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This is a college level tranfer course, the second in a series where we will examine the poetics of life lived on the ground...as in rough and tumble, as in America at war with herself. This is a world art alone makes sense of, an artist's work is a gift freely shared like air...sympathetic systems aligned, the the fictive or imaginary worlds of possiblity simply an inhale or exhale away. This class is an opportunity to close your eyes and believe.
9 comments:
Johna Manibusan
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
14 October 2010
Free Battle response
The Poem “The Battle” written by Gwendolyn Brooks is about a woman who got in a long fight with her husband. The kid narrating the story said that if it were them they would take it to a whole new level and kill her husband. In the end the kid says they know that Moe belle the woman who got beat by her husband will be with her husband again in the morning making him breakfast.
I chose this poem because it is such a re-occurring issue, men and women being physical with each other, and in the end they end up staying with the one who beat them. It is interesting to see how things pan out. I like the middle of the poem where the kid says what they would do, and then says what is going to happen in the end.
It is funny how the narrator made Moe Belle out to be so weak. Saying all she would do is cry and then end up serving her husband again. I like this poem because you hear stories like this everyday.
Ricardo Pedro
Professor Sabir
English 1B
14 October 2010
My Valentine
I chose the poem “A Very Valentine” by Gertrude Stein. The idea of this poem is the use of language in a repetitive form to express obsessive admiration. The focus is on the protagonist’s love interest. Stein uses the words “very,” “fine,” and “mine” over and over again in different ways. In addition, there is no particular pattern.
The argument is simple, it consists of asserting the reader that his/her valentine is theirs. The use of the word “very” is used to convey the idea that the protagonist’s valentine is theirs in more than the usual way. It is an above-average valentine.
When the reader first reads the poem, it has no strict structure or pattern. It reads in a free-flow manner like the protagonist is saying it quickly to him or herself. It’s like a burst of thoughts that are completely unfiltered.
Mauricio Cavero Alprecht
English 1B
Professor Wanda Sabir
14 October 2010
Poem A Semi-Revolution
In a “A Semi-Revolution,” Robert Frost advocates that no revolution should be total or come to a completion. He says that all revolutions should be half completed. He argues that if the revolution is to be completed the same people will come on top of the hierarchy again.
I would have to agree with him, I believe that he saying that power brings more power and how in a revolution people that were powerless become powerful if the revolution is completed. Frost tries to make a connection that a revolution is for the people and for the people and once the revolution is completed the revolution is corrupted.
Frost gives an example for his conclusion in his Poem, he mentions the Rosicrucian as an example in history that complete revolutions are as bad as what was going on before the revolution started.
Bishwojit Sharma
Professor Wanda Saber
English 1B
14 October 2010
Something Nice
The poem name ‘Something Nice’ is written by Jack Forbes which was published in a book named “From Totems to Hip-Hip”. He was born in 1934 in Long Beach, California. In this poem with the help of his wife character jack has tried to describe the people of today’s world. Today’s world people are so busy with their life and they have become so selfish. They just think about them and don’t care about other people. Self satisfaction is considered as the biggest achievement in today’s world. In the poem jack has tried to aware people to become generous and a human being.
She said:
I’m really glad
That I married a man
Who stops along the road
To pick up
Frogs and snakes and turtles
so they won’t get hit by cars.
In the poem a wife who was married with a man seems very happy because his husband stops his car in highway and picks up the animals on the road so that they won’t get hurt by anything. From this we can imagine how strange this behaviour is. On one side where today’s people don’t even have anytime to care for their own family or other people but in the other side this man stops his car in a highway to save animals. I guess the poet has tried to convince people to become social and care for society and every living creature in the society.
In conclusion, we are human being and we are considered to be the most sensitive animals in the world so we should act accordingly. We shouldn’t act like wild animals. We should love and care all human beings and all the creatures in the planet. This is how we can differentiate us among other creatures.
Cory Hollamon
Professor Sabir
English 1b
14October 2010
During the Wars
In the poem I lived in the first century talks about the narrator living during the war and how the community was at that time. It was sad that when the war was going on newspapers that were delivered had careless stories, The news were interrupted by advertisement commercials, and the narrators main focus was to construct peace with each other. During the war I believe that is one of the most valuable things you can do is to come together with your community and everyone around you.
The narrator begins his second paragraph saying, ‘” As the lights darkened, as the lights of night brightened, we would try to imagine them, try to find each other.” That’s very important because usually when it gets dark that’s when everything goes bad so for the community to stick together when its dark out shows that community is very strong.
In conclusion the moral to this poem is how the community stuck together during the war. Also the poem talks about how the narrator’s days were during the war.
Shonta Jones
Wand Sabir
English 1B
The poem “Untitled” by Mandy Khan in the book from Totems to Hip Hop, the poem talks about how a woman does all these sexual things with someone and her getting dressed while her blinds are open. She shaves her legs, puts on her make up and has sexual relations by her window.
“ you lubed up your legs, too,
and shaved them close,
all the way up to the thigh.” P 82
The them is set up in a woman’s bedroom with her getting dressed to have company over and someone is learning in her window describing to us what she is doing. And once her visitor arrives the person is still looking in her window watching her have relations with this man. “I know you done it all, carefully slowly, probably to music as mellow as marshmallow fluff. P 82
People should not get undressed, come out of the shower, or have sexual relations in front of a window for everyone to see. We should do all things in the privacy of our bedroom, with the key word being private, so that no one can leer into our lives without us not knowing. To take more pride in our selves and make sure that we are representing ourselves the way we want others to perceive us.
Ahu Yildirim
Prof. Sabir
English 1B
14 October 2010
Response to a poem From Totems to Hip-Hop
My Shattered Sister
Sisterhood
Naomi Quinonez illustrates sisterhood, one of the most meaningful relationships that a woman can form with another woman. She expresses how much she loves her sister in very strong language. To explain this she tells to her sister that “my blood is yours, we are bleeding twins” (158). The reasons behind loving someone extremely, is a secret - many people don't understand as to, why it hurts to stay apart.
In her poem she states her deep despair from her sister’s disease of cancer and suffering that she receives. Love is not just playing around, there's something more to it, which makes me realize that how a human can receive her love ones as her self, as her part of her soul. Quinonez explains how she feels her as her self to explain this, she tells “Deserts burn/ Jungles part silent/ your broken body/ You haunt me sister” (158).
Her love for her sister and connection with her sister is this poem’s main theme. Her dark feelings from her sister’s disease and pain are strongly reflected in her poem. This poem determines the strong connection, love and beauty between the writer and her sister. Obviously they are connected with their love forever.
Works Cited
Quinonez, Naomi. “My Shattered Sister.” From Totems to Hip Hop. Ed. Ishmael Reed. Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. 2003. Print.
Budhi Man Tamang
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
October 14, 2010
Newark
You can show sympathy to someone, something and anything but the writer is showing sympthy to Newark, feeling bad about whatever wrong is going on with it. We definitely love our parents, siblings and friends but what about the place where we live and got birth. Do you have any feeling towards your city where you living? Do you feel bad when you see your city full of dirt and not taken care of it?
Newark is a glassjaw, listless in the centre of the ring
Legs wobbling, waiting for another round, or for a stop
It waits to be called the loser, or it does nothing at all ( Nature and place 7)
The city Newark seems like dead place not even trying to look better. Center is the main part of anything but if the center is listless, other things are going to be targetless. We can not expect anything good to be happen with it. It is waiting to be called loser with legs wobbling. It has lost it’s hope. It is doing nothing at all, just waiting for whatever the result is. Somebody has done bad with it, somebody show sympathy on it and make it beautiful again.
Works Cited
Reed, Ishmael. From Totems To HipHop. New York: Group West, 1900-2002.
Sha’Quea Pratt
Ms. Sabir
English 1B
14 October 2010
The Beauty of the Woman
Is the woman what brings this world at balance? Women are viewed as many things, both negative and positive. In the book From Totems to Hip-Hop by Ishmael Reed, Ina Coolbrith writes the poem Woman that discusses the woman as a positive subject. The world would be incomplete without the woman present.
Ina Coolbrith asks a question; her question was “what were this human world without woman? (76).” A world without the woman present would be dull and incomplete. The man would not be who he is today. The man seems to only recognize his true strength as a man only when compared to the woman. If the woman is not present the man will not be able to identify himself. As a result, man would not be able to accomplish as much as they can today.
Without the woman present the world would consist of little amounts of people. The woman represents many things in the world today and without them the world would be incomplete:
“Woman! Be honor even upon her, whether as maiden, shy, beauty-laden—Daughter, wife, sister, who can resist her? Or as the other and greater, the mother, her babe— Blossoms moulding to perfect unfolding— the home-temple guarding to richest rewarding (76-77).”
Without the woman present, the world is incomplete. With the woman missing, babies will no longer be born the natural way, there will be no titles such as the mother, sister and wife; there will be no estrogen present in the world. Most likely man will figure out a way to birth babies from man scientifically.
A world without the woman will be incomplete. If the woman was not present in the human world the world would be incomplete. The man would not recognize himself as he does today, the human population would be small and there would be no female titles such as mother, daughter and sister.
Works Cited
Jones, Edward P. The Known World. New York, NY. Harper Collins. 2003.
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