A Look Back...

As I look back on the semester as a whole, I am very glad I ended up taking this class and sticking with it. It taught me numerous things about the poetry language and world that I would not have known without. My favorite part of the class was actually two things. I really liked doing the oral presentations on poets of our choice as I got to research well known poets and their styles. Also, I liked the workshop at the end of the year as well. It was very nice to get feedback from others knowing they are just trying to help me and make my poetry as strong as it can be. As for poetry in my future, I do not see it playing a huge part, but I do see myself sticking with it somewhat. In fact, after taking this class I have decided that writing some poems for family members and loved ones would be a great gift for them for the upcoming holidays. I will probably write it more than I will read it, but at least now when I hear a famous poets name I will be able to recognize it.

Overall

Although this class was simply an introductory course in poetry, it has acted as far more than that for me. As originally intended I added CRW 205 because it simply covered a general education requirement for college. However, I quickly realized there is way more to poetry then I had thought. This class became much more intriguing to me than just another “uninteresting” general education class. Throughout the semester this course has helped to develop my ability to write creatively, while strongly broadening my vocabulary. For years, I have been taught that in order for a poem to sound good and grab reader attention it must rhyme throughout. After a semester in this course however, I now have a completely different view. Nearing the end of my experience in this class, I have learned that poetry is quite different than I had previously thought. Poetry does not have any rules, and can just be thoughts from your head put on paper in any way or form. I thoroughly enjoy the fact that you do not have to rhyme or stay to any particular structure.

Revision, Revision, Revision!

So as the term comes to an end, I've revised a lot, and learned how to be "better" as far as revision goes. The first poem I presented in class, "Dernier Cri" has really been a thorn in my side since Round one of workshop. I've changed words, rephrased everything, moved the whole poem, and finally feel ALMOST happy with it. But, I had the realization that, can someone really be happy with a poem? 100% happy? I feel as though a poet is never finished revising. There could always be that one line that could have changed the entire poem, made it better than before. Or, a line that made the poem a little bit less than it could have been. Because it is the last week of classes, I've really taken the time to think about how much I've learned in this class, and revision is at the top. At first I was extremely scared to read my work out loud to a class, but as time went on I realized it wasn't so bad; getting that feeling of reading something your proud of out loud, and then realizing what you could fix is a rush. Another thing I learned this semester is that poetry is under appreciated. From the people I've met in class, there was a wide range of majors. Although this is a gen-ed, I honestly think people enjoyed this class, and it's good to see that people read poetry outside of class. It really opened my eyes to how different people can be from what they seem. Good luck on finals everyone!

Presentations

Well- procrastination has gotten the best of me. As I write this, the day before it's due-I'm finding myself regretting not keeping up with this blog. Recently I've been reading people's posts and I find that I'm able to both relate and learn a lot from them. I wish I had been more interactive on the blog- but is something I can remember for the future.
   I gave my oral presentation on Tuesday and I found it much easier than I thought to stand up in front of the class and talk for ten minutes. At first thought of this assignment my immediate reaction was butterflies and nerves. I've never enjoyed public speaking and always seem to feel that my face is on fire when I'm speaking in front of people. That didn't quite happen on Tuesday though. As I went up- books in hand I looked at the people who have read and critiqued my poetry, and vice versa. I found that even though I may not have known the people I was speaking in front of on a friend level, I can look at each one of my classmates and tell them what poem they wrote or something about their poetry. That was something I found to be really neat, and I encourage those of you presenting tomorrow to not be afraid of this. Through workshop we all have this connection through writing that I think is really neat. You may not know much about the person you sit next to each day, or the person across the room, but you know how they write and what they write about. I think others' writing styles and subject matter has impacted me and helped me as a poet and person.

Thanks!
Taylor Achin

What I liked about this course

I think workshop was my favorite part of this class. I really liked showing my poems to other people and seeing their responses. The responses I got were only positive, but, what I wanted was harsh, honest criticism. I don't know if I'm talented. I don't know if I should continue writing. I don't know if I'm wasting my time. I only showed a total of three poems so it would probably be hard to determine anything.

When reading other people's works and comparing it to my own, I get the impression that I'm doing something wrong, mainly cause of content, or something. But, during the presentations, someone presented a poet who was quite intriguing. That poet's style was similar to something I'd write, I think.

In my personal reflection paper, we were encouraged to give ourselves advice for the future, this is what I wrote:

If I had to give myself advice to be used for the future, then I would tell myself to not change. The style I use is different and is quite interesting. It shows that poetry doesn't have to be about broken hearts and the leaves falling. In the future, I will think of neat ideas but probably won't do anything about it, like writing them down in a notebook.

Thursday is the last class for me. It is bitter sweet. I will not miss the oral presentation, or presenting my own poems in workshop. What i will miss is reading a different variety of poets and exploring the meanings. I can say i found my favorite poem ever so far!! It is called The Idea of Ancestry written by Etheridge Knight. Once i read that poem I instantly fell in love with it. I get many different ideas from it. The first time i read it, do not ask me why, i thought of Huckleberry Fin. Ha. The poem has a deep meaning that makes you want to keep reading it. Anybody who has never read it I recommend you do asap. My favorite part of the poem is

"I pace my cell or flop on my bunk

and stare at 47 black faces across the space. I am all of them,

they are all of me, I am me, they are thee, and I have no children

to float in the space between"

I believe it is very touching and gives you a vivid image of what is happening. It kind of makes you feel bad for this guy who wants to do better, but cant.

Anne Sexton.

Well, we are in our last week of the semester, and I thought this time would never come. However, now I am almost sad for this course to come to an end. I really enjoy listening to others' poems, as well as having my own poems critiqued. I feel as though this course has helped me grow as not only a writer, but as a person. Poetry helps me get out my most intimate feelings. When I put that pen to paper, I can say anything that I want to say.
Anne Sexton is one of the poets that I did my oral presentation on. I really have grown to love her work. I even asked for some of her poetry books for Christmas. Maybe I feel as though I can relate to her so much because we are both women who share many of the same opinions on things. She was a very depressed poet, who ultimately committed suicide. However, her work is brilliant, and it inspires me... and I know I am not the only one she has inspired. She may have had a tough life, but she left her words behind for all eternity. Her work just validates the fact that good things can come from something bad. Although her work was her way of coping with her depression, she has touched so many lives- including mine.

Endings and beginnings? No difference sometimes.

I really enjoyed the last couple weeks of class. It puts a different spin on learning poetry when you get to read and share poems with everyone else. This might be my last creative writing class for awhile which makes me sad. However, I'm gonna try and write more like I used to in highschool, after this class is over. It was hard getting back into it this semester and I'm not really sure how I could have stopped writing for a few years. Kinda depressing huh? So I'll put that towards the top of my new years resolution list, maybe it'll get done. Seriously though this class reminded how important it was to let it out on paper, expressing yourself any other way just isn't the same. Also it reminded me that we should listen to what we say on paper, its often surprising. Good luck with finals everyone and have an awesome break!

The Whale in the room

I was going to make my last post about the class and what I learned. I thought I would write something sappy and genuine enough to get some brownie points... But then I realized the last week of classes has murdered all sappiness I may have possessed. And plus why waste all my sappiness here when I have a nice reflection paper to do it in!

Thus instead here is a poem I have been working on for a while. It started out from a short muse write. Short enough that I will post the muse write and the poem that has come from it. Its about a whale swallowing the narrator (who we will call me right now) and floating around in its belly. I really like the poem and I am having fun writing it but I am totally lost on possible meanings.

Im currently trying to think of the whale as an idea or an experience. Perhaps the experience from introduction to poetry? Immersion into the material? Brownie points? I dont know.

Anyway, read for yourself and maybe someone can point me in the right direction?

The Muse Write:

A whale swallows
Me whole into its
Blue sea soaked soggy belly
Where I swim in a
Glowing digestive abyss.
A soft melodic symphony
Choreographs my free swim
Within its bowels
Fish inhaled flutter about me
Like underwater butterflies
On a cool fall day

The "Poem": Whale Breathing
A whale swallows
Me whole into its
Blue sea-soaked soggy belly
Where I swim in a
Glowing digestive abyss
And colorful fish inhaled flutter about me
Like underwater butterflies or fireworks
And a soft melodic symphony of violins
Choreographs my slow-motion free swim
Within its watery bowels
Flipping fully clothed in its stomach
Fighting against the fluids
And I don’t know if this dream
Will end or if I have gills
Because when I dive deeper into its
Fleshy ribbed intestines
I am still breathing

I liked this class

I remember the day when I was selecting classes for the Fall 2011 semester. I wanted to pick classes that were an easy A, and help me finish off my General Education Courses. To fulfill my fine arts credit, Creative Writing would have been the class to help me get this credit out of the way. I remember thinking, this class would be perfect. I mean, its poetry, how hard could it be? Well my opinion quickly changed after the first few classes. How detailed and technical this actual class was, I was soon taking back that thought of easiness and finally realized, this class is not what I expected. Now that is is the last week, I can truly say that I learned a lot about writing and expressing myself much better.

That final hurrah.

It's now the final week of the Intro to Poetry class; two hour and twenty minutes sessions remain until this course is over and done with. I'm kind of happy, and kind of bummed actually. This class has helped me get in touch with my "muse", something I thought I didn't have - as noted in my last two poems I used for my workshop.

Besides spending the entirety of class playing Plants vs Zombies, I think I've actually found ways to improve my writing. As a Creative Writing major, I took this class to hopefully learn to be more creative when writing - and I think I have a much better stand than I did when the class started. I also think I appreciate poetry a tad more than I did in August.

My and my muse are getting closer, I no longer think poetry is for "sissyboys" (although it's not number one on my favorites list) and I'm actually looking forward to take the remaining two poetry classes - and not just for my CRW requirements!

-Jonathan out!

Movies of Your Mind

So I was doing a couple MOYM today and realized that I almost started to use it as a muse push off point. I was typing all the thoughts that came to my head about the poem that I was reading and then began to think of my own based off the poem that I was reading. Not exactly the style of writing they were using (line breaks, rhyme scheme, ect...) but images that were coming to my head from what was being discussed in the poem.

This really helped me because I've been working on trying to get together good poems for my portfolio, so maybe if anybody else out there is having the same issues, read someone else's poetry and it might get your started off on an idea!

The End

For my last blog entire I wanted to sum up my experience in this course. While I still have a decent amount of work left to finish before calling it done, it is finally coming to a close. My muse is most certainly drained. It's been a long fourteen weeks, not only because of this course, but in general. When I sit down and read poetry I can really appreciate the time spent in what was written down. I also feel that sometimes I can be quite critical and I can simply say I don't like the way this poet writes. I guess we are all entitled to an opinion. Come to find out the professor of this course is a rather interesting individual. I really liked the relaxed atmosphere that he created. Even though the workshops were long and sometimes dull, it really adds to the experience. By the end I noticed most of the class was tired from saying the same things over and over. Which made the final “funny” poem that Professor showed us rather hilarious. It's true there is only so much that can be said. Sometimes I feel that being so critical on someones work, specially in poetry, makes it hard to say you didn't like it. I'm sure we all listened to peoples poems and maybe we didn't really enjoy them that much. Though, in an effort to help the person the class came together and instead of putting them down offered them great advice and even encouraged what they already had down. I think people coming together like this shows the ultimate success of the course. In today's world we often look past the other person and worry just about ourselves. This class really supported supporting others. I would like to end with the statement that I really enjoyed this course and I'm a little disappointed there is not a intermediate poetry course offered next semester because I really wanted to continue on as I am a creative writing major. I guess I will have to wait and see for next fall. Thank you all for you cooperation and making it a great semester.

some lines from a muse write

These are some lines from one of the muse writes we did in class on oct. 16 I beleive. I want to put some of this in my porfolio so I need all the help I can get.



There will be fights
Someone will get hurt
There wont be anyone
Noone will stay and laugh
People wont wait
The feilds will not have anything left in them
Noone will remember that kid
The adults wont play like kids
There wont be a light
No sounds of anything
Anything and everything there was will be nothing
There always was nothing
Try to hold on to one image
That image is the light
Thats the only hope
Where did it all go?
How long will it be gone for?

Presentations

For the oral presentation i chose to use Samuel Coleridge and Anne Sexton. I came to this decision through brief and random research and found their lives to be interesting. Being a psychology major I found interest in their mental struggles in life and thought it would be interesting to see how their writing was influenced. Through reading their poetry so far, Coleridge is giving me some difficulty, especially relative to Sexton's work. Coleridge who lived in 1800 uses a very different/older style of English that makes it difficult to pick up on certain aspects of his work. In most cases ive had to re-read each piece multiple times to only grasp a basic understanding. Ive started to pick up on his style and become familiar but the diction will continue to be an obstacle. On the other hand, Anne Sext0n's work is relatively easy to understand. So far a lot of her stuff is pretty dark so her depression is evident.

Music as inspiration

In my down time I always listen to music, but more recently I have been writing poetry and using some songs as inspiration. I get a completely different outcome when I use a photo as inspiration, because music tends to make me write more in rhythm and over-use the effect of rhyme. So far I have only listened to Rap during my Muse work, but soon enough ill branch out to other genres. Some of my favorite artists to listen to and write are Atmosphere, J. Cole, Wale, etc. And for other genres I plan to use Jimmy Hendrix, maybe John Mayer, Elvis Costello, and even some country.

I am very interested in hearing your thoughts about music as inspiration and what artists/songs you have used or suggest.

Revising

I've been revising one of the poems I used for workshop and have been trying to use the feedback I got from both professor McCoy and my peers. After my first draft most of the feedback I received was to describe what my thoughts were and explain more where my head was at during this particular scene on the beach. I've added what I feel like is a lot, but feel as though it is taking away from the scene I had created in my first draft. Let me know what you think- especially those of you who remember the first draft.

Thanks! - Taylor

Stars freckled the sky, light in the black abyss

I’ll figure it out

Deep blue ,black, wondrously they stare

Water rises, creeping

Sneaking into my clenched toes

the way you seem to bring me back

Skating above the creases

Time irrelevant, care-free

how we used to be

Mind spinning

Breakup, make up

Break up, make up

Deteriorating process

Cycling like the wave

Mesmerizing

Once mesmerized by our love

Was it even love?

Waves predictable unlike my thoughts

Will it work?

Unpredictability of love

Questions rise and fall with tide

Body pressed into chilled sand, no longer the comfort of you

Dreaming in the wrong time

Too young for the fairytale you want

Thoughts circle, I want you- uncomplicated

Moons balance on the horizon

Their reflections rippling with illumination

Colors swirl like gasoline

Toxic, my thoughts circle

Workshop and Criticism

I've been enjoyed CRW 205 much more since we started workshop. Running to the library on a Monday night in the rain to print poems at Penfield's "quick" print station isn't always what I want to do, but sitting down with all of the next day's poems is worthwhile more often than not. I usually read the poems over and time or two underlining and circling my favorite parts and slip the poems into my bag until the next day. But, when we actually begin workshop in class, I think it is fascinating to listen to my fellow poets bring their work to life. It is moving to hear someone passionately speak about heartbreak or describe a majestic beach scene. Often times poetry brings out the hurt and makes you connect with someone on a personal level. For example, Tiraya's poem last week about the "Bedroom Bully" gave me chills like never before. I guess what I'm trying to say is... We've all grown as writers and some of you guys are damn good! I love hearing what our Muses spill out on paper.

The downside to workshop (at least for me) is criticism. I really have a hard time hearing that my work is anything less than sufficient. Working hard on a piece simply to be told it needs to be adjusted and more detailed can get defeating... but accepting and applying criticism will be a part of all of our future careers. In a way, I enjoy being thrown into situations I am uncomfortable with because in the end, I grow as a writer and a person.

Have you guys been enjoying workshop? How do you feel about criticism?

Good luck finishing up poet projects and portfolios everyone!

Resolutions

January 1st I promise myself I would perform at an open mic night sometime before this year was over. Well, it's almost December and I haven't done that yet. What I would love to do is sing some original work at an open mic night, but I would be completely stoked to read poetry at an open mic night.

I write tons of lyrics and I sing all the time... when I'm alone in the car or at home. I've been doing theatre since I was four years old. I took voice lessons for 4 years. My mom is a music teacher. My dad loved singing. A lot in my life has revolved around music... still, somehow I had a really hard time singing in front of people alone.

This Thanksgiving break, my friend Tony forced me into playing piano and singing for him. I was terrified and couldn't start. I just kept playing the same eight notes over and over again until he pushed me hard enough to just start singing. I did, and I survived! It wasn't my best- my voice was shaky, my high notes were cracking, but I did it. Tony forced me into doing it again but to sing my heart out. So I did.

You might be wondering what this has to do with poetry. Well, to me, it has a lot to do with poetry. Anyone can sing a song (whether it's good or bad, they can still sing it), but for someone to knock down their big brick walls that guarded them, and to really belt out a song, good or bad, takes a lot of courage. It also takes a lot of self-honesty and awareness. You have the ability in yourself to be brave, and you have to be honest with yourself and aware that you can do it. In poetry, the same thing is true. It's easy to write "Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and whoop-dee-doo". It's not so easy to write something honest and beautiful and painful and visceral, but it can be made easy if you're brave enough to knock down those big brick walls and let it happen. You have it in you. Be courageous enough to knock down that wall. Be aware enough to see it, hear it and feel in it. Be honest enough to believe in it.

I want to thank everyone this semester for giving me the chance to read my poems in such a safe environment. I feel like I've received some feedback that I can handle. I feel like by reading my poems I don't have to hide anything anymore. I can be really proud of what I've found within myself and around myself. Thank you all so much.

As for the future, I plan to still perform at an open mic night this year in some way, shape or form. As for you, please do me a favor:

Next time you're in your car and your favorite song comes on the radio (you know that one bone-chilling song you love?), sing.

And when you stop at a red light and someone pulls up next to you and sees you singing, DO NOT stop singing. You might be scared because you think they'll assume you're nuts. Do me a favor. Sing louder.

-Becca Wemesfelder

Revision and Portfolio

Going through revision, I have tried to choose poems that I think could benefit from revision. I specifically choose ones that have potential, but ones I have not been able to figure out how to write them just right yet. In this way I can be open to criticism and really be open to improve the poems.

The only bad part about this, is that I'm not entirely sure which poems to pick for my portfolio in addition to these ones. For the other two poems, I'm unsure what to do. On the one hand, there are still poems that I'm unsure about, and could stand some revision. The down side to choosing these: I have no audience to give me solid critiques or guidance. Then there are poems that I'm very happy with, but because they already seem to be pretty near finished, I hesitate to use them in my portfolio because any changes would be pretty minor.

Do any of you guys have suggestions? Should I go for mediocre poems and experiment with making them better, or go with poems I'm more confident with, risking ruining the finished feel with further revisions?

What are you guys thinking for your own portfolios?

The Portrait

My bottom is getting numb,

Few hours passed by, with each brush stroke

Becoming more anxious, but less impatient

My legacy is in the hands of this artist

Whose name I do not know

More than a stranger, less than an acquaintance

“Who knew legacies take this long to create?”

Stroke after Stroke

Impatience drawing near

Same breeze that gives me comfort

Has the artist shivering

My hand has been dead for a few hours

Is he capturing the sweat beads forming on my fore head?

If he does, he’s spectacular, but I pray he’s mediocre

Still the legacy must be formed

They must remember me for my poise

My painted image will bring back memories

Good ones remain and bad ones must flee

Impatience is here,

“Who knew legacies take this long to create”?

Critiquing

These past few weeks, our peers in our classes have been critiquing our work and telling us the positive and negative aspects of our poetry. I honestly like this aspect of our poetry workshop. It helps build us up as writers. I know many of my poetry is not "perfect" therefore it benefits me to hear what I can work on and how to make my writing better. A lot of my revisions have been made because of my peers. I know my strengths and weaknesses and how to make a good poem, better.

Cutting the Fat

I have a million different muse writes that 5 pages long each and I really have to cut the fat but I find it really hard to get rid of some of the stuff that I came up with. I could take just two lines from my muse work and make it another page of poem. I think my biggest problem is sometimes finding the unique language and the ramble that may sound cool but says absolutely nothing.

I really want to practice being able to talk about one simple moment or a simple event and make in something beautiful instead of trying to fit an entire novel into a 10 page poem which is what a lot of my muse work seems to be.

Pablo Neruda

I am taking another English class and today we read some poems written by Pablo Neruda. I fell in love with his work. His poems are easy to understand and actually pretty funny. He wrote an " ode to my socks" all about a pair of socks. I really recommend if anyone is looking to read some poems for fun, his are defiantly interesting. My favorite is called " Tonight I Can Write". This poem is about a guy who does not have his girlfriend anymore. He is basically saying " I lost her and that's all". He worries about her being with another man. He says this is the last poem he is going to write about her. I found it funny that he kept going back and forth saying he loves her, but does not love her. I really liked it.

Workshop

So far workshop is going well. One aspect that I like about it is that we are actually receiving feedback and constructive criticism. All of the comments I've received, I've tried my best to apply them to the second poem I am working on for Round 2 of workshop. I think it's also helpful to hear the poems of other students because I get to see how distinctive or similiar other students are to me when it comes to writing poetry. I've picked up on the fact that I can trim fat from some of my lines to abstain from my poems sounding very "prose." One thing I've noticed is that many poems read are very dreary concerning topics like death and lost love. I don't know if students are doing this because they want their poems to be more complex but hearing a light poem from here to there would lighten up the mood a bit. I'm getting more immune to reading my work out loud because of workshop. Before workshop, I would be timid and not really want to read what I have because I thought it wasn't 'up to par" but I generally got back positive feedback and great corrections. One thing that can possible be done differently is have the speaker first explain what their stake in the poem is. I've noticed that this was a recurring issue with many poems during workshop. The other students and even the professor was unsure of where the speaker was going with his/her poem. If the student reads his/her poem then says what it is about then I think the feedback would be better just based off of that. Other than that, I think workshop is going well.

After workshop today I was a little confused on the reactions and criticisms I had gotten about my poem [16]. I am going to post it so you know which one i'm talking about...

[16]

Grandma says you can’t buy loyalty;

But I beg to differ.

I bought it three years ago.

Wrapped in a scarlet ribbon,

Sewn into one solitary-trusting heart,

She devoted herself from the start.

Playful, loving and hyper,

Demanding of attention.

She always makes me beam;

Like when the morning rays hit your face

After a spine tingling dream.

I bought happiness in a small package.

Along with that, came loyalty.

Night or Day, Tsunami or Drought

She will never vacate me.

If you don’t believe these things are for sale

Venture to 25 Park Lane.

There you will find a golden-eyed puppy,

Loving, loyal and kind,

That relishes the days when I come home

And endlessly wags her tale.

When I read back all the criticisms everyone had given me I realized that half the people said to keep the poem the way it was because they liked the happy feel to it and liked that it was light whereas most poems are not and usually about something sad, angry, etc. These people said not to add anything "deep" to the poem because it will add an adverse affect. The other half said to somehow put some tragedy or tension into the poem. So basically I don't know if I should play around with the poem, tighten it up, etc but not add any other plot to it, or if i should use what I wrote in this poem and make it into a comparison about someone who is not loyal and why they are not and compare that to my dog, who clearly is loyal and then talk about why she is? I'm kind of stuck. I said in class that when I wrote this poem I wanted to change it up and not about something depressing or angry for once which is why I wrote this and I also don't want to make a poem about my dog depressing!!! So help and opinions on how I should alter this poem would be great.

Thanks!

Love for detail

I have always written mostly depressing poems because I find them easier to write. However, through my muse, I am able to spark new and exciting ideas from my imagination... instead of just from life experience. I love the fact that anything is possible with poetry. When we were introduced to lies and secrets in class, it just added to the endless creations available to me through writing. I particularly love Emily Dickinson and her use of these inclinations. I have always enjoyed morose and macabre detail in poetry, and her work continually gives me new ideas for my own. I have also found that during our “cutting the fat” sessions, I am given the opportunity to expand my ideas. By cutting the fat, I can add more intricate detailing. I do find it hard to use both intricate detail and rhyming, but when they are combined, I find the best poems can be created.

Free Write Hell

After workshop this past Thursday I realized I had exactly one poem written. Other then that I have a million muse writes each of which I have done little with. I cant seem to translate them from free writing messiness into a semi-organized poem. Even translating some of it into prose hasnt assisted me. I have resorted to free writing from my free writes which has added to my pile of raw material and limbo revision pile but not my written poetry pile. So, alas, here is the one stanza of revision I have been working on; because that is all I have;

The space is black above and around me
Black like nothing and everything
Heavy like there could be someone hiding in the depths
Or empty with me the sole occupant.
Silent enough that my thoughts seem loud
Large to where I am reduced to very little.

What a Fine Art Poetry is!

This class has opened my mind causing me to look deeper into myself to pull out thoughts from the treasure of experiences and wisdom I have accumulated over the last 22 years. I learned that through poetry I could take these thoughts and put them together in very unique and complex ways. I look at poetry as if I am painting, and every event in life and all experiences and knowledge is merely a color on the palette. With poetry, as in any other form of art, creativity is only limited to your imagination, which has not a limit. The muse can take you place where you did not know existed, painting magnificent works of art, giving thoughts a heartbeat on the paper giving the reader a thought to digest.

The poems I have read and the poems I wrote, in many ways, were very similar to my poems. Although the writers have experience what they wrote about differently I can see the relationship between my poems and the poems I read because I have experience many of the feelings, emotions these writer experience in the poems they wrote.

Here is a muse poem I wrote after a long day of work right after counting the money I earned. Tell me what you think.

The Shared Obsession

Your presence is so cherished

Every moment spent with you leaves me in a euphoric high

You complete me,

Give me all I need

From the hat on my head to the shoes on my feet

I love you for everything you have gave me,

only wanting you more and more

but you demand to me treated like a whore

I Cant keep you to myself

the more I share you, the better you treat me, only to give me more

Stressful Days with out you, insatiable desire for your love

I wonder why

Your love will make people kill for you.

Everyone lives just for a chance to be with you

Do anything they have to do,

Stick up stores just for more

Women sell there bodies and seduce you into there possession

Just to make you feel more like a whore,

You tell me trust in god, knowing the evil it takes to get you

It makes me wonder

Even people who never saw you want you

Work hard for you just to share you

Empty stomachs and bare feet

From South America to Africa to the middle east

Parents will leave their children in pursuit of you

Hungry and with out food

Yet people who have you take you for granted and treat you like the whore you are

Just because you can give them more than all that they want

People need you, and will love to have you just for a minute

And those are the people who need you the most

They can have you too, but they don’t

And still I wonder why