Poem by Katie, Bryan, and Brooke

A Cold Hearted Bitch with the
Eyes of a Loyal Husky Dying
to Steal my Soul in Columbus, OH

The smell of your neck is like shit and
I hate you. Your voice is like a rambling child
that won't shut the hell up. The touch of your
hand is acid to virgin flesh.

Your neck smells like an overflowing landfill,
birds won;t even feast from. Your voice is like tequila
and I'm too drunk to care. The touch of your hand is rock
like metal bars without an escape.

The touch of your hand is death I never saw it coming.
Your voice is like jagged razors, slicing at open wrists.
Your neck smells like shit and I hate you.

Arizona is Like the Articulation of a Hot Tempered Hyena

Arizona is Like the Articulation of a Hot Tempered Hyena

Your voice is like

A feather blowing in the cool nights breeze
Like Cotton candy on a hot August tease.
Is soft like the bottom of a baby bunny
Like toasted marshmellows and dripping honey.

Like dragon fingernails scraping across dirty scud
Like an elephant that has been parading around in the mud.
Like a lions roar.
Is a slimy snake slithering around after a war.

By: Brittany Long & Brittney Fraley

Metaphor Poem

The Kentucky Sky Line Lit Like a Rainbow-Fish,
A Peacock Frivolous and Unnecessary


Your voice is like the kicking of a can down a gravel road
like sandpaper scratching my stability and slowly causing erosion
like a Jefferson Airplane song
like the wind being shoved through the gaps in my window pane

The touch of your hand is a shackle of possession.
A chill
a permanent frost on a brittle branch.
It is the outside of a neon-picked apple,
shiny
smooth
but also hard to touch.

Your neck smells like the salt from an icy street
Like golden lotus in summer shade.
Like a salty shore, strong and retrieving my senses.
Like a new car with tan leather seats
Like maple wood ash.

By: Jessica, Lauren, Matt

metaphor poem from Brittany Buckley, Ralph Farina, Emily Marsh

Alaska is as Mean as a Mothergoose

Your voice is like

My alarm clock on a Saturday morning,
a heart monitor, steady and even.

Candy canes and cigarettes,
a dying coyote.

The creaks in the floor when
a fifteen year old sneaks
out of her parent’s house,
innocence that has come and gone.

Movie Response

I enjoyed watching the film. I thought it was very interesting and that some of the poets were a little different, but i like the things that they all had to say. They all had different things to say and i thought that everything that they had to say was good. I liked how the poets talked about how you are limited to your own personailty and that poetry is a form of art. I liked the movie and all the poets had many good things to say.

Sorry i'm late, Mike i totally forgot about it until just now!!

"Where Poems Come From."

I found the film Where Poems Come From to be very thought provoking. It was interesting to see that almost every poet had their own unique way and style of creating a poem. The ideas used were dreams, music, a purpose, and of course... love. Allan Ginsberg was a real trip... Listening to him spat off poetry to the beats of jazz was just mind blowing for me. Sadly, I know I am not able to approach poetry but just to hear him talk was inspiring. I enjoyed Levine because the dude just seemed like a total character. Very funny... very Woody Allen-esque in the way he talked. And the fact he came up with a poem or story... I consider it a story, from a dream of his that dealt with issues of race and economy, I also found truly impressive.

The women poets... Oh man what to say... maybe I will just leave it at that. They seem to function on a different level when it comes to poetry and they are very, very... angry. The poet, I can't recall his name, but he talked about his poems having a purpose. This is very important to me on so many levels. I think that poetry should serve as having a purpose. That in the story we tell, one can connect with an emotion, a lesson, or just gain a new understanding about life. That is a very powerful message, considering poems are not self help books or novels preaching about the meaning of true love (I'm talking to you Stephenie Meyer!). That in a sonnet or however-many-line-poem: the essence of love, death, comedy, and tragedy can all be captured. That is of course... if you know what the hell you are doing (I know I don't). I am looking forward to part 2 of the film today in class and I am sorry that I forgot to post this by Friday. No excuses.

Film Response

I enjoyed the movie a lot. I thought a lot of the poets were very comical. All their idea's seem to be different and unique which is what I think helps to make their poetry so great. I agree with the idea that poetry is an art form, and that it is not something that is just going to pop into your head. I think it is important to keep an open mind and be free to interpretations. I felt like a lot of the poets in the film agreed with this. Many of them talked about how poetry is not like a set schedule for writing. You are free to create what you want and make it your own.

Film Response

I liked the fact that every poet thought differently. Yes they seemed to be a little out there but all of them went about aproaching poetry in a different way. The thing that struck me the most is the poet who thinks of his poems in pictures, i also think of my poetry in this manner. A lot of the times the images flash right infront of me so fast i find it hard to try and write them all down at once.

Thoughts on Poetry

I really enjoyed that video that we watched on Thurdsay because it allowed me to gain insight from the All-Stars of poetry. The film showed me the personal process that these writer's use when they are creating their poems. I ecspecially enjoyed the interview with Allen Ginsberg (my favorite poet) because he discussed how he thinks in rhytm and forms words around the vowel sounds. That is such a unique way to write, just focusing on the overall sounds of his poems. His poem Howl is a great example of that, and I realized this from first hand experience when I had to read his poem out loud for one of my classes. I also enjoyed the concept that a poet discussed about a poem being a product of your concious and unconcious mind. They said how a poet has to free his or her self from their rationality. Also someone said how poetry is an urge and a function--i like that.
Another aspect of the film I enjoyed was when the poets performed their poems. I think that gives a whole new life to a poem when the actual writer performs it because it is able to come alive. I particularly liked Alice Walker's performance.


P.S. Sorry, I did not realize there was a deadline on the post and I did not look at it untill this evening.

Where Poems Come From

I found the film very interesting and insightful. Also, it was really cool how none of the poets really said the same thing. They each had their own personal opinion about the way a poem is created and each thing said was entirely different. Some things that really stood out to me include a quote by Louis Gluck that said, "I don't believe poems are made exclusively by will." I really think that this rings true because whenever I write, I feel like I need to put it down on paper, it is not something I can entirely force myself to do, or hold back things that I don't really think should be revealed. It just spills out onto the paper with control. Another thing that I found very interesting was a quote by Levine that said, "None of us know what it's all about. We just do it." I think this is very true as well. Poetry is a mystery, even to poets themselves. It's impossible to say why we write poems, we just do it.

p.s. Mike, I'm sorry this is late... to be honest, I completely forgot the deadline.

I found the film very interesting. It was funny and entertaining yet also had some meat to it. It looked at poems in a way I hadn't thought of them before. To hear about what begins and guides a poem from professional, quirky poets was helpful because they have devoted their lives to poetry. One poet said that poems aren't made exclusively by will, they harness forces of the conscious and unconscious mind. I like the thought of poems coming without the poet really intending them too.
Another poet said that poetry is a "hopeless pursuit of reality." This idea is intriguing to me, as though the poet works to get closer and closer to truth and reality but is never quite there. This makes poems difficult but necessary when you consider the opinion of several of the writers featured; a poets responsibility is to tell the truth.
One of the poems that stood out to be was the poem about the writers cat stopping the line. I thought it was endearing and funny yet also lending thought to enjambment. Another poem that sticks out in my mind is the spanish poem. At the beginning of the poem I read along with the captions and found the poem beautiful. Then I looked away and continued to listen and though I only understood a few select words, it still sounded beautiful. This drove home the idea of a poem being rhythmic.
I found all the poets a bit crazy, which made me appreciate their poetry and advice more.

where poems come from

I thought it was interesting when the famous modern poets were interviewed on how they begin poems and where the ideas come from. Many of them believe that words are used for their rhythm, not their meaning. A poet's responsibility is to tell the truth. One person believed that they become sort of possessed and that poetry takes a hold of them. They believe they were chosen to have a voice through poetry. I really liked when they brought the unconscious into their writing. They have vivid dreams that come as a sign and inspiriation to write.Cruz was telling us how a poet always goes back towards his views of the world and where he grew up, no matter what the poem entailed. The rhythms and sounds reflecct the human senses and thats why these poets are so good. Poets begin from a purpose. I thought it was neat when they realize their own habits in syntax and other parts, and try really hard to break them and change them. One poet describes his origin of peoms as laments- "remember something only if you have lost it." And he brings back these vivid images through his poetry. I was just blown away by the amount of good work these people can produce. When they feel strongly and put it on paper it's just different from the level I feel i work with. I thought this video really inspired me to write and come up with a lot of original, thought out work. The passion they bring with their work is intense and I felt that watching it rubs a little of their passion into us. Hopefully i will be able to concentrate harder on the poems i compose and take more time and focus on RYTHM.

Where do poems come from?

I thought this was a very interesting question to ask, because in my personal opinion it depends on the writer. Poems come from ideas, thoughts, dreams, and visions. Poems come from an imaginative mind, with the skills that take those thoughts and dreams, and place them into words down on paper to create what we call a poem.

You use every force of you mind to create a poem, as one guy said in the video, writing poems takes patients, it not only uses your conscious mind but also your unconscious mind. And sometimes when you're trying to understand your unconscious mind and make since of it, it takes time. Another quote that stood out to me in the video was that even though the rational mind is at work, its not running everything. Your ideas and thoughts are a huge impact to your poem, although your mind might be thinking it through rationally, its not doing all the work, your visions are helping it along to create something that makes an awesome poem flow.

My favorite part about the video was the poem that Alice Walker wrote/read. "How poems are made" She begins by saying she understands how poems are made, there is a place where fear, choices, and loss must go. She called it the leftover love. I loved that line, it was very powerful to me and it struck my interest immediately. Poems are about those things that mean something to you, a poem comes from someones mind, and heart. A good poem in my opinion has feeling, has meaning, and has emotions. She goes on. Then she gradually comprehends how poems are made, there the tears that seasons the smile. Another one of my favorite lines, it just captivates me every time i read it because i feel it. It makes since to me that way.

Poems come from within, through reason, thought and imagination, and leftover love.

Where Poems Come From response

I enjoyed the film mainly because it introduced so many different perspectives on the possible ways that poems can be created. Some were very unique, others a bit strange, but were sweet to hear because they struck light bulbs in my head!
One thought that I found to be really interesting was the idea of harnessing every force of your conscience aware mind, but to patient with your unconscience mind because of the capable thoughts and ideas it can produce. I thought that was pretty cool because I often don't take the time to sit and think about what I'm essentially not thinking about/aware of. Kind of a complex idea, but I thought it was pretty sweet. There is so much that I'm not aware of, but am capable of discovering. To put those thoughts on paper into a poem will always be unique. They might be hard to take apart and try to tell what the poem is about because there'd be so many ideas flowing into that poem!
I also agree with the idea of words coming from sense details. I particulary enjoy the smell sense the best because I believe every smell reminds you of something. That's why I love candles and couldn't write a poem without one near. They get your mind running on different themes, memories and ideas with just one little flame :o)

Where Poems Come From response

Well, I'm interested to hear all your comments, and personally I really got a lot out of this film. It's so wide rangeing and I just love hearing from so many different writers about what they think poems are and how we can find them and create them. The part where Allen Ginsberg just starts beating out lines with cadence and rhythm reminds me of songwriting. Once a pattern or rhythm is set, you just have to find words and sounds to fit the pattern. That part really reminded me how much poetry is related to music.

I loved the section about Phil LeVine too and his dream about the visit from his friend in the factory and his terrible wife. Eugune Watkins from Detroit. Anyway, Levine took that dream as a warning and he said, "It was a warning. Don't turn your back on those people who were your life". Then he stayed home from teaching in his bed for a week and as a result he wrote two amazing books, What Work Is and A Walk With Tom Jefferson.

Well, I don't know if I can get by with missing work to write poems at my level of fame, ha ha, but I admire the devotion to a vision, and his words about not leaving behind those people who were your life makes a lot of connections with me. I come from farm country and very working class roots. In the university, I meet almost no professors and teachers who share my background, and it can be easy to dismiss my upbringing as unintellecual and important, but I know that the people I come from must always remain a priority for me, too. I don't want to forget where I come from or the fact that people in the lower economic classes are often looked down on in our stupid, consumer-based pop culture.

So the film had a lot of crazy, funny moments, but it also really made me think, and some of the thoughts were deeper than others, but that's what I got for now.