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.