This is a poem I wrote in response to the passage "How to Tell a True War Story" from the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Enjoy! It's my first poem...
War Stories
The stories can be real,
They can be fictitious,
There is no real way to tell what your hearing.
Let the story create.
Some details are outrageous,
Some are very ordinary,
Some involve things only a child could imagine,
Some sound like things from another world.
Let the story create.
They can cause you to feel moments of true joy.
They can cause moments of pure hate.
Let the story create.
These are the stories of our veterans.
Some will sound so outrageous
It could only be make believe.
Some will create images you will never forget.
These stories need to be told.
Let them create.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Sam Hamill Response
Denise M. Augenstein
ENG 102
06-18-2010
In reading this essay I find myself taking in another point of view and way of looking at things that I may have never considered. Mr. Hamill definetly has his opinions on what poetry is and how he feels it should effect the reader. Most of this essay I found was based on his opinion of things and how we can change the world.
I do agree that as parents we tend to tip toe around certain topics to avoid the uncomfortable or embarrassing things we as adults know exist in this world. From rape to sexual relationships we are afraid to talk to our children and think that if we ignore it, it will just not happen. From my personal and work experience I know this to be very untrue. I was a teenage mother raised in a household where the basic facts of life were presented. The responsibilities of these facts were not. The rape victims I have had to treat medically and emotionally almost always seem to say “how come I never knew this could happen to me?”.
Crimes of hate and passion are also ignored. I have dealt with some people who won’t acknowledge that there are people out there who enjoy violence. These people tell me they don’t watch the news because all they show or print are ugly things.
Mr. Hamill makes a very interesting and good point that until we start giving things a proper name all of this ugliness will continue. He is right when he says that we are all human regardless of what we look like or where we come from. As far as I know we all bleed the same from the same injury. I have yet to met someone that does not. I do also agree that as long as we are this or that culture there will never be peace among us. Human nature will not allow it.
Poetry. When I read the poems posted for reponse I was actually not really interested in the assignment. I will freely admit that I’m not a poetry reader. Some of these actually peeked my interest much to my surprise. Hamill’s description on what poetry should be and what it should evoke was also different from anything I ever heard about poetry. How the writer should strive to teach through his words and bring about deeper thought into the subject matter. Writers have a responsibility to bring about emotion or teach the reader how to have emotion.
Here is a link to a bio of Sam Hamill.
http://www.pcsj.org/biographies/samhamill.html
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Response to a poem
Response to a poem
Denise M. Augenstein
06/16/10
The two poems I chose were Charlie Howard’s Descent by Mark Doty and Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds. These two poems spoke to me in two very different ways which I will explain. First in Mark Doty’s poem Charlie Howard’s Descent I was disgusted that we as humans treat others this way just because of their personality and preferences. I could feel the unease, pain and embarrassment of the subject of the poem.
I also could identify with him. From personal experiences I know what it is like to live in a small town and have people point, laugh and whisper behind your back. To know the pain and embarrassment of the people who will laugh and make snide comments to your face. Doty wrote this poem about a young man who was killed in the small Maine town of Bangor. The young man was the victim of a hate crime, he was thrown from a bridge by three teenagers where he fell into a river and drowned. This poet has written many moving works to bring awareness about the AIDS epidemic. He is also trying to educate people on what it means to be a homosexual and why to some people that is not abnormal. Doty writes and lectures on these subjects to try and put a stop to hate crimes against his fellow man.
The second poem I chose was Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds. This poem was also something that spoke to me right away. I to have witnessed exactly what she talked about with 6 and 7 year old boys. Her description of the gentlemen and their posturing for rank is exactly what I had witnessed at some of my son’s birthday parties. It actually made me smile as it brought back these memories. The way it was written also brought to my attention how when young children get together to play army it can portray a darker side. As if subconsciously children are plotting something greater than the act of play.
Sharon Olds is an accomplished poet and writer. According to her biography her poems focus on what she perceives is lying underneath family, social, and work interactions. Olds uses very descriptive and startling words to form images in the readers mind. She writes about sexuality, family, and life from a very straight forward and descriptive point of view. Olds was raised in a very “hellfire” Christian family. She currently teaches in New York at a university.
I did go through the entire list of poems and I chose to these two because they were the only two that caught my attention from the start. I find when I read, especially with poetry, it has to grab my attention from the start or I can’t focus and retain what I’m reading. Both of these poems made me feel surprised in their wording. The first by Mark Doty had me reading further because it seemed to be using images to tell the story and brought detail of the subject to bring the point across. I am easily intrigued when I’m reading and I can use the author’s words to create an image of things in my mind. The second caught my attention because it brought me back to having a son that age and the birthday parties he had. Her description of the gentlemen and the general were very familiar and it made me smile. I could just see my son and his friends in a room gathered around a cake plotting their revenge on the world. It also surprised me in a way I didn’t expect. I had never thought of how serious this child’s play could appear.
Denise M. Augenstein
06/16/10
The two poems I chose were Charlie Howard’s Descent by Mark Doty and Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds. These two poems spoke to me in two very different ways which I will explain. First in Mark Doty’s poem Charlie Howard’s Descent I was disgusted that we as humans treat others this way just because of their personality and preferences. I could feel the unease, pain and embarrassment of the subject of the poem.
I also could identify with him. From personal experiences I know what it is like to live in a small town and have people point, laugh and whisper behind your back. To know the pain and embarrassment of the people who will laugh and make snide comments to your face. Doty wrote this poem about a young man who was killed in the small Maine town of Bangor. The young man was the victim of a hate crime, he was thrown from a bridge by three teenagers where he fell into a river and drowned. This poet has written many moving works to bring awareness about the AIDS epidemic. He is also trying to educate people on what it means to be a homosexual and why to some people that is not abnormal. Doty writes and lectures on these subjects to try and put a stop to hate crimes against his fellow man.
The second poem I chose was Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds. This poem was also something that spoke to me right away. I to have witnessed exactly what she talked about with 6 and 7 year old boys. Her description of the gentlemen and their posturing for rank is exactly what I had witnessed at some of my son’s birthday parties. It actually made me smile as it brought back these memories. The way it was written also brought to my attention how when young children get together to play army it can portray a darker side. As if subconsciously children are plotting something greater than the act of play.
Sharon Olds is an accomplished poet and writer. According to her biography her poems focus on what she perceives is lying underneath family, social, and work interactions. Olds uses very descriptive and startling words to form images in the readers mind. She writes about sexuality, family, and life from a very straight forward and descriptive point of view. Olds was raised in a very “hellfire” Christian family. She currently teaches in New York at a university.
I did go through the entire list of poems and I chose to these two because they were the only two that caught my attention from the start. I find when I read, especially with poetry, it has to grab my attention from the start or I can’t focus and retain what I’m reading. Both of these poems made me feel surprised in their wording. The first by Mark Doty had me reading further because it seemed to be using images to tell the story and brought detail of the subject to bring the point across. I am easily intrigued when I’m reading and I can use the author’s words to create an image of things in my mind. The second caught my attention because it brought me back to having a son that age and the birthday parties he had. Her description of the gentlemen and the general were very familiar and it made me smile. I could just see my son and his friends in a room gathered around a cake plotting their revenge on the world. It also surprised me in a way I didn’t expect. I had never thought of how serious this child’s play could appear.
To read more about Mark Doty please visit this web site:
www.glbtq.com//literature/doty_m.html
To read more about Sharon Olds please visit this web site:
//famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/sharon_olds/biography
www.glbtq.com//literature/doty_m.html
To read more about Sharon Olds please visit this web site:
//famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/sharon_olds/biography
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Good Readers and Good Writers
Good Reader / Good Writer
What does Nabokov think makes a good reader? He believes that a good reader has a sense of imagination, and can relate the story to something that has happened in the reader’s life. Nabakov also believes that a good reader is a rereader. Good readers according to Nabokov also take in every detail of the story and examine it thoroughly to get a grasp on what’s happening in the story.
Do you agree? I do agree with this. I am a huge rereader. Especially when I’ve read a book and cannot connect events of the story. I find I get frustrated and will pick the book up again just so I can grasp the details and clues. I tend to read in short bursts so I can think about what I have just read and imagine in my mind the setting of the story and its characters.
What do you believe are the characteristics of a good reader? Someone who is willing to open their mind to a story. A person who will let their imagination run while they are reading so they can become immersed in the story.
Do you consider yourself a good reader? I do consider myself a good reader, however I will admit one of my faults is that I tend to stick to one kind of author and rarely explore others. If I had to change anything about my reading style it would be that.
Here is a link I found that is a list of good readers. It has to do with good readers know but are seldom taught.
http://www.avko.org/Essays/good_readers.htm
Last but not least…
Find a comfy spot and make it your own.
That makes a good reader.
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