Favorite monster

Actually, here is my favorite monster... ;D

hahahaha

Halloween

My favorite monster is Sully from Monsters Inc. because he is cute and nice! Plus, he's not bad, and what's better than a good monster? I loved how sweet he was in the movie to Boo, the little girl. He is a monster because he is extremely strong and has horns. He also has the ability to be scary, but in the end, he chooses not to.

A few other monster I like are Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street and of course the Cookie Monster. Oh, wait... isn't he the fruit and vegetable monster now? LAME!

The Birthday

We all gathered around as family and friends. We had bought the biggest cake we could find in her favorite flavor: white with chocolate frosting. We sang happy birthday, slow and steady. Each and every one of us avoided another's glances as the song neared the end. “...happy birthday to you...” The song was over and no one clapped. The cake was ready but no one yearned for a piece. The awkward silence hovered as the wind shook our coats and blew our hair. Her mother began to cry. It was then, as I stared down at a new grave – her grave – that I realized how incredibly messed up this was.

I really don't know what inspired me to write this poem. It just kind of clicked in my head to do something about a birthday and then the surprising end of the birthday girl being dead came to me. I really didn't have any challenge in writing this but I could tell from when I read it in class that everyone was shocked and didn't know what to say. I wanted the story to have a shocking end but I didn't want to freak people out too bad! Maybe my challenge now is make it still surprising but less traumatizing.

May Swenson

I've decided to tell the world about the poet May Swenson through my blog. I had actually never heard of her before this class but found one of her poems through our last assignment. I enjoyed it because it was different, and after reading some of her other works as well, I see that she even has a creepy side. I like reading things with a twist or that are a little disturbing because that's not something you see everyday.

May Swenson was born in Utah in 1913 and enjoyed writing even as a young girl. Surprisingly, English was her second language as her parents were Swedish immigrants. She graduated from Utah State University in 1934 and worked numerous jobs while writing and publishing poetry. She has written many collections of poems and has received numerous awards including a Distinguished Service Gold Medal from Utah State University. She also served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She died in 1989, but four months before her death, Swenson said, "The best poetry has its roots in the subconscious to a great degree. Youth, naivety, reliance on instinct more than learning and method, a sense of freedom and play, even trust in randomness, is necessary to the making of a poem."

More information about the history of May Swenson can be found here:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/168
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=6702

The original poem I read was called Bleeding and can be found here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=179699

Here is another creepy, yet great poem. This is actually an audio clip of May Swenson reading it:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15945

Other interesting poems by May Swenson:
Motherhood
Women
Question


I think everyone should experience May Swenson's work because it is different. It feels almost depressing, but also enlightening. Her works have a realistic side to them and present true feelings, even if controversial. I appreciate her way of writing and what her topics are and I think others will too.

One of My Four Chosen Poems

AGH! It's so hard for me to pick just one because I really liked all four of my poems. One of the more touching and easier to read ones thought is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. I feel like everyone can relate to it a little bit, because it's about being at a "fork in the road" and having to decide which way to go in life. Everyone has tough choices to make that can change their entire life, so I feel like this poem is really special. I also like that Robert Frost makes the point of taking the road less traveled by, or in other words, the harder, less popular way. Although it may be tough to take this way, it can pay off in the end. It's kind of like deciding whether or not to go to college. Do and be in debt for quite some time but end up getting a good job later on, OR don't go to college, don't take out loans for a "piece of paper" (aka diploma) and live off an okay job for the rest of your life. Going to school is hard, but in the end it pays off. ANYWAY, here's the poem:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Also, if interested, here are the other poems I read and really found interesting:
Reasons by Thomas James
Bleeding by May Swenson
Being in Love by Chungmi Kim