Sunday, January 27, 2013

Poetry Response #2- Still Memory by Mary Karr

Still Memory

By: Mary Karr

The dream was so deep
the bed came unroped from its moorings,
drifted upstream till it found my old notch

in the house I grew up in,
then it locked in place.
A light in the hall-

my father in the doorway, not dead,
just home form the graveyard shift
smelling of crude oil and solvent.

In the kitchen, Mother rummages through silver
while the boiled water poured
in the battered old drip pot

unleashes coffee's smoky odor.
Outside, the mimosa fronds, closed all night,
open their narrow valleys for dew.

Around us. the town is just growing animate,
its pulleys and levers set in motion.
My house starts to throb in its old socket.

My twelve-year-old sister steps fast
because the bathroom tiles
are cold and we have no heat other

than what our bodies can carry.
My parents are not yet born each 
into a small urn of ash.

My ten-year-old hand reaches
for a pen to record it all
as would become long habit.


     The poem "Still Memory" by Mary Karr is portrayed as dream that is looking at stored away memories. She used, "the bed came unroped from its moorings, drifted upstream till it found my old notch" almost as a metaphor to explain how far back these memories come from. That the bed was released and went so far back until it found that one memory to open up again. She does a great job at letting us see, taste, and feel everything that is going on around her in this specific memory. She goes back to when her parents were still alive, back to the house she grew up in. She is ten-years-old and that was when she began to write down thoughts, memories, or ideas or order for her to become a writer in the future. Karr greatly uses adjectives in order for us to basically "walk through" the memory as well. The poem not only shows a memory of the past but also has an insinuation as to what they future is like for her now.



Memories: A beautiful sight ♥
     


Monday, January 21, 2013

Childhood Memory

      Sitting on the bench, head down, hood up. The sun is shinning with snow melting around me. I hear the other children laughing, playing, and running around. The sound seems muffled as I sit alone, no friends, no one to care, and not a soul that notices the basically invisible girl. I start to sing to myself, the sweet voice of a fifth grader making up the sad songs she feels in her heart. As I sing the tears start to fall slowly down my face while the loneliness wallows up in my eyes. The children just laugh, making rude remarks to the fat little girl that has no friends. The tears fall faster, nobody realizes how sweet the girl is and how big of a heart she has. The tears were a daily thing as people continued to make fun of me. Not one person realized until seventh grade that I was one of the best friends they could ever have. Caring for everyone, loving even the people I disliked, and being there for people no matter what the situation. The problem, no one is ever there for me, they weren't in fifth grade and they aren't now. As I kept crying my teacher Mrs.R came out to comfort me. She took my hand and helped me off the bench, her arms embrace me to comfort my tears and my heart. As fifth grade went on, she became my best friend; when she needed help I was there, and when I needed help she was there for me. From that time on I have continued to be friends and find better relations with people older than me. The memories and feelings of my childhood my hurt, but it brings me to be the person I am today.  





 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Poem Response #1: To Myself by W.S. Merwin

To Myself by W.S Merwin

Even when I forget you
I go on looking for you
I believe I would know you
I keep remembering you
sometimes long ago but then
other times I am sure you
were here for a moment before
and the air is still alive
around where you were and I
think then I can recognize
you who are always the same
who pretend to be time but
you are not time and who speak
in the words but you are not
what they say you who are not
lost when I do not find you

     To Myself by W.S. Merwin, is a man looking back and realizing he has lost who he really is and is trying to find himself again. The he remembers who he used to be and can still feel that part of himself inside while pretending to be something else. We see him struggling, noticing as he seems to be someone he isn't, "who pretend to be time but you are not time and who speak in the words but you are not what they say." He is searching for who he was, his true self, but have seemed to have lost who he was and can't find or pull himself to be how he used to. He continues to look for who he was and though the struggle it concludes with him not being able to grasp onto who he really was. This poem took awhile to understand as well as if they title is not read a different meaning may come from the poem. Without the title it could seem as if it was a relationship rather than a meaningful poem about himself. Over all, a very meaningful poem! 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Kite Runner Response

     The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, is very well written book about a man named Amir and his life story from growing up in Afghanistan, moving to America, and all of the journeys in between. When the book started off I wasn't so sure about it, but as it went on I found myself to really like it. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in history as well as just a good story. Amir grew up in a wealthy home in Afghanistan with his father Baba and their servants Ali and Hassan. Amir and Hassan grew up as best friends; they did everything together, from going on walks, reading, flying kites, and many other things. The neighborhood they lived in had an annual kite flying event that Amir and Hassan always participated in. The year of kite flying that Amir went in depth about was in 1975 this was the last year they did that event and the last day Amir and Hassan really spent as friends. In March of 1981 Amir and his father had decided to escape to America as Russia was starting to take over Afghanistan. In America they started a new life in California living among other Afghans who had escaped. As time goes on Baba gets diagnosed with cancer. Shortly before Baba passes away Amir gets married to Soraya, another Afghan woman he had met while living in American. Amir and Soraya took care of Baba after getting married and he passed away about a month later. Amir made a good life for him and his wife as he was a successful author. In June of 2002 Amir recieved a letter  from an old friend Rahim Khan who is living in Pakistan and is very sick and requests for Amir to come see him. While in Pakistan Amir learns some very interesting news about everything that had happened. He comes to learn that Hassan and him were brothers, as a cause of his fathers sins with Ali's wife. Rahim Khan had asked Amir to Pakistan to go and find Sohrab, this was Hassan's son. After the Taliban took over Afghanistan everything went south even further in Afghan. Hassan and his wife had been murdered leaving their son an orphan. Amir went on a long dangerous journey into Kabul in order to find Hassan's son. He had come across the Taliban and an old bully from his childhood who was head of the Taliban and in possession of Sohrab. After many hardships and trips to the hospital Sohrab was finally in America with Amir. This story will bring tears, anxiety, and an ending of hope.