with the
“same wary expectancy, your surreptitious cool-eyed
appraisal,” and example of diction, describing what the step daughter thinks of the father. This is odd because the father had just stated that he did not like the relationship he had with his step daughter, but he now wants to continue with the same relationship. This is an interesting choice by the author because it confuses the reader, but also forces him/her to pay even more attention to see the reasons why. The reader finds his/her answer when the father states that he finds the step daughters figure to be erotic, or sexy, but is also clearly ashamed with those feelings. For example, when the father states
“Am I destined to be
those shark-faced waves,” which, through its diction, states that he is destined for hell due to his feelings, or when he states that in his
“second sight,” sight of the future, he sees no
happiness because he doesn’t deserve that happiness for what he feels. This situation that the father is put in adds to the poem’s tone, of being very depressing, hopeless and dark, but also, as seen at the end, somewhat loving, and selfless because the father puts his feeling behind him and makes it his occupation, his duty to protect the stepdaughter and and give her a life where she can prosper. This poem’s meter, rhythmic scheme, is a mix of iambs and anapests which both slow the poem and make it more depressing, adding to the tone. There is also a significant amount of punctuation, whether commas, or periods, or question marks, which add to the slowness of the poem. The graphic layout of the poem is very simple, in just one stanza, making the poem seem to be some sort of a letter from the step father to the step daughter stating his flaws and insecurities, but also stating that he will be there her when she needs, just like any other father.
My Lost Love My Lost Child
Garrett W. Wheeler
I wonder what you're doing and how you're living life what new things did you learn today and how did you sleep last night
did you feel raindrops on your face or sunshine in your eye of all the questions left unknown the biggest one is why
why can't we be together why can't I watch you grow why can't I guide you through this world this I just don't know
but I promise we'll be together no matter how long it seems just know you're always in my heart and always in my dreams Wheeler, Garrett W. "My Lost Love My Lost Child." Family Friend Poems. Divorce Poem, 2006. Web. 01 June 2016. http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/my-lost-child
“Why can't we be together/why can't I watch you grow/why can't I guide you through this world.” Through my parents getting a divorce, through all the hardness of that, I would say that the hardest thing for me was losing my childhood. When everything happened, my sister and I took it upon ourselves to protect our parents. Instead of being the children we became the parents and with that comes much more worry. Though becoming an adult is the hardest thing I have had to face, I am grateful I did because I am now far more mature, caring, understanding, and morally true to myself than I ever would have been otherwise. This poem begins in Media Res, due to it beginning at a juncture that forces the reader to
“play catch up” and find out to whom the character is reaching out to and why. This poem also begins in “relief” description by stating “I wonder what you're doing,” an example of diction by using the second person to describe the person the character might have been and showing that they are two different individuals, because it shows that the character’s life and the life she could have had if her parents did not separate are completely different. In this example and throughout the poem, the reader can see the characters wondering what their life could have been like and also some resentment that they couldn’t live that life due to the decisions made by their parents. This is an example of the tone of the poem, though the poem is wondering and dark, it is also somewhat uplifting to see at the end how mature the character has become due to the separation so that they can have these thoughts, but also that no matter what they and the person they could have been are always together in the character’s heart and dreams. The person that the character could have been, is an example of personification because since the divorce of the character's parents did occur, the person that they could have been was lost in a literal state of being. Through this, the characteristic that
“you” is given are human characteristics to a nonliving thing. The meter of this poem is made up of a series of iambs that make up each line, but do not have a repeating number of iambs in each. The rhyming scheme of the poem is a bit more coordinated, by having alternating rhyming lines of two per stanza, which are quatrains as shown in the graphic layout. There is also no punctuation or capitalization, excluding the beginning of the poem, which forms running lines, lines with no end. All the language features mentioned in this paragraph show a very simplistic form of writing and show that the author might have been trying to write in the way a child would write, or how one might write to a child, like
“you.” This shows the reader what age group the characters are and
gives the poem a more childish view on a serious opinion.