Prompt for the week of Feb 21

Unfortunately, this subject has already been brought up in many of my journals and pieces of writing. Of course the fights I've had with my father are the most memorable ones. And as you have already been able to se by previous writings, our fights were a many over a stretch of time and pretty much competely tore apart our relationship. One of the biggest arguments my father and I have are how he has or has not been a good father up to the divorce. Of course my father will not come out and say 'I was a terrible father to you and your brother', because that would really be too easy. I think that forgetting to pick your child up from school on many occasions; forgetting your children's birthday more than once; not or caring enough to attend any of your children's music concerts/sporting events/band competitions would classify you as a bad father. I understand that he got busy with stuff and couldn't always go to special events, but I look at my mom who is usually twice as busy and she hasn't ever missed one. This is just one aspect of the many, many fights my father and I have had in our falling out. I know it's terrible to say that one's father is a terrible one, but I can honestly say I don't really care how mean it sounds because it is the truth and it is exactly how I feel.

Thought process for the week of Feb. 21

In class this week, I was placed in the group that got to read and discuss the poem "Mummy of a Lady Named Jemutesonekh XXI Dynasty". I really enjoyed reading this poem and hearing what the other members of my group thought it was about. In my eyes, I saw the poem to be a lot like the Corpse Bride. I totally read it as the groom of the bride to be was the one that killed her and then someone came back to kill her. While others in my group show this as possible, they didn't really think that it would talk about her loving him still had he killed her. However, my thought on the subject is that she loved him and never knew he was the one that killed her until she was dead. But in life, she loved him and knew nothing but love for him. I think that this poem can best be described by the last scene in the Corpse Bride when the main male character is about to drink poison to be with the dead bride. Then, the girl that the main character was suppost to marry comes in with the groom that killed the dead bride. Once the Corpse bride sees this man, she exlains how she still loves him even though he poisoned her and that he is the man she was suppost to marry. I totally think this is exactly what this poem is saying. All in all, I really liked this poem. It is probably my more favorite poem of the ones we have read thus far in class.

in class writing for the week of Feb 21

Today is the Day

By Amber Volk

Today is the day I won't worry for one moment about what everyone else thinks.

I will do something because it's fun,

Not because it's due tomorrow, or someone else forces me to do it.

Today is the day

I will walk outside and enjoy the beauty the world has to offer.

I will take time to be thankful for the trees and flowers;

Enjoy the weather, even if it's negative 20 outside.

I will be happy to be alive,

Today is the day.

I will talk to people I don't care to talk to.

I will make friends with an enemy.

I will do good for mankind,

Today is the day.

If we keep putting off till tomorrow, what we can do today,

It may never get done.

If we don't do something for the fun of it, it's not worth spending time doing.

Enjoy beauty, life, love and friendship.

Enjoy everything today,

For tomorrow, that may be too late.

Thought process for the week of Feb 14th

I think today's class was totally amazing. I really liked to be able to try and write a couple of poems in different fixed styles. I have written in the sonnet style before so that wasn't really anything new, but the song like style I thought was really neat. I think that my poem for that style turned out pretty good and I was excited to be able to post this entry as my in process work for this week. I would really like to try to write more fixed form style poems because I really like the challenge of trying to write them. This was probally one of my favorite classes so far. I am also really excited about the poem we were assigned to write about a family member. I have a pretty good idea in my mind and hope that I can write exactly what I am thinking for the poem.

Prompt for the week of Feb 14th

A song that really hit me hard is a newer song called 'Confessions of a Broken Heart' by Lindsay Lohan. The very first time I heard this song, I was like OMG this is my life, this is exactly how I feel! It's so amazing to me that someone as famous as Lindsay Lohan who has lived in the spot light for most of her life would have some of the same problems and feelings in her life as I do. This song is about how her father left her and she waits everyday to hear from her dad and her dad to tell her that he's sorry for leaving and that he loves her, but that day never comes. Throughout the song she talks about how mad she is at her father, yet at the same time she loves him so much and she breaks down because she hurts so bad. This is exactly how I have felt. No matter what you tell other people and what fake happiness you can write on your face and try to pass by people, inside you ache and hurt and just don't know what to feel anymore. Loving someone and yet hating them so much at the same time is the most confusing relationship you can possibly have with a person. This song deals with this relationship and shows its true feeling better than any other attempt that I have ever seen.

In class exercise for the week of Feb 14

So Mad and Yet So Sad

Inside my heart, I feel so sad,
You hurt me so much when you went away.
My mind, it tells me to be mad,
To forget about the good times we could have had.
I cannot forget you still today,
My heart still aches from being so sad.
Without you here now I try to be glad,
I'll go on with life, I'll find some way,

I listen to my mind which is still so mad.

How could you do this, you're my very own dad?

It's hard for me to forget you, but me, you just may.

The tears fill my heart so sad,

Moving on with life isn't so bad.

Because today begins a brand new day,

My mind will always want to stay mad,

At the one I used to call my dad.

But I will always remember what to say,

My heart is still so sad,

And my mind remains mad.

In process entry for the week of Feb 7th

Well, since we didn't have class on Thursday I really don't have to much to say about what we did in class. Seeing the other group tellin about what they thought of their assigned poem was rather interesting though. I always like to see things through other peoples eye and in a new light. Hearing what other people think helps remind me that there's more the one way to read into something and that poems can have more than one meaning. I was rather surprised by the pop quiz though. I was a little scared at first, but after taking the quiz I really didn't think it was that bad. The questions were mostly over stuff that we had just been discussing in class. I really don't have too much else to say about the class this week. Looking forward to next week.
~Amber~

Prompt for the week of Feb 7th

Most people would see an honor as something you are receiving recognition for; however, my most prized honor is not one in which I was recognized and giving a great award. The biggest honor that I have received was having two of my poems published in books. I have wanted to be a writer my entire life, and finally being published makes me feel as if my dream is really possible. When I was younger, I was always writing stories for my teachers and everything which is were my passion for writing started. They always incouraged me to keep going with it, but after awhile I was losing hope because I hadn't really taken any big steps to become a real writer. During my junior year of high school, I was able to take a creative writing class where I was really able to express myself. During this class, I made a huge booklet of all the writing I did during the semester. Two of the poems I did in this class were the two that I got published. When I received notice that I was indeed being published it was probably one of the happiest times of my life. I even had to have my mom read the letter to me to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I know that getting published isn't that hard but to me, it is one of the biggest honors I could ever receive. Knowing that people I don't even know are able to read something I wrote makes me feel more proud then I could ever explain.

Freestyle Writing for the week of Feb 7th

On Sided Love

Each night while I lie tucked save in my bed,

Pictures of you start to form in my head.

Often I long to hold you so tight,

This feeling is one that I simply can't fight.

The love in my heart for you is so strong,

What have I done that it has gone so wrong?

For you I love with all my heart,

Why do you try to keep us miles apart?

It's not as impossible as you think it to be,

For you to feel this same love for me.

Just open your eyes and I'm confident you'll see,

That the relationship between us is meant to be.

In class process journal for the week of Jan 31

I have a new hate for this program. I just wrote my intire in class process journal and went to spell check it and it all disappeared! How totally rude! I don't know if I can create the same major as before, but I will try. There's going to be a whole lot of spelling errors now though because I'm too afraid to try to use spell checker again so I am sorry in advance.
This weeks class was rather interesting in my eyes. I really enjoyed having the change to experiment with writing and describing through more of our scences and using imagery. However, I did feel somewhat weird in class when I had to tell about my poem that I wrote about the relationship between my father and I, esspecially after Molly had a sweet poem about her and her father right before me. It's really hard for me to try to express my feelings that I feel toward my father to people who don't know me, because they don't really know anything about the situation, and quite frankly my feelings on the topic and still pretty scattered.
Another topic I really enjoyed in class this week was learning more deeply about similies and metaphors. I know that I've been learning about these since like 5th grade, but it's always interesting for me to get to learn about topics in the writing field more indept. I found the story that I got to read with our groups incredible. How the author compared the couples falling apart relationship to the mold that was over taking their house really painted a unique picture in my mind.
All and all I really enjoyed class this week. I'm so excited to start working on my first major poem and an excited to see where I can go with it.

Prompt for the week of Jan 31

When I think about a touch that is more significant to me than any other touch, it is that of a body laying in a coffin. The first funeral I ever went to was that of my uncles whose death took us all by surprise falling a terrible hunting accident. Seeing the body laying there in the coffin, and placing my hand upon his face, hoping the feel the warmth and comfort I had known for years, but rather feeling the most frightening touch in the world. The skin was hard and clay like, nothing like a person's skin should feel like. And so cold, I would have thought it was winter and we had just spend hours and hours outside. The touch of that skin, the cold, lifeless skin, borought me to the reality of what was really happening. And after feeling that touch just once, I knew it was a feeling I never wanted to feel again. Since that day, I have been to two more funerals. Now I am much to afraid to dare touch the body laying in the coffin. Knowing that it won't be right. Knowing that the touch brings to present the reality that is just too hard to face. It's amazing to me, how that one touch, or even the thought of that one touch can bring so much sadness to me all at once, and it is a touch that I will never forget.

In class work for the week of Jan. 31

My relationship with my dad is like a tornado,
Anytime we speak is resembles a disaster.
Our relationship is full or angry and tension,
Dark and dirty like a funnel cloud forming.
We go months without even speaking,
Like a tornado waiting for it's next big hit.
When we finally do speak again, words of angry and bitterness and thrown about,
As a tornado does with dabrie.
Our relationship is like a tornado,
We both try to act bigger and meaner then the time before,
Like a tornado trying to top its last huge destruction.
Like a tornado, we both how truer feelings locked away inside,
Like the inner beauty of a tornado that only meterologists can appreciate.
Dark and mysterious, and ending up feeling empty
Just like a tornado