THIS IS mE
I would like to dedicate this book to every person on this planet as of right now. Even those children whose lives just began and the elders whose lives have been long but not not much longer and everyone else in between. All these people deserve to be recognized because they all have an effect on this Earth, and the Earth has an effect on me.
In this poem, the words all flow together and sometimes don’t really make sense. The tone of this poem is flowing and smooth, and a bit confusing, like a dream. Dreams, especially mine, make absolutely no sense. In this poem, I chose to use no periods until the very end of the poem because to me, a period symbolizes the end of a thought. In dreams, if the thought ends, it will never come back. I chose to make my concrete poem a sailboat on water because, like I say in my poem, you are forever tugged along with the current of your dream, and you have no option to stop it. Another thing that I chose to do was make the water out of words. These are the words that I associate with dreaming. The words are running off the page because my view of dreams is ever changing as I do. The font also affects the feeling of the poem. The slightly slanted font of the sailboat represents how dreams are easy enough to understand, but a little off sometimes. The cursive style of the water shows flow, like fluid.
It is pure magic when you soar above the enchanted forest on wings of gossamer and view the tiny sailors floating over the water on sailboats cresting
the velvet ocean and then feel yourself being pulled along with the current in the ever swirling, ever moving water with no choice but to follow the changing and twisted story only to realize that you were just dreaming.
silk dream purity rest life fantas possibility passion smooth perfection coo peaceful sway endless warmth comfort sleep nspire clear true glisten safety mystica ruth vivid magic meaningful calm child magine vision flow silk soft floating tim reedom decision love night Jacqueline D.
RAIN
tiny drops spatter:
tap, tap, tap on the window as the spring wind blows -Jacqueline D. I wrote this haiku about my favorite season: spring. I love this season for many reasons, but most of all, I love it because of the rain. It’s written in the western/Japanese twist. That means I used the standard five, seven, five form, but I also included a kigo (seasonal reference) and a kireji (separation). My kigo is the word spring. The kireji I added is at the end of the first line, and it separates the description from the sound.
At the top of a mountain, Looking down with just a little fear But believing, knowing you can do it. That is why I love to ski. If you were to be able to fly, This is what it would feel like. The swift, salient speed lifts me And that is why I love to ski. I do not do many sports Nothing else rings my bell. But this isn’t a sport! It’s life. And that is why I love to ski. I am not a human, but the wind. Not a person, but a bird. I can let go of who I am And that is why I love to ski.
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In this poem, I used repetition ended each stanza with “And that is why I love to ski.” I chose to do this because this poem is set up like a list of all the things I love about skiing. I used a metaphor to say I am a the wind, and then say I am a bird, because I compare skiing to flying earlier on in the poem. In the third line of the second stanza, I use alliteration (swift, salient speed) to emphasize my point.
To some, treasure is gems, silver and gold
Riches and wealth men go after with greed.
But the real gems are not something you hold
Love, care and family is all I need. In the chilly mornings, waking up snug,
And catching fall leaves falling from above, Or being pulled into a big bear hug.
Only family can provide this love.
I know I will forever be cared for.
Because my family knows me the best.
It is impossible to ask for more.
Nothing could ever put my love to rest. I know they will always be there for me,
And we all stand together, strong and free. Jacqueline D.
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This poem has the standard A-B-A-B, C-D-C-D,
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E-F-E-F, GG rhyme scheme
of a sonnet. The theme of this sonnet would be that family is irreplaceable. I wrote this poem with a happy, loving tone. I made this choice to portray my true feelings about my family, and I felt like I did this while sticking to the !
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typical love story tone of a sonnet. The background I chose is of a pile of gold. I chose this because on line three and four of the first stanza say “But the real gems are not something you hold. Love, care and family is all I need.� This is comparing these three things to treasure, and in the picture, I have a whole pile of it.
Music The notes start ! ! to flow together, ! ! daintily picking out a melody coming straight from the sky ! ! ! ! or the sea or the air. I am just a puppet, ! ! ! ! played by the Earth itself. I am enveloped by delicate threads of sound wound together to form an intricate patchwork of notes, warm and inviting. Time passes slowly as I run my fingers across the strings and vibrant sounds burst though the veil of existence. They all lead each other forward, like a river, ever moving or the wind, ever blowing. I am tugged along with the constant shift of the stream of emotion. Colors and thoughts and music all merge together to form this song, bringing out feelings I did not even know I had. This is the only truly honest way to express what you feel because no one can judge.
Jacqueline D.
The theme of this poem would be music can be anything. It interlocks with the tone, which would be lyrical, like a song. I made this choice deliberately, to make this poem sound like a piece of music, which the poem is about. I used a simile in this piece to compare music to different elements of the Earth, such as a water and the wind. I did this because I feel that music is an element of the Earth as well, and it has the same continuous flow of fluid such as water and air. This poem is written in the shape of a guitar because that is the instrument I play, and what I wrote this poem about, like you see in this line of the poem: “Time passes slowly as I run my fingers across the strings and vibrant sounds burst though the veil of existence.� (Line 8-9, J.D.)
Shel Silverstein, the author of this poem, made some very distinct choices. In my opinion, the most important is the style he chose and it’s affect on the tone of the poem. The two first lines, “Upside-down trees, swingin’ free. Busses float and buildings dangle,” leave the reader feeling a little confused. Then the next two lines clarify that there is a person, and instead of the world being different like the reader thought in the ! beginning, ! ! it is the ! person’s ! perspective ! ! that ! has ! changed. ! The ! poem ! goes ! from a tone of ! misunderstanding ! ! ! to a! tone of ! realization. ! ! This !enhances ! ! poem, ! because ! confusion and the most of the ! ! readers will not recognize the world he is talking about in the first lines, which shows that almost everyone shares a relative perspective until someone dares to break free and look at things a different way. I believe that the theme of this poem is that a different perspective can change your view on everything. This is a simple free form poem with an a-b-a-b rhyme scheme, which helps with the rhythm when being read aloud, and also makes it interesting.
Upside-down trees, swingin’ free. Busses float and buildings dangle: Now and then it’s nice to see The world--from a different angle. Shel Silverstein
Some people talk and talk and never say a thing. Some people look at you and birds begin to sing.
Some people laugh and laugh and yet you want to cry. Some people touch your hand and music fills the sky.
Charlotte Zolotow The first thing I noticed about this poem was the very distinct rhythm. Each line has exactly six syllables and an a-b-c-b rhyme scheme. It helps this poem’s flow when all of the lines take the same amount of time to read. The tone of this poem is confusing because sometimes it is happy; “some people look at you and birds begin to sing,” and some of it is more gloomy or displeased; “Some people laugh and laugh and yet you want to cry.” This fits with the theme of the poem, which is that no two people are the same. It fits nicely because the tone changes along with the people the author is describing. Another element that this poem expresses is parallelism. Each sentence starts with “some people.” It is this way because at first all people are alike, and it takes certain characteristics to tell them apart.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
This poem is about decisions and how they affect the rest of your life from that point on. The author of this poem is saying that he once had to make a big decision while traveling, and it made a big change in his life. I think that the author has a hidden message in this poem, and he is using a path as a symbol for the more abstract idea of decision making in general. The rhyme scheme of this poem is A-B-A-A-B. The tone of this poem is a little doubtful in the first three stanzas, but then in the last stanza, the tone is a little more reminiscent. The theme of this poem is that split paths are everywhere, and it’s up to us to choose the right direction.
The main thing that this poem demonstrates is parallelism. The poet did a really good job of making each rhyme at intervals of the sentence. The tone of this poem is encouraging and inspiring, and the theme is people can choose their own path in life.
Today’s students can put
dope in their veins or hope in their brains. If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude but their
attitude that will determine their altitude.
-Jesse Jackson
This is such a beautifully shaped poem. It uses symbolism to compare the stark contrast of a panda’s appearance to the contrast of decision making and life in general. This poem uses an a-a-b-b-c-c-d-d rhyme scheme. What is also incredible about this poem is that the author uses the exact opposites in life at the beginning of the poem and finds the middle zone for each of them at the end. This is my favorite poem. I believe that nothing ever comes in black and white, and that people have a lot of depth. This poem expresses that perfectly. I love that the poet also hits the heart with this poem, saying “Do not fall for any extremist propaganda. For we are not as monochrome as an innocent small panda.� It ends the poem with a bang, and puts the final point across, leaving the reader inspired. Throughout the poem, you are a little confused as to what exactly the theme of this poem is, but then it ends so suddenly, ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! and the poem makes ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! sense. This is a ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! beautifully written ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! poem.
For the last couple of pages, you have been reading poems that I feel relate to my identity. But how, you may ask. Well, every poem connects to me in one of two categories: things with a significant importance to me or my personal beliefs. The poem about my family is in the category of the things that are important to me. In fact, my family is the most important thing in the world to me, as you can see from the fourth line in the poem I wrote: “Love, care and family is all I need.” Another thing that I included in this category would be music. In my poem, I wrote “This is the only truly honest way to express what you feel because no one can judge.” Music is my inspiration, and a way for me to get away from the rest of the world for a bit. Another line from a poem I wrote would be, “…the changing and twisted story only to realize that you were just dreaming.” This is my concrete poem about dreams. Dreams are a big part of who I am, because without my dreams, I would have nothing to shoot for in the future. My favorite time of the year is spring because it is when everything begins new, as you can see in my haiku about rain. My final poem in this sub-section is about skiing. It is my favorite sport of all time. In my poem, it says “That is why I love to ski,” on line 4. I love skiing because I feel free and alive as I’m zipping down the mountain. The second sub-topic I have is my personal beliefs. One of the poems, and perhaps the most important, would be the one titled New World by Shel Silverstein. I believe more people need to change up their perspective every once in a while, and it would help create a better world if people could walk a mile in each other’s shoes. Another poem I have is the one titled Some People by Charlotte Zolotow. I think the people we see in our lives all have an effect on who we are, good or bad. The well known poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost is another poem that fits in the personal beliefs subsection because I believe that even the tiniest decisions in life and lead to the biggest consequences, good or bad. You can see an example of this on line 19 – 20, where it says “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” The poem that I included in my anthology about students is another example of this subsection, because I believe in choosing not only the right path, but your own path in life. My final poem in my anthology is Innocent Panda by Jason Lin. This is my very favorite poem of all time. I love it because I completely agree with the author in that nothing ever comes in straight lines, and everything comes in moderation, not just black and white.
My Name by Jacqueline
April 17th, 2000
My name is special. It is the first word that I learned to write. My name is long, ten letters to be precise. My name was chosen by my mother because she was always inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She admired Ms. Kennedy Onassis for her class and dignity, and she felt the name meant everything that Ms. Kennedy was. My parents say that as soon as I was born, they immediately knew I had to be Jacqueline. My mother and father also liked that it could be both English and French (and would go along well with my French last name). I love the sound of my name rolling off my lips when I tell it to someone new. It has a lovely ring to it, like the deep, rich sound of church bells at the stroke of 12. To me, it means coincidences, like how it has ten letters and the tenth number of the alphabet is J. It sounds dark, beautiful, and rare, almost like rich, heavy velvet. I feel like that expresses a side of me that no one sees, the darker and mysterious side. I love my name, and I feel that it expresses me perfectly. I would never change my name. There would be no need to. It’s unique, priceless and perfect.
Works Cited Title: Picture: Unknown, Palm Trees Silhouette at Sunset, n.d., photograph, October 6th, 2013, Fine Art America fineartamerica.com Rain Picture: Unknown, n.d., photograph, September 30th 2013, BenUBulldogs, www.benubulldogs.com Skiing: Picture: Kieslich, Christoph, Winter 2012/13, photograph, October 5th, 2013, Tages Woche www.tageswoche.ch Family: Picture: Voice, Coptic. Treasure Is Where the Heart Is, n.d., photograph, September 16th 2013, YouThirsty www.youthirsty.org New World: Poem: Silverstein, Shel, New World, n.d., poem, September 20th Picture: Unknown, February 24th, photograph, October 4th, Flick River www.flickriver.com People: Poem: Zolotow, Charlotte, People, n.d. poem, September 30th. Picture: johny007pan, Untitled, n.d., illustration, October 2nd www.123rf.com Today’s Students: Poem: Jackson, Jesse, Today’s Students, n.d., quote, October 1st Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood: Poem: Frost, Robert, Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood, n.d., poem, October 2nd Picture: Unknown, Forest Path, n.d., photograph, September 26th wakpaper.com Innocent Panda Lin, Jason, Innocent Panda, n.d., poem, September 19th, 2013