High School Analogy: High School is Like a Tree

In the spring, a tree starts out as a seed, planted in freshman year. Here, the seed grows into a little plant, stretching up towards the sky, although it is still a far reach.

In the summer, the tree continues to grow into sophomore year. The tree has now developed its first few branches, finding the shape it will have for the rest of its life. Although the tree is still small, it has begun to look more like a tree, leaving its fragile plant-state behind.

When fall comes the tree is a junior, much taller and with thick bark. The days begin to shorten, and the tedious hours of nighttime coax the leaves from its branches.

Soon, fall is over and flecks of white begin to sprinkle the tree's grey and textured bark. The tree is now a senior--fully mature and closer to the sky than ever. The tree continues to live on, but in peaceful hibernation it awaits the arrival of spring: freshman year of college when the tree will once again grow leaves and thrive in the warmth of the sun.

Poetry Response 5

I read "A Chinese Bowl," by Katha Pollitt, which I think is another nostalgic poem about a memory from the poet's childhood. You can tell that what sparks this reminiscence is coming across the Chinese bowl that used to sit on the desk of the narrator's father. Then, she describes a scene from her childhood in which the bowl sits on the desk, and her father at it. She describes her father's typewriter and a play that she is writing, sitting on the floor in her father's office as he works. She describes the room with much detail, to make the reader feel like he or she has also been in this room many times before. Then suddenly, the author switches gears from simply describing a scene, to thinking about tragedies from her past. She says "Light spills cleanly down/ on the Danish-modern couch/ and metal cabinet/ which hides no folder labelled/ 'Blacklist' or 'Party business'/ or 'Drink' or 'Mother's Death.'" By this, she seems to be illustrating how she felt that her father's office was a safe place, away from all the worries she and her father had. She then seems to say that she misses this feeling of peace. It's as if she wishes that she still had that safe place to go when her worries get to her; that she hadn't taken that small detail of her childhood for granted while she had it.
I can relate to her a little in this. I think everyone has a memory from childhood of being with their parents in a certain setting and feeling like nothing could ever harm them. I know for me personally, as I've started to grow up, I've at times felt like I was too on my own for my own comfort, and wanted to feel like I had no worries, and like my parents would always be there to solve my problems. It's just a part of growing up, and Katha Pollitt really illustrates this in "The Chinese Bowl."

Poetry Response 4

Because it intrigued me in class, I read "The Halo That Would Not Light." I had read through this poem before class, but had a tough time making sense of it. It seemed like Brock-Broido had just thrown a bunch of random, unconnected images together and called it a poem. However, when we read it again in class and someone mentioned the "raptor" referring to a stork, and the "tiny body" referring to a baby, it made me think that maybe the poet was describing a childhood, but a very dark and depressing one. The word "raptor" seems like a scary and negative image of a stork, and the fact that the poem says "left you like a finch" sounds like the baby was born into a sad and lonely existence. Also the poem seems to be chronological, because it starts out talking about the "tiny body" of a baby, then proceeds to mention a child. And the last line, rather than death, sounded more like whoever experienced this awful childhood was escaping. The line  "Is done" sounds more relieving and freeing than morbid to me for some reason. Before I knew this poem was actually about Lucie Brock-Broido's childhood friend who died of cancer, I assumed it was about a child who had been abused or neglected. What lead me to think this was the descriptions of various places, such as "In the scarab-colored hollow," "With linden leaves in a child's cardboard box" and "Hunting as the leather seats of swings go back/ And forth with no one in them." All of these lines sound lonely and dark, as if the love and happiness were missing from this person's childhood. Along with that, no parents or people at all are mentioned, which further supports the poem's feeling of emptiness and neglect. However, when I was told that it was actually about a child who died of cancer, the saddness of this person's childhood still made sense, just in a different context. However, the last few lines took on a new meaning entirely.

Poetry Response 3

This week I read "In Blaclwater Woods" by Mary Oliver. This poem seems like it's overall message can be interpreted many ways, however Oliver's imagery is very straightforward, which makes the poem easy to follow and fun to decode. The first four stanzas plant a very vivid picture in my mind of a gorgeous and serene woods, which makes me want to continue to read the poem. It's as if Oliver is describing a place where she can forget her troubles and the saddness of the world for a while. The second half of the poem lost me the first time I read it, but upon reading the poem a few more times I thought she was saying that coming to Blackwater Woods makes her realize that everything in life is trivial, except three things: "to love what is mortal;/ to hold it/ against your bones/ knowing your own life depends on it;/ and, when the time comes to let it go,/ to let it go." By this, I think she means that we must appreciate everything mortal because it only lasts for a short time, and know that every living thing depends on every other living thing--we must not destroy this cycle. And also, along with life there is inevitable death that we must accept. It's as if coming back to Blackwater Woods reminds Mary Oliver of these things because it is so placid and peaceful that she can forget things that are unimportant in the long run: appointments, errands, etc. Also when she talks about "the black river of loss/ whose other side/ is salvation" it made me think of the river Styx in Greek mythology, that seperates life from the afterlife. This allusion made me think she was talking about life and death, and how all life must be appreciated because it is always only temporary.

Poetry Response 2

I read the poem "Blackberries for Amelia" by Richard Wilbur. I thought this poem was very endearing. It's like it's reminding the reader to enjoy the present moment, because someday it won't be the same: "As the far stars, of which we are now told/That ever faster do they bolt away/And that a night may come in which, some say,/We shall have only blackness to behold." And I love how he illustrates this with details of the flowers and thickets in June, and how they turn into berries in August. Then, he says it's important to enjoy small moments in life like this because as we age, we can't be sure that we'll be around to see long term change, but we can be sure that we'll be there to see the next few months and seasons, and so that's what we should focus on, not the distant future.
I also like that the title is so significant to the poem that you have to read the poem to understand the title, and read the title to understand the poem. It takes until the climax of the poem at the end to realize that Amelia must be the grandchild with whom Richard Wilbur is fond of picking blackberries. The essential message of this poem is to enjoy the time you're given with those you love, and enjoy life as it happens because you may not be around to see the materialization of the future. I think that's an important message because it's something we forget sometimes in our present world.