My Turn- a poem by me.

I am angry with you
Neither of us has right
to have right
to be right or wrong

We are close to equal?
Sharing emotions then, sharing emotions now,
but an emotion of all different sorts

Lack of understanding
lack of want to understand
Selfish? Maybe
Confused? More likely

But who has the upper hand? The hammer?
Who was vulnerable, one moreso than the other?

And, now?
Confusion. Justification.
What is right?
Why wait? Why go?

Can’t stand still.
Physically dull.
Mentally not logical. Productivity stops.

But to move forward.
Which is worse?
More painful?
More dangerous?


There is order in my disorder.


Hypocrisy. With him was one,
but with you another.

Not lies. Not deceipt.
Who is right? Most likely none.

A matter of opinion.
no understanding.

Ideal is not stress.
Not pain. Not tears.
To get to no tears,
must you run out?

Multiple voices.
All helpful, none helping.
Yet we are all so mighty
All so right, so knowing.

We are all wrong.

Have you hurt more than I?
Have you done more damage?

My turn?

White Oleander

I just finished reading White Oleander.

What really struck me about this book, and many of the stories we have read, is how much someone could have gone through at a very young age.

I am very lucky. I have never been homeless, and never without food, and I have two parents who, while they have little money, love me very much.

However, I hear a lot of people say that people "my age" haven't "experienced life" yet.

How do you judge a 12-year-old's life experience? How do you convince yourself that you know someones story because you have seen their face and date of birth?

The book also looks inside the mind of girl who isn't perfect- who is young, very sure of herself, yet confused at the same time.

I really liked the style of writing, from the point of view of a girl who is just trying to survive.

I read Paint it Black last year, and now I just want to get my hands on more work from Janet Fitch.

Works by Melody Charles

I read about 15 different pieces by Melody Charles. The one that really caught my eye was "Heroic Tulsa."

She talks about the only the city I truly know. She speaks in a sort of stream-of-consciousness.

She talks about how she doesn't want to run down eleventh street, and then realizes it's part of Route 66.

I identify so closely with this poem. I love it because it seems like some people try so hard to make their work relatable, when often times there are a lot of people that can identify with your specific situations.

When that happens, I feel like the poetry is a lot more personal.

Into Stillness

Pallant's writing was very thought-provoking. There are so many circumstances in which people are treated as much less than human, and to leave it vaguely as she does allows it to transcend almost all of the different situations.

For my context, I read about Guantanamo Bay. The prisoners of war have a history of being treated horribly, not given adequate food and being deprived of civil liberties.

There are regulations on how prisoners of war are supposed to be treated, and now that the mass media can cover stories about Guantanamo Bay as it currently stands, as well as share the stories of those previously held, the information is easily open to the public.

With artistic writing like Pallant’s and journalistic writing by the media, it is impossible to ignore the problems as they exist.

The more I think about it, the more I think about the “good old days.”

I doubt they ever existed, but if they did, I’m sure it was good only because of ignorance, not because of an actual ideal situation.

Samantha Exstance-a creative journey in style.

Samantha Exstance is an amazing writer. She's also very nice, which is a great added bonus.

We sat down and looked over a few of her pieces, which were arranged so carefully.

Some of her poems were purely stream of consciousness. Others were meticulosly arranged, almost like a word puzzle. You could read them in a variety of ways, all which changed the meaning of the poetry.

It was nice to sit down and talk to her, and I heard most of her story, starting with creating an anthology of all of her poetry when she was around 5 years old.

I find it odd how poetry changes once you meet the person who wrote it. Now you have a face, and a voice, that reads the poetry as you do. I identify her works now with the short blonde hair and glasses.

I haven't yet decided if I think this is a good thing, a bad thing, or neither.

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Recitatif is a very interesting story.

It wasn't until I was about halfway though that I caught on that Morrison never indicated which girl was white and which was black.

It's an interesting way to call people out on their prejudices: She makes us see it in ourselves rather than telling us.

It calls into question why we have the stereotypes that we do.

Why are a person's actions representative of their race rather than their individual personality?

I think what I took away from Recitatif is that we shouldnt accept our judgements as truth, but constantly question them.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Honestly, while this was a great play, it just made me angry.

I sort of wish there was something to be done about it, right now, because by the time I finished reading it I was ready to take action.

I suppose that's a sign of good work.

The way that everyone played their little role and ignored the actual world-- even ignored rape. It just infuriated me.

It also made me think:
I'm sure a lot has changed since then, but still do we ignore things just because it is convenient?

Do we not believe things because we "just can't," like Stella?

This brought about some major self-evaluation for me.