Simple by Kerrie Kemperman


I enjoyed this short story the most, because the imagery associated with the country and the drive the author is partaking in reminds me of where I live, which is the country. I loved the fact that the imagery is so clear and that you truly feel like your in the passenger seat of the car. The father in the story also reminds me of my stepfather, because he too, is a simple man, but works very hard in order to have a successful life.

Little Things


I chose Little Things by Raymond Carver because it shows a darker side of human relationships. I liked the fact that it was different than most things I read, but I found it depressing. This story is accurate in depicting human relationships at their darkest. The couple are obviously enduring a very horrible end to their relationship and are using their baby as a way to hurt one another by fighting over the child. People will do anything to hurt one another if they are desperate enough. This couple within the story are both so livid at each other and full of hatred that they are willing to use their own child as a crutch in their twisted games. This story is full of allusions to divorce, failing marriage, and of course, dark sides to humans and their relationships. Carver is probably choosing to incorporate a child within this story to show how parents' decisions and actions can affect a child in the long run.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez Inspired Photo:

This is a picture of a few of my chickens in my chicken coop at home. After reading about the angel in the chicken coop in the story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, I thought instantly about my coop in the backyard. I think it would be extremely weird to keep an angel locked in a chicken coop and can't imagine that happening in the one outside my house.

Rhinoceros.


There have been numerous instances in my life in which I have been both a follower like the Rhinoceros's and a person who refuses to follow the crowd like Berenger. As teenagers, we all know what it's like to give into peer pressure in high school. I was always one of those kids who prided themselves in not giving into peer pressure from friends or classmates. However, I had a particular rhinoceros moment in high school when I promised myself I would not drink at a party, then ended up doing it because all my friends were. I ended up getting sick and not coming home that night, which resulted in a week of grounding. It made me realize that I shouldn't have done that just to be cool or "fit in". I feel like I have had Berenger moments as well. Recently actually, I was pressured to do something cause all my friends were doing it and I made the decision not to, because I did not want to suffer the consequences like the last time i gave into pressure. I felt very proud of myself and I was glad I didn't give into the pressure and I was able to "not turn into a rhinoceros". :)

Crush- Smashing Pumpkins

You wrap your arms around
A feeling that surrounds
Like a liquid peppermint
Just taste the drinks that she served 

And this feeling shivers down your spine
Love comes in colors I can't deny
All that matters is love, love, your love

You're sleeping in your bed
Just rest your weary head
Maybe you shouldn't care
Throw away those dreams and dare

And I wonder if it matters to me
Love comes in colors I can't deny
All that shimmers is love, love, your love
Your love
Your love


I chose this song not only because Smashing Pumpkins is one of my favorite bands, but because this song, like many of their other songs has poetic devices. Within "Crush" there are a few devices that stand out the most, such as ambiguity and simile "You wrap your arms around  A feeling that surrounds  Like a liquid peppermint" (lines 1-3). I believe that this is a comparison between a man's love for a woman and drug use. It is as if her love is a drug-inducing chemical for him, making him high, making him "shiver". However, it could also mean that like peppermint, her love is something that takes his breath away, a cooling sensation that brings contentment. This song is clearly about an infatuation, a "Crush" on someone, laced with drug innuendos and metaphoric devices, but it bring a sense of gustatory imagery along with it by using words such as "peppermint" and "taste the drinks that she served"( line 4). This song is very ambiguous as a whole and I think the point of the song is to form your own interpretation. 

Spring

A sense of warmth is tapping at the door;
And hope, a feeling out from distant lore
– Or so it seems – clears the deep refrain!

Emerging youth: a dormant lea awakes.
The raging colour, singing loud, partakes
In annual birth – spring is born again!

A zest anew for nascent life
Begins in floral train:
Carriage one: a snowdropp thrill;
Carriage two: the crocus;
Number three, a daffodil – dancing,
Drawing focus – as she would,
Attention seeker!

How I love our spring:
The bold and sleeker feel I get,
An inner glow, a ring!
I’ve paid the winter’s chilly debt, so
Now upon the wing!
                                  -Mark R Slaughter

I chose this poem by Mark R Slaughter, because it was very pleasant to read. I like the fact that Slaughter compared Spring to a train, each carriage containing another element of the joyous season that is Spring. "A sense of warmth is tapping at the door" (1) This quote shows the author's contentment and happiness toward the coming season and also personifies the season as a person "tapping" on the door, bringing happiness. Spring is a wonderful time of year and Slaughter was able to create a poem that I truly enjoy about my favorite season.

ODE TO CLOTHES

Every morning you wait,
clothes, over a chair,
to fill yourself with
my vanity, my love,
my hope, my body.
Barely
risen from sleep,
I relinquish the water,
enter your sleeves,
my legs look for
the hollows of your legs,
and so embraced
by your indefatigable faithfulness
I rise, to tread the grass,
enter poetry,
consider through the windows,
the things,
the men, the women,
the deeds and the fights
go on forming me,
go on making me face things
working my hands,
opening my eyes,
using my mouth,
and so,
clothes,
I too go forming you,
extending your elbows,
snapping your threads,
and so your life expands
in the image of my life.
In the wind
you billow and snap
as if you were my soul,
at bad times
you cling
to my bones,
vacant, for the night,
darkness, sleep
populate with their phantoms
your wings and mine.
I wonder
if one day
a bullet
from the enemy
will leave you stained with my blood
and then
you will die with me
or one day
not quite
so dramatic
but simple,
you will fall ill,
clothes,
with me,
grow old
with me, with my body
and joined
we will enter
the earth.
Because of this
each day
I greet you
with reverence and then
you embrace me and I forget you,
because we are one
and we will go on
facing the wind, in the night,
the streets or the fight,
a single body,
one day, one day, some day, still.

-Pablo Neruda

I chose this ode by Pablo Neruda because I enjoy the fact that he can take something as simple as clothing and turn it into something of far more importance. Throughout Neruda's ode, he emphasizes the importance of his clothing and demonstrates that they are more than just external garments, they are a part of his entire being, his soul. "To fill yourself with my vanity, my love, my hope, my body" (3-5) shows Neruda's love for his clothing and demonstrates just how important his clothing is to him. Clothing is personified within this ode, and he speaks of it as if it were a friend or loved one. If this wasn't titled "Ode to Clothes" I would assume Neruda was talking about a person of great importance in his life.