Cartoon Physics, part 1

By Nick Flynn

<sub>Children under, say, ten, shouldn't know
that the universe is ever-expanding,
inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies

swallowed by galaxies, whole

solar systems collapsing, all of it
acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning

the rules of cartoon animation,

that if a man draws a door on a rock
only he can pass through it.
Anyone else who tries

will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds
should stick with burning houses, car wrecks,
ships going down -- earthbound, tangible

disasters, arenas

where they can be heroes. You can run
back into a burning house, sinking ships

have lifeboats, the trucks will come
with their ladders, if you jump

you will be saved. A child

places her hand on the roof of a schoolbus,
& drives across a city of sand. She knows

the exact spot it will skid, at which point
the bridge will give, who will swim to safety
& who will be pulled under by sharks. She will learn

that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff
he will not fall

until he notices his mistake.</sub>

,.~*' My Reaction '*~,.

I nodded my head as I read this poem, because it is true that anyone as a child had lived in a fantasized world at some point. I too, always thought that I could be a hero because of what happens in movies and cartoons, that I wouldn't get hurt and always escape troubles. In reality, however, this may not be true, and that is the sad part about life; no matter who you are, nature is still merciless. Children think that good things will always happen, or bad things won't. My favorite line was "She will learn that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff he will not fall until he notices his mistake." because that reminded me of so many cartoons, having characters float in mid air until they realize their situation, and other physically impossible things. Though humorous, at the same time it is quite sad, because it indicates the unpredicting nature of events, so whether the person is aware or not, it would still happen. The world has a dark part, but many children wouldn't understand it, like those who jump off a roof with an umbrella like Mary Poppins, or trying a dangerous move like an action character. Those who are unfortunate would receive the same consequences of those who are already aware.

The poem overall expressed such sarcasm very well, not only to humor children's views, but to express the dark reality in a humorous way with such great example. There are many stories and poems that directly indicate the sad truth of the world, so this was quite original. Sometimes I feel the same way about young children, thinking that nothing bad would happen to them, while they are only a pitiful percentage of the whole population living on earth waiting to be eaten up. I suppose thinking that way is not necessarily bad, but I feel bad that someday they have to be awaken from their delightful dreams.

The Bagel

By David Ignatow

_{I stopped to pick up the bagel
rolling away in the wind,
annoyed with myself
for having dropped it
as if it were a portent.
Faster and faster it rolled,
with me running after it
bent low, gritting my teeth,
and I found myself doubled over
and rolling down the street
head over heels, one complete somersault
after another like a bagel
and strangely happy with myself.}

,.~*' My Reaction '*~.,
The poem had a funny image of a man or likely a woman carrying a big bag of bagels and chasing one of them. The shortness and the character's inner dialogue indeed supported the humor of the story. I could imagine the poor bagel rolling non stop and the character chasing after limpily due to the heaviness of the bag. Primarily the story seemed a bit too simple, but everyday events are funny all, like finding a pencil right under your nose after looking for it for hours, or accidentally eating dog food. The last couple stanzas were interesting; the character was probably happy because instead of embarassingly falling over and spilling all the other bagels, he or she did something unexpected. The character was probably thinking, "Oh gosh I'm going to fall over soon", but was amazed by doing a good and complete somersault. This can be seen in everday lives; "Oh my gosh! did you see that? That was totally unexpected." The poem was nice and short, because in the end the reader could nod his or her head in agreement.

Turtle

By Kay Ryan

_{Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
She can ill afford the chances she must take
In rowing toward the grasses that she eats.
Her track is graceless, like dragging
A packing-case places, and almost any slope
Defeats her modest hopes. Even being practical,
She’s often stuck up to the axle on her way
To something edible. With everything optimal,
She skirts the ditch which would convert
Her shell into a serving dish. She lives
Below luck-level, never imagining some lottery
Will change her load of pottery to wings.
Her only levity is patience,
The sport of truly chastened things.}

,.~*' My Reaction '*~.,
Turtles are indeed slow and sometimes defenseless when it comes to running. However, I always wonder what it thinks of its life; nothing better happens, everything in its environment moves ahead quickly, while the turtle tries accomplish a difficult task that would be considered "easy". This reminded me of the story of a race between rabbit and a turtle. Even though the rabbit has more advantage in speed, the turtle did not complain, because it's so patience. The rabbit may brag about its speed and mock turtle's inability, the turtle probably has more than anything else, if it could still live which such burden. The poet picked the words well to describe the turtle's slowness, such as "grace less" and "four oar helmet". Most of the descriptions focused on the turtle's movement, and almost like a close up video of it. The poem had no rhyming ends but the poet seemed to insert several in middle of sentences, just that they are not written by stanzas. The poem first gave me a headache because the poem itself seemed slow and grinding, but I thought the ending was proper. Even though there are so many things turtles lack and suffer, it's not its mere abilities compared to others that makes the turlte so valuable, or anybody else that lacks abilities considered "great" for that matter.

Did I miss anything?

Tom Wayman

<sub>Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth.

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered

but it was one place

And you weren’t here</sub>

,.~*' My reaction '*~,.

The first thing that came to my mind after reading this poem is a good friend of mine who misses class alot. She is a very nice and smart person but sometimes she gets quite lazy about work. This poem got my interest because of the title; it had mocking humor. This poem is a silly poem, with a bit of sarcasm. The poet went two ways about answering the question, but they are both true. When someone misses something, he or she misses everything that happened during their absent, but nothing at the same time, since what he or she missed is what he or she doesn't know. There would be no significance n the event then, however, the event still happened anyway, so it doesn't matter it was experienced by someone; it still existed. The poet kept going back and forth with "nothing" and "everything", and getting detailed every other stanza. First it started with missing a class, then to a valuable human experience. Ultimately what the person missed does not seem to determine its significance anymore. Even though it may not mean anything to someone who missed it, but everything that happened in that particular place, is still something.

The poem primarily seemed like a simple and silly poem, but when I think about it, it contains an important message, or at least in my opinion. There are billions of people in the world, but not all of them live in the same region. Most of our lives, we spend our day without knowing everything that happens in the world. We all live in our own world and cannot be aware of everything. Some people don't even care about what happens outside, such as "Oh those poor Iraqians!" but they would return to their task. I suppose whatever happens in this world is all connected to each other and important. Even now it's quite difficult for me to fully explain what the poem may mean, but I liked the it because the poem possesses a complex idea and philosophy that I admire.

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons

The poem The love song of J. Alred Prufrock first gave me a usual expression when I see a long and potentially meaningful poem. The first time I tried to analyze the poem, there weren’t much meanings. It just seemed like a simple time and love poem, but after some detailed analysis, it now holds so many aspects. It’s not even about love or time, and if I were asked what this poem was about, I could write so much. The poem began as himself walking down a deserted streets in a cheap neighborhood, in a very dreamy setting, having no specific destination, but as if moving in a monotonic road of his life. The first stanza has not yet indicated his age or time, only to compare his dull world and the world of the high class. Later he proceeds on to the concept of time, indicating that there is time for everything; do not rush to do everything in your life. This stanza gave an idea that he is giving an advice to a young reader, that there is no need for a rush, because in the next stanza, he gave a physical description of himself, such as "how his hair is growing thin!" and "But how his arms and legs are thin!". With that in mind, he asks if he should dare attempt to move back in time, to act young again or "disturb the universe", or accept the present and move on. Now looking back the first stanza of himself comparing his own life to the high society, the poem started to have a tragic tone.

One of the lines I primarily found meaningless has so much messages behind after the analysis; "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;". The "coffee" in the line represented morning, or a routine, perhaps of his daily routine, but nothing is changing and he is only asking himself, "should I?". He is old and his life is measured out with little coffee spoons that represent his hopeless desires, fantasies and dreams. This interpretion is supported by the next line, "I know the voices dying with a dying fall beneath the music from a farther room.", saying that the world of the young and sophistication is moving and fading away from him. Then the next stanzas, he expresses his life being looked at by everyone while he is helpless and hopeless.

There is a reference to the concept of crab from Hamlet by Shakespeare. As a crab, he would be stretching out on the beach and sleep, which almost wastes his time. He asks whether he should put this moment into crisis, meaning rushing to do something, or stay the way he is. So in a way, he is again saying that there is no need to rush time, but he also fears death.
From the part where he indicated his life measured in coffee spoons, the poem is filled with the same question; would it be worth to have it all? Would it be worth to live in luxury drinking tea in cups and marmalades, to live in high soceity?

The poet kind of rambles on at this point, until he makes another reference from Hamlet, which is assumed to be Polonius. Polonius is not Hamlet, nor any part of the loyalty, yet he keeps trying to sound smart and imporant and be included in the group, the high society, like how the poet attempts to move back in time. In the last couple of stanzas, the poet admits his oldness. He speaks of the mermaids, possibly the women of the high society or his fantasies, who would not sing to him, leaving him lonely. Lastly, all this time he would be floating in his fantasies thinking that he could move back in time and act young again, until the reality strikes in and his life would go down the drain.

The overall tone and theme of this poem is very sad, and after reading this, I feel the same fear as well, that even though I may be young now, eventually I would be old, and that the world would no longer revolve around me. It has implied to me that it is important to do the best I can when I can, so that I may live the life I want when I grow up. The poem is great, not only because of its writing structure or the theme, but because of the poet's ability to really embed the feelings and fear the poet tries to indicate.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

,.~*' My reaction '*~.,

The poem was a bit hard to understand because each line seems to be describing something else and the poem was digressing alot, but all making some sort of a similar point. Some parts of the stanza seemed to describe himself getting old, by using a sense of time, or physical descriptions such as when he said "'How his hair is growing thin!'". The poem begins as himself and possibly his lover walking down the deserted and tedious street in a cheap neighborhood. In one stanza he continually repeats the phrase, "there is time", implying that even though he may be walking in deserted streets and that he may be getting old, there is no rush for a better life, possibly of the woman who he describes "the woman come and go, talking of Michaelangelo." His aging is physically described by the thin hair, limbs, and he asks the question rather or not he should try to act young again, but he indicates that, "there is time." In an another interpretion, it could be implied that he may be giving advices to readers who are young and that there is nothing to rush about.

In the later part of the poem he makes a reference to the crab, which was also used in Hamlet by Shakespeare, by Prince Hamlet subjected to Polonius. In the play it was interpreted that he meant to describe Polonius or the situation by the crab's ability to walk backwards or shed its skin, as if turning back the time or shedding Polonius or Hamlet's uncle's crime. In my opinion the poet seems to mean just sitting around and sleeping like a crab and dreading the time moving on, therefore being afraid. Besides, the poem partially seems to use the idea of aging. Also he makes another reference to Hamlet, "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;", which seemed to portray Polonius, since he was "Politic, cautious, and meticulous", just like when he always spies on people. The line "Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;" also portrays Polonius's habit of talking and acting lenthgly and foolishly, therefore dying in the end. I wasn't really sure what that reference related to his concept or idea but in an indescribable way, it did make sense.Lengthy but great poem.

Immigration blues

By Li-Young Lee

Immigrant Blues

People have been trying to kill me since I was born,
a man tells his son, trying to explain
the wisdom of learning a second tongue.

It’s an old story from the previous century
about my father and me.

The same old story from yesterday morning
about me and my son.

It’s called “Survival Strategies
and the Melancholy of Racial Assimilation.”

It’s called “Psychological Paradigms of Displaced Persons,”

called, “The Child Who’d Rather Play than Study.”

Practice until you feel
the language inside you, says the man.

But what does he know about inside and outside,
my father who was spared nothing
in spite of the languages he used?

And me, confused about the flesh and the soul,
who asked once into a telephone,
Am I inside you?

You’re always inside me, a woman answered,
at peace with the body’s finitude,
at peace with the soul’s disregard
of space and time.

Am I inside you? I asked once
lying between her legs, confused
about the body and the heart.

If you don’t believe you’re inside me, you’re not,
she answered, at peace with the body’s greed,
at peace with the heart’s bewilderment.

It’s an ancient story from yesterday evening

called “Patterns of Love in Peoples of Diaspora,”

called “Loss of the Homeplace
and the Defilement of the Beloved,”

called “I Want to Sing but I Don’t Know Any Songs.”



,.~*' My reaction '*~.,

The poem seems to be free verse, because it does not maintain any sort of poetic forms, but rather like a story. Through this poem, the poet uses the phrase “be inside” couple of times. First when his father told him that he must feel the language inside him, it means that he needs to fully understand and accept the language at heart, not just memorizing and speaking it. I supposed it was like studying, that unless you are really into it and try to enjoy it, it would be more effective than simply memorizing. In the second time it was used, the man or poet himself asked a woman if he was inside her, meaning, is he in her heart? It is a very common saying when someone wants to know if his/her lover really loves them or not, rather than just pretending or acting. Then the man asks the same question when he does it literally, and she said that he if he does not think he’s inside her, then he is not, because if he’s doubtful, that means he is hesitant about giving her the most he can offer. Each stanza is very short but direct to the point, which is what I like. The poet composed the lines very well to allow the short stanzas to either send a big message and ideas or change the direction for dramatic effect. He seems to be a wordsmith because he used many words I have not heard of or do not see occasionally, but they sound sophisticating, such as, “Diaspora” and “defilement”, and “melancholy of racial assimilation”, which I suppose means “racism” in a way. The poem was more like a story written in shorter paragraphs, but it was done appropriately for its purposed effects.

Dandelion

By Julie Lechevsky

<sub>My science teacher said
there are no monographs
on the dandelion.

Unlike the Venus fly-trap
or Calopogon pulchellus,
it is not a plant worthy of scrutiny.

It goes on television
between the poison squirt bottles,
during commercial breakaways from Ricki Lake.

But that's how life
parachutes
to my home.

Home,
where they make you do
what you don't want to do.

Moms with Uzis of reproach,
dads with their silencers.
(My parents watch me closely because I am their jewel.)

So no one knows how strong
a dandelion is inside,
how its parts stick together,
bract, involucre, pappus,
how it clings to its fragile self.

There are 188 florets in a bloom,
which might seem a peculiar number,
but there are 188,000 square feet
in the perfectly proportioned Wal-Mart,
which allows for circulation
without getting lost.

I wish I could grow like a dandelion,
from gold to thin white hair,
and be carried on a breeze
to the next yard.</sub>


,.~*' My Reaction '*~.,

The poet compared quality of a person’s life to a life of a dandelion, and I've always thought that weeds were somewhat beautiful, not because its appearance but for the similar reason the poet presented. Even though weeds, like dandelions and anything people do not favor, are not pretty as flowers that attract bees or as contributive as big trees that produce air, they are pretty strong. I really liked the poet’s use of personification on the dandelion, as she said, “It goes on television”, and is squirted with a poison bottle as a part of the commercial. Also this poem was written in free verse, without using any type of true or off rhymes, or even couplets, but informality and fluidness of the poem stimulates an imagery of a dandelion as a real person, always weeded, sprayed with poison, and stepped on but he or she always seem to grow back no matter how hostile their environment is. So if someone were a dandelion, he or she may not be so attractive or special on the outside, but they are strong and determined in the inside. Whenever I look at a weed, I first think why it's there and stealing nutrition from the yard's grass and flowers, but then I feel like the weed is disliked too much and it's lonely. It's not praised for its beauty or given nutritious food for better growth, but just stared at and called an annoyance. In reality, it doesn't mean harm, but it just wants to live. So sometimes I feel sympathy for it, but it seems to flourish no matter what circumstance, and sometimes I wish I could be like a weed. Not that I want to be annoying or leech others, but even though I may not be so special in people's eyes, I want to have such strength and will to move on. Even though this poem lacked metaphors or similes to express and describe the concept, the poem was simple yet direct to the point, not by words but by images. I loved the last stanza of the poem, and this poem shows that someone's quality is not always determined by outside beauty or what you are to others, but how much will and strength you have.

The introduction to poetry

By Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

,.~*' my reaction '*~.,

I've always thought that poems were difficult to understand and interpret and I thought it was just me, but I guess not. Collins is trying to tell the reader to just appreciate and let the poem be, and that trying to extract the true meaning out of it is not the purpose of its existence. This poem itself have various meanings in each stanza, even with clear images of it, it could be interpreted in many ways. The general meaning of this poem is probably what I and others know already, but it is written in such simple yet somewhat artistic way. The poem may seem easy to understand but it still makes you wonder if he meant something else, and such thoughts makes this poem indeed beautiful.