People love creating connections with other people be it through friendships, relationships, or simply talking to strangers. I’m creating this poetry anthology for my Global Online Academy class, and I’d like to believe that this class as a whole is, in part, about making connections. The fact alone that this is an online class suggests that people around the world can take it, and we have. Now there are ten classmates and one teacher that I would have never known if not for this class, and there lies our connection.
Poetry Writing, the name of the class, bases itself on connections as well. Everyone in this class uses their hobbies for creative self expression, whether it be through song writing, acting, slam/spoken word poetry, or dance. It’s all about making your ideas known in whatever way you can, relating to others, making other people feel something when they hear, read, or see your work.
In our Poetry Writing class we all focused on becoming better writers and identifying good poetry and why it’s ‘good.’ Many times, I decide whether or not I like a poem if something, usually a line or two, stand out to me. I can read the poem over and over again focusing on the few lines I appreciate before realizing it’s not just the lines that draw me in, but the entire poem. I’ve chosen these poems for my anthology because I like returning to them, and many others, but them in particular. A few lines that stood out to me were:
“We open tomorrow, and I’m so terrified to act in front of people.
I’m supposed to be funny. How do you make people laugh?” from Kayla’s letter to Ash
because it resonated with me. I recently acted in a play, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the script itself is funny, but it’s how my cast, director, and I portrayed it that would make or break it. I not only had more lines than I’ve ever had before, but I had to perform them well as if I deserved a somewhat lead in the play. Ha. We were responsible for the way the audience reacted, and like Kayla, I was terrified.
“You’ve no need now
to give in or give out: the way
you’re going your body seems
willing. Slowly as it may
otherwise tell you, whatever
it comes to you’re bound to know.” from Philip Booth’s Heading Out
because it focuses on the moment. I like living by the quote, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” by Neale Donald Walsch. It suggests that everything will happen the way it should, if you let it, but it is your decision.
“But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.” from Naomi Nye’s So Much Happiness
because again, it’s about a decision. You can decide to let happiness in, if you want to.
“perhaps the best music we will ever dance to” from David’s First Date
because this focuses on the moment too. Moments are fleeting, but somethings last forever and others don’t. Either way, it’s okay.
If there’s a theme throughout these poems and art pieces, it was unintentional, but if I had to identify one it would be focusing on the moment. It’s my senior year, and this may just be the graduation goggles speaking, but that’s really all I have right now. I have to trust that things will happen the way that they should. It seemed fitting to choose these particular poems because most (not all) of them really do focus on the moment, and I believe that poems themselves are moments. They are written because the author chose to say something. They are whatever the author feels at the time. They are something the author has to admit to him/herself or to others. They are therapy. They are ways to form connections with whoever chooses to read them.
Poetry Writing, the name of the class, bases itself on connections as well. Everyone in this class uses their hobbies for creative self expression, whether it be through song writing, acting, slam/spoken word poetry, or dance. It’s all about making your ideas known in whatever way you can, relating to others, making other people feel something when they hear, read, or see your work.
In our Poetry Writing class we all focused on becoming better writers and identifying good poetry and why it’s ‘good.’ Many times, I decide whether or not I like a poem if something, usually a line or two, stand out to me. I can read the poem over and over again focusing on the few lines I appreciate before realizing it’s not just the lines that draw me in, but the entire poem. I’ve chosen these poems for my anthology because I like returning to them, and many others, but them in particular. A few lines that stood out to me were:
“We open tomorrow, and I’m so terrified to act in front of people.
I’m supposed to be funny. How do you make people laugh?” from Kayla’s letter to Ash
because it resonated with me. I recently acted in a play, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the script itself is funny, but it’s how my cast, director, and I portrayed it that would make or break it. I not only had more lines than I’ve ever had before, but I had to perform them well as if I deserved a somewhat lead in the play. Ha. We were responsible for the way the audience reacted, and like Kayla, I was terrified.
“You’ve no need now
to give in or give out: the way
you’re going your body seems
willing. Slowly as it may
otherwise tell you, whatever
it comes to you’re bound to know.” from Philip Booth’s Heading Out
because it focuses on the moment. I like living by the quote, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” by Neale Donald Walsch. It suggests that everything will happen the way it should, if you let it, but it is your decision.
“But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.” from Naomi Nye’s So Much Happiness
because again, it’s about a decision. You can decide to let happiness in, if you want to.
“perhaps the best music we will ever dance to” from David’s First Date
because this focuses on the moment too. Moments are fleeting, but somethings last forever and others don’t. Either way, it’s okay.
If there’s a theme throughout these poems and art pieces, it was unintentional, but if I had to identify one it would be focusing on the moment. It’s my senior year, and this may just be the graduation goggles speaking, but that’s really all I have right now. I have to trust that things will happen the way that they should. It seemed fitting to choose these particular poems because most (not all) of them really do focus on the moment, and I believe that poems themselves are moments. They are written because the author chose to say something. They are whatever the author feels at the time. They are something the author has to admit to him/herself or to others. They are therapy. They are ways to form connections with whoever chooses to read them.