Korah+Lovelace+<3

= = =**Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement...says heaven and earth in one word...speaks of himself and his predicament as though for the first time.-Christopher Fry **= = = = **My Sonnet:** =


 * Shall I compare thee to a summers day?**
 * Shakespeare's** **poems always get to the point**
 * My love for you will never go away**
 * Abuse that you give me,I'll need a joint**
 * But when I look at you,I have no choice**
 * Romance is a game you will always lose**
 * When I look at your face, I lose my voice**
 * You act as if this is something I chose**
 * within you, I see a wonderful light**
 * Without you, I really dont know what I would do**
 * Gleaming love from your heart, shining so bright**
 * Just close your eyes and never call me boo**
 * I'm no Juliet, your no Romeo**
 * So when night falls, its time for me to go**

= **Ode to Donuts** = **Yes, Ode to you** **Your sweet** **Not lovey ,duvy sweet** **You won't kiss me or hold my waste,but you'd have no problem giving me love handles** **I see you every Saturday, your never late** **But your shy, damn your shy** **You never say a word** **I stare right at you, and you do the same** **and then our mouths meet and I jus wanna eat you up** **indeed, I do** **But just as fast as I met you, you left** **And thats it** **Like the end of a tragic love story, Im alone** **You just up and left me ,leaving me to clean up the mess** **I reached for the napkin and the bag you came in and toss it in the trash** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> = = = **I was Raised by:** = <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**I was raised by "whata ta goal" yelling,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**Do you want more henna honey,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**incent burning,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**I'll call you earth your brother truth allah,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**go use ya shaebutter,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**embrace ya wild hair,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**speak to ya creator,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**hold ya head high,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**stick like glue to ya commitments saying,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**brown sugar** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**curry chicken aroma,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**Mighty Mos Def songs blasting in the background** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**break dancing in the living room,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**pure meditation,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**six stepping on card board boxes taped to the grown as I do B Boy poses with his fake chain,** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">**You'd say "twist my dreadlocks for me baby" and I'd say "Yes Mama"** **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I was raised by hope, thats all I know ** **Maybe Another Day Romeo:**
 * Little did he know that while he was puckering up for his 15 kiss, I was preparing for my first**
 * As his head titled in,mines slowly moved futher away**
 * I could see his lips, in perfect position**
 * While mine couldn't figure out where to go**
 * I saw the girl lift her right foot up on TV, so I did the same**
 * As his kiss got closer,I crossed my fingers behind my back**
 * I tryed to close my eyes but one insisted it stay open, it had to see what was going on**
 * One foot up, one eye open, I stood there waiting for our lips to meet**
 * Then my opened eye noticed the pretest bird in the sky and I began to lose my balace**
 * The ground and my butt met in the moment that my lips were suppose to meet his**
 * But he didn't notice**
 * and as I was looking up at him from the ground in shame, he was still leaning in, eyes close, ready to kiss**
 * This was my only chance**
 * I got up from where I had fallen and ran away**
 * Maybe another day Romeo**

=<span style="color: #cc6600; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Artist Statement: =
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> For the last 16 years of my life, I have been flooded with the embarrassing experiences of youth. My creative writing comes from the same place I store these youthful memories, so many of my writing is life from a young point of view.It kills me to write something sad or typical like "A broken heart on a rainy day", well, because the world needs sun. ****//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I am a free verse writer because I don't typically follow the rules of poetry.For example,when I am giving specific instructions like to write a sonnet, I blank out and my work looks as though a kindergardener wrote it. //****<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I feel as though writing and reading other peoples work should be an enlightening experience, not one in which leaves you sad or uneasy. If I had to say one motto for my writing it would be "Life is Happy" or "Life is Young."I realized that, that was two mottos but you get the point. **

= The expert poet that I choose to study was Rita Dove, here is some of her work: =



__Adolescence__ With Dad gone, Mom and I worked  The dusky rows of tomatoes. As they glowed orange in sunlight  And rotted in shadows, I too   Grew orange and softer, swelling out   Starched cotton slips.The texture of twilight made me think of Lengths of Dotted Swiss. In my room I wrapped scarred knees in dresses That once went to big-band dances; I baptized my earlobes with rosewater. Along the window-sill, the lipstick stubs Glittered in their steel shells.Looking out at the rows of clay And chicken manure, I dreamed how it would happen; He would meet me by the blue spruce, A carnation over his heart, saying, “I have come for you, Madam; I have loved you in my dreams.” At his touch, the scabs would fall away. Over his shoulder, I see my father coming toward us: He carries his tears in a bowl, And blood hangs in the pine-soaked air. = = = **Deep Understanding**  = **If you can portray sadness in a happy setting, the reader can grasp the understanding of the poem better. Rita’s 3rd poem in her adolescence series was delivered through the point of view of a young girl, who explains the change in her body while trying to get through the pain of losing her father. This poem is titled “Adolescence.” The poem reminds me of a journal entry a girl would write because speaking of such feelings to someone would be too much bare.The poem is written in narrative form and compares the girl to a garden and everyday items. The garden, in this poem, represents a time of dramatic change within the young girl’s life. Rita writes,** **“** **The tomatoes grew in the sunshine and rotted in the shade; like the tomatoes, I became prettier but grew out of my clothes.” In these lines, the girl expresses the change and growth happening to her body by comparing it to the life cycle of a tomato.The fact that Rita choose vegetables shows that she wanted to girl to be recognized as pure and organic, with the same natural qualities of plants growing from the earth. The lines in this poem are short, simple and often completely change the track of the story. Rita choose this format to show how static a teenage life may be. One day a teen may fit this dress, and the next day its to small. Rita uses quick changes of events to represent the dramatic times of teenage life.The poem has a peaceful, but remorseful tone to it, which leaves the reader empty.The point of these two tones is to show the reader the pain that comes along with being a teen.The fact the the reader may be left empty shows them that they simply don’t understand or don’t remember their teenage life. It would be silly to say that you completely understand this poem with mentioning the great pain the narrator felt after losing her dad.I noticed that Rita choose not to use fancy metaphors to represent the young girl’s fantasy of her dad coming back to her.This is an important factor within the poem because it shows that life as a teenage can sometimes just hurts without a thoughtful reason or any dramatic way to explain it. The poem takes place in a the home of the narrator. Since home is normally portrayed as cozy and relaxing, the setting doesn’t correlate with the pain the narrator is feeling.The art of contrasting the setting with the tone, gives this poem a strong backbone in which a reader could tell/feel.Factors like setting vs.tone moves a poem from simple to complex.The complexity of this poem engages the reader and offers a deeper understanding.Complex poems mimic real-life better because life is not simple.**

__Adolescence II__ Although it is night, I sit in the bathroom, waiting. Sweat prickles behind my knees, the baby-breasts are alert. Venetian blinds slice up the moon; the tiles quiver in pale strips. Then they come, the three seal men with eyes as round As dinner plates and eyelashes like sharpened tines. They bring the scent of licorice. One sits in the washbowl, One on the bathtub edge; one leans against the door. “Can you feel it yet?” they whisper. I don’t know what to say, again. They chuckle, Patting their sleek bodies with their hands. “Well, maybe next time.” And they rise, Glittering like pools of ink under moonlight, And vanish. I clutch at the ragged holes They leave behind, here the edge of darkness. Night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue. = **Deep Understanding** =

**Rita Dove uses dark imagery of the night to project the anxious and gloomy feeling of entering womanhood.This, exposes the reader to the truth about the transition of puberty.This poem is titled “Adolescence II”, which is one of 3 poems in her adolescence series. Adolescence II takes place in a bathroom where a young girl sits and waits on the toilet for her womanhood to begin.The girl explains how the moon looks rippled trough the blinds as 3 males enter the bathroom to see if her menstrual cycle has begun yet. The moon, in this poem, represents the light shining over a woman’s dark life. The first 7 lines, which is the introduction, are the longest lines in the poem.This symbolizes that the beginning/transition from girl to woman will be the hardest.The three men who come in to check on her anticipates how impersonal a woman’s life will be. Due to society, we recognize the bathroom as a private place, however the men have no problem walking in on the young girl and having a conversation with her.The narrator of the poem states, “** **I** **clutch at the ragged holes they leave behind, here the edge of darkness.” The holes the men leave behind in the narrator shows the power men have over women.The whole poem takes place in a bathroom, where the narrator gets her first hints into what her life as a woman would be like. Rita does a good job of projecting a time period in the past without giving an exact date.There are hidden facts in the poem that show it is set is sometime in history. To start, the girl has to stay up all night sitting on a toilet to catch her menstrual cycle.If this poem was written in modern times Rita would have been describing how uncomfortable a pad would be to the narrator, rather then sitting in a bathroom. Also, as the narrator describes the men’s position in the bathroom, she says “washbowl.” In modern times we call a washbowl the sink. The fact the Rita places this poem in the past means that the themes of womanhood which she is projecting don’t change overtime. The wonderful imagery of the moon and the night shows the reader that puberty is not just waking up and realizing that you are 10 feet taller or the feeling of trying to pop your first pimple. It lets the reader know that changes in your body can completely change your views of the world and open you up to what society has already planned for us.Hints, in the same way the moon gives light to the night, this poem gives a light into the real story of life. For example, during puberty, young girls began to wear make up and bras, because thats what a woman is suppose to do. Rita’s genus imagery opens us up to the truth behind puberty.**

code <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I love the hour before takeoff, that stretch of no time, no home but the gray vinyl seats linked like unfolding paper dolls. Soon we shall be summoned to the gate, soon enough there’ll be the clumsy procedure of row numbers and perforated stubs—but for now I can look at these ragtag nuclear families with their cooing and bickering or the heeled bachelorette trying to ignore a baby’s wail and the baby’s exhausted mother waiting to be called up early while the athlete, one monstrous hand asleep on his duffel bag, listens, perched like a seal trained for the plunge. Even the lone executive who has wandered this far into summer with his lasered itinerary, briefcase knocking his knees—even he has worked for the pleasure of bearing no more than a scrap of himself into this hall. He’ll dine out, she’ll sleep late, they’ll let the sun burn them happy all morning —a little hope, a little whimsy before the loudspeaker blurts and we leap up to become Flight 828, now boarding at Gate 17. code ||
 * Vacation ||||  ||
 * by [|Rita Dove] ||

= Deep Understanding  = **When you give the narrator a different personalty then the settings he/she are in, it gives the reader the true feeling of the moment being described.My final poem by Rita Dove is Titled “Vacation”.The speaker of this poem seems to be a traveler waiting to board his/her plane and is stating what he/she notices.This poem is not like Rita's adolescence series because it all seems to be one sentence.To me, this represents how people think. We never create structured paragraphs with our thoughts, its all sort of jumbled into one.There are no rhymes in this poem or any patterns or repetition. As far as structural devices go, there are multiple characters being described in order to create a busy setting which makes the reader feel antsy as well.I noticed that the lines are all smashed together, forcing you to read the enjambments quickly. Since everything was in one line I read it a little faster and noticed the level of business the narrator was speaking about.Flashes of everything the narrator said was projected in my head like a movie, which means very good imagery.The language sounds pretty developed, like an adult was speaking.This was something totally different from Rita’s young girl narrations of her adolescence series.It sounds as if the language is also pretty modern, meaning not old fashion.The tone seems to be very relaxed because the narrator manages to stay calm in a busy setting.I notice how this puts the reader in a very real situation.Its like the reader can feel the business of the airport and how calm the narrator is.The narrator of a poem seems more realistic if their mood is different from the events happening around them.The idea that the main character of the poem has a conflicting mood or personality from the surroundings seem to be a very hard position to write.However, this tool benefits the reader by being a great example of life on paper.**

(http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215687/Rita%20Dove.htm)