Poetry Reading Blog

Christian and I went to a poetry slam across from the Target Center in Minneapolis. It was in a bar and the atmosphere was really warm and inviting. Since the sun goes down quite early the room was pretty dark, so the candles and low lights definitely contributed to the comforting mood. We sat in the back at the bar, but the room was small enough to see the poet clearly. The stage was brightly lit and slightly raised above the floor. Not that it's a bad thing, but the audience definitely shared a similar look and clothing style. Christian and I were the youngest by far and since we were accompanied by Christians mom, we got some stares. The poetry slam rules were explained and shortly after the poets began. I recorded some of the spoken words on my phone using the voice memo app, but I'm having trouble downloading those or transferring them to text. We recognized Neil Hilborn when we walked in and we anticipated his poems. But unfortunately he recited the same poem we watched during poetry class, about his bipolar disorder called "The Future" and the situations he gets into. I feel he recited the poem better in the video than in person, but that didn't take away from his message. His poetic genius comes from the way he draws the audience into his life and I also enjoy the way he spins his challenges into positives. He talks about how his OCD and bipolar disorder are superpowers and how they mostly help him get through life. His poems are also very sad and towards the end they turn to the more sad aspects of his disorders. Five of the audience members scored the poems and Hilborn's poem was highly rated. Whether it's because he's already popular or whether they actually liked his delivery and poem, I'm not sure. Overall, the poetry slam was a really great experience and I'm glad I went. I realized how many of us have struggles in our lives and how some people express this pain through spoken word. With was an awesome time.

Celebrity Sighting: Neil Hilborn at the poetry slam in Minneapolis. More to come!

Sunday Morning Video Poem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbYfPvbHix0

Blog Response

The blog I found is called The Art and Poetry of Sherrie Lovler (http://natureartandpoetry.blogspot.com/).

I personally like poems about nature, so I searched for blogs with the key words of poetry and nature. Sherrie Lovler blog was a few pages into Google and it seemed to have the components I was searching for. I read three of her poems and found them very intriguing. Before reading more of her poems I did some research on Sherrie and looked at a few of her other blogs. Ms. Lovler has a strong connection between her artwork and poetry, which is clear from her blog. This passage is displayed on the side of one of her blogs, "Sherrie’s poetry is her doorway into the unknown and is the first step in her process of painting. She invites you to enjoy the art on these pages and the poetry that inspired it". The background color of the blog itself is a very light grayish-white, this shade really invited me to explore her work. Her first poem, Balance describes an avalanche and the power it has, but also how delicate it is (like a butterfly as she describes it). An avalanche is snow which by itself is not destructive in any way, but when it falls together there is no telling how big the avalanche will be or when the snow is going to give way. Her next poem is called The Wanderer. The painting inspired by The Wanderer is darker than the Balance painting, and it has more shapes and brush stokes in general. Two stanzas that I found particularly intriguing in The Wanderer were, 

Stay here

my mind

who wants to wander

on her own.

Stay here

in silence

as thoughts arise.

Let them pass.

Many times when I'm writing poetry, frictional stories or drawing in a notebook, my mind wanders and I don't even think about what I'm doing. I no longer think about my brain telling my hands move, they just do it. During these spells, my mind often goes to creative places and I think Sherrie is referencing these blank and creative times with her third stanza. 

The last poem of Sherrie Lovler's that I found relevant to school and my life is Lunar Love. The line that I loved from this poem was,

Don’t dissect it —

it wants to be whole

Don’t tear it apart —

it doesn’t need to be figured out.

I feel in school we are always looking for the meaning behind things. Whether the author meant it or not, teachers push us to find the hidden meaning. What if poetry and artwork are just beautiful and there isn't a meaning behind them. What if there isn't a meaning that needs to be figured out. Many times when I look at photography, I think to myself, "wow, that is a really amazing picture". I can't explain why it's amazing, it just feels right and makes me happy.

Overall I really enjoyed looking through this blog, and I hope she posts new content frequently. 

 

Louis Jenkins Blog Response

These poems are simple. That was my first reaction after reading Louis Jenkins' poems. His video poem Fresh Duluth, to me, was just a list of winter time thoughts or just some things to think about. I don't believe poems just have one meaning and that meaning is universally understood, but many of his poems are definitely directed toward a Midwest audience. Would someone in California understand getting dressed for winter and appreciate his poem. I don't think they would. Louis describes the thoughts that go through our minds when we get dressed to travel outside in the snow, but what further meaning does his poem offer? What is he trying to express in Fresh Duluth and quite frankly why is this poem popular and what distinguishes it from other list poems? In poetry class we talk about showing vs. telling and how our poems become more interesting for the reader when they have to think about and interpret the language, so how is Louis poem showing instead of telling. Not that every poem in the entire world has to show instead of tell, but it has been a main theme in our class and I was wondering if there are exceptions to this general rule. 

Another thing I would like to point out, is that poetry comes in many different forms and I found it interesting that Louis Jenkins poem, The Afterlife, has a unique form. It contains quotes, and seems like more of a dialogue than a poem. It's interesting to read different poets work because they are all so unique. Chris Martin has the form or three line stanzas varying in length and Louis Jenkins' form is more dialogue and paragraph form. I'm excited to hear how he reads his poetry though. 

Spoken Word

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-eVF_G_p-Y

Sunday Mornings

My eyelids slowly open, they flicker before my vision is clear.

I hear the familiar clang of a pan, a sound I'll miss while at college

I wrap myself in a blanket and take my time walking down the stairs, one by one.
Cooper spots me and leaps from his bed.

His warm tongue greets me, and I can't help but smile.

I try to remember everything about these Sunday mornings.

Cooper and I lay on the floor in a cozy pile of warmth. 

Staying here for the rest of the day would be perfect.

I smell the bacon as it sizzles and the toast as it turns golden brown.

I feel at peace when my actions slow down and I can appreciate my life.

I sink into family on these Sundays and for this I am grateful.

The Oarfish

The New York Times article reads "California: A Rare Fish Surfaces".
Once I had flipped the previous page,
My eyes immediately focused on the picture of the sea creature.
Its bony body spans across the twelve marine biologists who hold it up.
I stare at the picture in amazement and the only word my mouth can find is "wow".
"Staff members at the Catalina Island Marine Institute are calling the carcass of an 18-foot oarfish,
The discovery of a lifetime".
Why haven't  I heard of it?
An oarfish?
I open up a new tab on my computer and browse the numerous pictures of the eel like creature.
It is fascinating to learn about these rare animals that dive 3,000 feet below the surface.
Nature is amazing and exciting, with so much more to learn.

Chris Martins Poetry Blog

After reading many of Mr. Martins works, a main theme that I recognized throughout the poems was people and describing the environment around him. Martin portrays an urban scene in the poem  Surviving Desire, with graffiti, the everyday traffic landscape and the smog-blue-gray. Martin uses many words that I do not understand, so unfortunately this slows the rhythm of the poem. Once I look up these words, the poem obviously makes more sense and I am able to understand the poem. The format Martin uses with the three line sections also slows down the reading of the poem. These frustrations set aside, there are a few other lines that I found interesting. In The Science Fiction of Color the line, "Their window in the twenty-second commercial of childhood, our attention wavering as the world does". I'm still trying to unpack this line, but I like the way it flows. This line does reflect my original thoughts on the elements present in his poems, because he might be referencing the unstable world we have today.

Highland Park

The deer emerge from the woods only for

A second before a car passes, scaring them back.

A raccoon tries to squeeze into the sewer, 

his eyes highlighted by a dark mask.

The silver maple towers over the house,

Providing a canopy, that will soon be lost in fall. 

Squirrel's hidden homes become public, as animals 

Begin to settle in for a winter that could spring at any time.

On the edge of St. Paul, Highland is my home.

Time is Peace

The chair wrapped around me and gave me time,
The noise of the lounge began to fade away,
I had reached a place of peace and now I'm
Not afraid to take the next step and say.

Every day is new with things to learn,
From class to class we move and shape our minds,
I sit in my house and attempt to burn,
The new information we seek to find.

I love my life because it is all mine,
the environment I'm in lets me shine

Sutphen Response

Of all Joyce Sutphen's poems, I enjoyed "How to Listen" the most. I feel it applies to my life at school and how I interpret the world around me. Her line, "Don't attempt to copy anything down. Don't bring a camera or a recorder”. A literal example of this is at music concerts when everyone in the front row is filming the concert that is taking place in front of them. I'd think that people would enjoy the concert more if they actually watched and enjoyed the show they paid for. This applies to life and enjoying what’s in front of you. The next line I enjoyed was, “make no comparisons”. This is saying that although we learn from our past experiences we need to go into new situations with an open mind.

In the reading about voice and style, I thought it was interesting how a poem can be broken down and directly related back to the author. What ethnicity is the poet, are their poems long or short. Also what structure are their poems written in. Although I wouldn't want myself to be forced into writing a poem a certain way, it's interesting how everyone has a style that they continually go back to. Something they are comfortable with. It would be cool at the end of the semester to have anonymous poems up on the board and see if  the class could agree and identify the poet.

Free to Leave

I sat in the front seat

With my parents in back,

Continually asking

Questions about the car.

“Yeah, I like the car”

“Yeah, it’s nice”

“Yeah, it’s comfortable”

“Yeah, it’s the one”

I sat outside the door

As my dad finished the deal inside

I had a car now

I was free to leave