junkyard quote 4 - week 9

"romance"

I worldy romance

junkyard quote 3 - week 9

"occasional minor irritation"

-read it off a bag of Halls, i just thought it sounded nice.

Calisthenics - week 9

Leave the Shame Behind
oil on linen over panel
Chris Peters, 2007

Yellow

“Shhhhh”, I whisper to my child as I tell of the blacks and blues,

The oil pastels smeared across landscapes,

Painting images of graveyards blotting over fields of tulips.

I speak of how yellow does not exist, It’s too lively,

We’re too stale and bitter like a black cup of coffee

In the morning when I wear my shades to breakfast.

I then reflect how mundane we all are,

How cobwebs clutter every joint of my body,

And artistic pallets of deities could not suppress

The routine of work and eat and sleep recycled again and again.

Even my wife cries every night at the foot of her bed on her knees,

But I gave up on God when he, “made you sick”, I told my son,

When a sneeze threatened your entire life,

And a needle contained the answer to our prayers

When you would choke on your own lungs.

Now here I sit painting your name on my arm with my finger tips,

Absorbing every brush against my brown hairs, remembering you.

And now my head in my hands I feel my pulse,

Imagining it was yours, as if you were really here.

And only then do I feel the yellow seep in.

improving - week 9

Improving “Camel and Man”

Man and Marsupial 

I saw a man come to town in a carriage pulled by brutes.

He traveled gently to the park and pulled his carriage to the center of a large plain.

I saw how people walking the track or children playing on the jungle gym

Refocus their attention on this peculiar man, befuddled by his presence.

He stepped down from his cart and announced, “Come and behold this amazing act!”

The parents noticed the children climbing off the playground toys,

They were drawn to the man’s voice, so parents led children hand in hand to this man.

“Come witness the graceful dancing of me and my dear friend Stanley” The man exclaimed,

He dressed in suit and bow tie with a black top hat and was rather short.

The crowd slowly gathered round, and I pushed my way through to the front.

“Now for Stanley’s big moment”, the man said as he walked around the rear of the carriage.

He opened the door letting down in to a ramp and what climbed out was a marsupial.

A kangaroo leapt forth and when it landed on the ground it turned towards the audience and bowed.

  Both man and animal came around front and he turned on a record,

And when the music began to play, the man and animal began to dance.

The crowd cheered as they went through the polka, salsa, waltz, hip hop, ballet,

And when they tap danced, even the horses joined in clomping their shoes.

I could help but jump and cheer, and suddenly the crowd grew silent and the dancing ceased,

 And the man walked up to me and bent down low and said “You ruined it”,

And just like that he turned around and left, and I was given sneers by all around,

Unsure what I did to earn such disrespect, a guilt I still mysteriously carry. 

Free write - week 9

Dear Jesus

Baby Jesus help me, bless my soul.

My wife fucked Robert Helter,

And I walked in on her spread eagle,

Robert fixing her rope ties, pinning her to the bed posts.

Dear little Jesus in a Huggies diaper

I stood in shock watching Robert naked,

Licking the body of my naked wife,

Working his head to her hairy cunt.

Flying glowing infant Jesus with a cross,

I screamed, “What the fuck are you doing”,

And Robert gave a wide eyed expression,

My wife stuttered “shit” repeatedly in manic.

Dear Mary and Joseph’s child in a cradle

I ran to the china cabinet and flung opened the drawer

I took out a slick pistol and loaded four bullets,

Ran back to the room where the whores threw on clothes.

My innocent lamb baby in the inn

I put two bullets into both Robert Helter and my wife,

One in the head, one in the chest.

I should have never let my brother in my home.

Dear Jesus my lord and savior,

When the cops come, plead my innocence,

You know what I did was rightful,

Love your favorite human, Jeremy Helter

junkyard quote 2 - week 9

"The distinguishing mark of youth is the magnificent facile vocation of joys"

junkyard quote - week 9

"If it was sufficient to love, things would be too easy"

love is not the cure it adds more problems and blurs lines more than it helps any matters. It will also tear you apart.

free write - week 8

Heartbeat

Two young girls, children, cousins, 

Full of eager energy for my arrival. 

Taking me by the hand they lead me down aching stairs, 

Being brought down to an abysmal cellar. 

Skyscrapers made of boxes and baby clothes, 

Creating a maze of garage sale oddities. 

Surrounded by Christmas lights and cardboard, 

The two doctors put on plastic stethoscopes and winter coats. 

They placed the pink plastic circle to my chest, 

Searching for a heartbeat, to know i was alive. 

Then they moved under my shirt to get a better sound. 

I gripped my shirt to force it down, yet my fingers

Were pried away one by one. 

Their strength was greater, as they pinned me down, 

like an butterfly body in a picture frame. 

I opened my mouth to tell them "stop", 

and i small hand quickly covered it shut, 

So that my sounds were muffled and dull. 

Nothing to cease their erotica, 

Until a call came from above, it was time to leave. 

They released me, and i put myself back together. 

Scared to lose a friend, i never uttered a word. 

Mute to the tongue, gripping my clothes, i go home, 

Waiting for the day i must return.

Response #2 - week 8

“Yes is always I said” sounds dyslexic because it is compared to the obvious way of saying it by stating “I always said yes”. I see how you were maybe playing on words to make it unique but I think it makes more sense if it was structured normally. “Eat your favorite tee-shirt” is a really interesting line because it is out of the ordinary. “Have sleeps” wounds weird. I would like to see more definition as to what is being said “yes” to, and what characters are involved, and create a scene. This poem is about the word “yes” and using it as a life philosophy, however its part in the poem may be slightly excessive because hearing all the “s” sounds can get overwhelming. 

Response #1 - week 8

“wide-mouthed” and “opened-mouthed” sound weird being so close together. Love the part, “maybe if it hit me I would have become clean”, it reminds me of a poem where a young girl is subjected to racism and she scrubs herself till her skin burns in the shower trying to clean her body of her skin color. “Without streaks” seems a little reiterative of clean and unnecessary to have in the poem. I liked the adding of blue at the end, conveying the emotion and the literal dye in the bottle of Windex. The questions at the end all close together is very claustrophobic and needs to be thinned out and possible spread out. Otherwise it is a very compelling piece. 

Calisthenics - week 8

Write a poem with two fruits, 5 adjectives, something exotic, 20 lines

my mother(revised slightly)

Embalming fluid, a metal table, pumps sit before me,

as every day presents itself. I hoard away bodies in my crawl space.

Most have grown old and wilted in their long deaths

Like the flower on the cactus outside the building.

Radiant like the sun, but the bloom weeps.

 A woman wheeled in, reminds me of my mother

The wide nose and mole at the corner of her lip.

She is positioned on the table, and I swear I feel her muscle twitch

I suddenly I feel that if I stuck the needle into her skin

And started draining,

I might just be committing murder.

My fingers on her sink like into the bruise of an apple.

I don’t know her name, how she died,

Her favorite pizza toppings, or when she lost her virginity.

And thus I drain her body like squeezing a lemon,

Then fill her back up.

Sign Inventory - week 8

Komunyakaa's My Father's Love Letters

We have the characters of an educated (at least more so than his father) young lad, his hard working father with lack of opportunity for a proper education, and the not present but existing mother figure. We really get a very majestic image of his father, for he is a carpenter and does what he can to the utmost potential with is blue blue prints of which he can read, and his tools. The mother figure is out of the picture and the reason as to why we are unsure, but this letter sending seems like a regular basis thing. The son is the decreed writer of the letters, copying what his father says, however the father signs the letters so that a part of him is with that letter. The son knows  his mother doesnt appreciate them saying either she laughs in mockery at them or incinerates them. But the fathers love for his wife is still present along with the son's love for his father.

junkyard quote 4 - week 8

"you seem to define your life with your satire"

interesting way at perceiving things from a set perspective.

junkyard quote 3- week 8

"time swiftly fleets, and wished eternity, approaching, brings life undecaying, love without allay, pure flowing joys, and happiness sincere"

I positive outlook on life in its temporal form. From my 18th century literature class. 

junkyard quote 2- week 8

"nothing so true as what you once let fall"

the most genuine things we have we tend to lose.

junkyard quote- week 8

"the angelic train"
- as though it is something to ride when part of the christian faith, also using train as a mode of transportation is dated.

Response #2 - week 7

The beginning is a nice introduction of the traditional expectation, then you move beyond that and go into the man's head and how he perceives his family and what he prefers to do. Its embracing the element of escaping one reality, entering another, then slowly drifting back into the home life. I love how the wife is described, "a genus in the rose family". There are nice pictures being painting and its very enjoyable to read. You truly took on the other persona.

Response #1 - week 7

This poem was very impressive. It really paints the image of this man very well. Because the poem is called "The Poet" i was expecting the description of his life to be more detailed, because he dies rather quickly before he ever fully lives in the poem. But the details about his life that are included are beautifully put. The ending is very solidifying though in a sad way, but i like the mention of his daughter, showing how his life continues on through is offspring.

junkyard quote4- week 7

"human elixirs"

An interesting way of expressing way one human can cure or make better another.

junkyard quote3 - week 7

"in love with impossibility"

The idea of being in love with the impossible means that that love could never be fulfilled. Or the love stems from it not happening, so it can be whatever you want it to be, the impossible. But still if only it would be fulfilled. But maybe its not what you want to do in reality, its just an impossible idea to stay an idea because sometimes things are better imagined than fulfilled.

Sign Inventory - week 7

Yusef Komunyakaa : Facing It

There are two realities in the poem. We start off standing before the Vietnam Memorial and the speaker tries to resist the emotions that are tied to the war of which the wall is reminding him off. He finally succumbs and becomes a part of the memorial. He reflects on the traumatic past reflecting on Andrew Johnson  and how he perished in the war. The woman's blouse now bleeds into his flashback as the white flash and the letters shimmering. He then see's a veteran  who was missing his arm and gazes upon him, seeing the after affects of the war. The last image is of a lady brushing her child's hair whose reflection looks like she is erasing the names. This bleeds the two realities together.

Amor Fati

My life is structured circularly.

Everything I do now will repeat itself eternally.

And if I do reach the point of oblivion,

What dreams will come in that sleep of death?

Until then I relive my victories and triumphs

Yet I also live my failures and shortcomings.

Repeatedly reliving my darkest hours,

A torment to behold, to imagine.

All the times of great fights,

All the times someone was lost,

All the physical pain and suffering,

In infinite repetition, an infinite nightmare.

I must live with depth in my life

And embrace eternal recurrence.

Say “yes” to life and what it offers.

Be the camel bearing other’s burdens,

Then become the lion rebellious against other’s ways,

Lastly embrace the child, playful and creative

Creating new values and being individual.

Then become the amor fati.

Based off what i learned about in my existential psychology class while discussing Nietsche and his philosophy. 

Calisthenics - week 7

 Calisthenic 5

Temporary

The temporal existence in the perspective

Of a petite aquatic creature

Reflecting the meaninglessness I embrace

As part of my existence in my bowl.

My cubicle assorted with trinkets to admire,

My apartment, adorned with posters.

Like plastic rocks, and plants, and caves,

My rooms, my space, is all a façade.

Imagine an existence that is fabricated

By a mind far superior to its surroundings.

Desiring something elaborate and free

Yet restricted in all aspects of the self.

The confinement so claustrophobic

There doesn’t seem to be enough water to breathe.

Enough air to breathe, enough oxygen to live.

I swim back and forth from work to home,

Only knowing the path I take, never straying.

There is no room to move away from the familiar.

My familiar rock shaped like a star sitting in the far corner

Of my bowl that is safe, the rudamentory.

But what if the glass breaks, the water depletes?

My safe rock gets washed away in the tide

And soon I’m helpless, flailing for life.

What then when it all falls apart and I’m alone?

That will be a mystery hide from in my seaweed, alone. 

junkyard quote2 - week 7

"an anti-sexual climax"

interesting as to what this is to be defined as. Something outside of sexual relations that makes one climax.

junkyard quote - week 7

"shoot antifreeze through your veins"

Heard it on a radio station and found it very intriguing.

Response #2 - week 6

This is very short and sweet yet it was difficult for me to read. Sunkest was a word the held me up and was hard to speak when reciting. Ear instrument sounds weird. Its certainly unique way of phrasing, however im not sure it suits the piece. it sounds technical and disrupts the "flow" which is very whimsical. Its a very sweet in concept poem that you just want to roll with. I think you should continuing writing on it :)

Response #1 - week 6

There are many interesting images taking place here which is very entertaining. It also conveys a lot of different comparisons to the rice that is cooking. Part of me was maybe hoping to see more connections with the rice in each image. I lost the rice from the piece. And the images im not sure where they all come from, maybe bring some unison to them though they are different. I loved the more bizarre images i would just like some more consistency i suppose. Very intriguing and exciting piece.

Sign Inventory - week 6

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio

Its an interesting approach at taking on the view of a football time. There are a lot of images of the stadium with a focus of the parental figures. Also delves in the loss of a game and the parents reactions. The players going against one another told as "suiciadally beautiful" is an interesting way of phrasing. Football does begin autumn, as to the title. Also in a small town like what i am assuming Martins Ferry is there is an extra emphasis as a whole town or community towards football. There are three stanzas. One describes the set up of the scene taking place. The middle section revolves around the parental figures and the third section revolves around the sons or players themselves. Goes from a wide perspective and then centrals in on the main figures, who is playing the football game.

Junkyard quote4 - week 6

"her suffering had a quality of saintliness"

its a weird way of seeing the pure innocence and fragility of a human being through their suffering. there is such a vulnerability, thus saintliness emerges.

Calisthenics - week 6

Create a poem influenced by a piece of literature. 

Solitary shell 

Entomology at its finest

Confined in his bedroom,

This human hybrid with more legs than words.

Demeaned and degraded,

Left to starve and waste away.

A girl, a sister, breaking customs,

Going behind enemy lines.

Putting forth an offering of milk and scraps.

This creature, frightened, is still man.

Yet succumb by an apple, a fruit

Leads to his demise,

Left to rot on the floorboards he could not escape.

And the girl, sister, left in the shadow of her brother.

Haunted she may become like him. 

This is a poem based off the metamorphosis by Kafka. 

junkyard quote 3 - week 6

"Killing the spirit of gravity"

Thought it was interesting. it came from my existential psychology class. Almost like a betrayal of gravity, like flying. or possible using gravity in a negative fashion or displeasing fashion like jumping off a building to your death.

Free Write - Week 6

Timeline

Long lines list lessons of time stopped and restarted,

Rebooted, originated in textile oceans of lust

Desiring iridescent angels selling lies

Of transcendence and victory of self.

We sulk in lost limbs of prior gods and die

The irrelevant death of a delirious plea.

For true forgiveness, drown in envious green

And resurface in the verminous brown suede.

Forget your expectations, a tyraid of hearts

Wrapped in cloth, washed up upon shores

Of resentment and shells, bitter air and dead dogs.

Touch the gritty sand, remember who you are,

Not what your composed to be,

Then fall back into the sea. 

I ended up sitting in class and writing on an envelope anything that came to my mind without really thinking about it and this is what came out of it, this is the product. 

junkyard quote 2 - week 6

"I'm like that piece in a puzzle that just won't fit. I can temporarily hold a place but I'm not a permanent solution."

- this is a line from my diary that i wrote last year. i was reading through my passages and found these lines quite fascinating.