email, paper mail, homework. Check that feeling I get when I see the big envelope in the mailbox. Check myself. It's just junk mail from Sears. We don't shop there. Check the small envelope. Don't care, don't want to go there. Check the box inside saying they don't have to consider my application. Someone else on the waitlist who is bummed should be able to go. I'm bummed though. The only schools left are harder to get into than that one. Check myself again. Doesn't matter. Nothing matters. I've gotten into really great schools. I just want to know. Check the chores on facebook. Sent that message I was supposed to send. Check the group for the play. Did I do this, staple this, type this, write this on looseleaf and not in my notebook, edit this for a higher grade, find this? Check dates, calendar, travel expenses, location, place, time. Try to figure out what to do with my school, college, summer, brain, life.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
To be a girl
young woman
whatever
in a city isn't so hard
I mean,
She might look over her shoulder
only to see her own shadow
She might expect
someone to spring out of the bushes
on deserted streets
She might already know what to say if a
mugger
rapist
attacks in an alley
She has already imagined it
Different streets
different scenarios
similar result
She isn't very concerned
It could be irrational
She could be paranoid
She wouldn't mind losing some cash
she is more likely to be raped by someone she knows
When she walks in the winter it's darker
Shadows leap higher
wind moans louder
She wonders whether anyone could be out mugging
in this weather
When it's warm
she doesn't need to walk as much
She gets on her bike instead and flies
races cars
her shadow swims beside her
to a place where she can't be touched
young woman
whatever
in a city isn't so hard
I mean,
She might look over her shoulder
only to see her own shadow
She might expect
someone to spring out of the bushes
on deserted streets
She might already know what to say if a
mugger
rapist
attacks in an alley
She has already imagined it
Different streets
different scenarios
similar result
She isn't very concerned
It could be irrational
She could be paranoid
She wouldn't mind losing some cash
or a phone
She knows that statistically speaking,she is more likely to be raped by someone she knows
When she walks in the winter it's darker
Shadows leap higher
wind moans louder
She wonders whether anyone could be out mugging
in this weather
When it's warm
she doesn't need to walk as much
She gets on her bike instead and flies
races cars
her shadow swims beside her
to a place where she can't be touched
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
behavior of kathryn when she tries to do homework
Commentary on "Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden" by Keith Douglas
Sometimes, people write poems. Sometimes, these poems are about fish. "Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden", written by Keith Douglas, is a portrait of an attractive young woman being watched by a variety of men, who are mostly ugly. Douglas uses extended metaphor, visual imagery, and some other third thing to do something important, like telling us about life.
This poem has a lot of fish in it. But guess what? The fish in this poem aren't really fish! Instead, they are men, but the poet uses an extended metaphor to say that the men are like fish. The woman isn't a fish though--she is a white stone. She is cold and unresponsive, much like a stone is when you try to talk to it. She is also white. All of the fish like the white stone, presumably because it is shiny. The woman is shiny because she wears red lipstick and nail polish; she wants to be watched. She is eating ice cream. All of the men/fish, from all walks of life, watch her eat ice cream. She does it kind of sexily too; she "slyly...slips in a morsel of ice cream". Some of the men try to get with her, and they "nibble or tug". But at the end of the day, she is all alone, because they only want her (most likely) hot bod.
The purpose of this poem is probably to show how this woman is objectified. She will never be worth anything more than in some man's "collection"; will never be more than a trophy wife. This is sad, but Douglas shows that she believes she has no other option, which is created by his use of the color red. Red is a pretty sexy color. She tries to be sexy with her lipstick and nail polish. You know what I mean.
In conclusion, men are fish, that lady is a stone, and they want her, but she's waiting for a richer guy to come along. The lady likes ice cream and money. The men like her lady-ness. I liked this poem. The end.
I really can't do homework anymore! It's so hard! Right now, I'm supposed to be doing a lab for physics. It will get done eventually. Really.
Sometimes, people write poems. Sometimes, these poems are about fish. "Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden", written by Keith Douglas, is a portrait of an attractive young woman being watched by a variety of men, who are mostly ugly. Douglas uses extended metaphor, visual imagery, and some other third thing to do something important, like telling us about life.
This poem has a lot of fish in it. But guess what? The fish in this poem aren't really fish! Instead, they are men, but the poet uses an extended metaphor to say that the men are like fish. The woman isn't a fish though--she is a white stone. She is cold and unresponsive, much like a stone is when you try to talk to it. She is also white. All of the fish like the white stone, presumably because it is shiny. The woman is shiny because she wears red lipstick and nail polish; she wants to be watched. She is eating ice cream. All of the men/fish, from all walks of life, watch her eat ice cream. She does it kind of sexily too; she "slyly...slips in a morsel of ice cream". Some of the men try to get with her, and they "nibble or tug". But at the end of the day, she is all alone, because they only want her (most likely) hot bod.
The purpose of this poem is probably to show how this woman is objectified. She will never be worth anything more than in some man's "collection"; will never be more than a trophy wife. This is sad, but Douglas shows that she believes she has no other option, which is created by his use of the color red. Red is a pretty sexy color. She tries to be sexy with her lipstick and nail polish. You know what I mean.
In conclusion, men are fish, that lady is a stone, and they want her, but she's waiting for a richer guy to come along. The lady likes ice cream and money. The men like her lady-ness. I liked this poem. The end.
I really can't do homework anymore! It's so hard! Right now, I'm supposed to be doing a lab for physics. It will get done eventually. Really.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
just feel it
One of my favorite memories from being part of an international youth orchestra during the summer two years ago is not, incidentally, about music. I learned how to dance, to music, with a boy from Mexico. Well, not really a boy, a young man; he was twenty-something, I don't really remember. Unfortunately, I don't remember the dances I learned either. One of them started with an m though I think. But anyway, it was one of the most fun nights I had, different from the rush of performing, but really really fun. Because it was the summer, everyone was outside on a backyard terrace thing, and there was a boombox playing traditional Mexican music, and there was soda, and everybody danced. Everybody knew how to dance too, it was so cool. Apparently in Mexico, they have parties pretty often where people just get together and dance to music for hours. New destination?
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