Let's Talk Poetry, Nerds!

food for naught 4th

I have always enjoyed poetry, but participating in the Writer's Guild last year really helped me become passionate about finding poetry that I found resonant, and that I wanted to share with my friends in the club. Here's a few of my favorites from both back then and now !!

Song of the Prettybird - Shay Alexi Stewart

I've lived 20 prettybird years

Of this great big prettybird life

And i think i pretty pretty pretty bird bird pretty much know what im talking about

People like to poke fun at my pretty bird pretty preening

At my pretty pretty bird pretty feathers

But look at my long clean coat

At my pretty pretty bird pretty pink legs

When pigeon men track me cross sky highway

They are happy to trace hungry orange eyes

between my pretty pretty bird bird feathers

To busy fantasizing pretty bird

Wet dreams swollen chest fluff fest

To pretty poke bird fun

To pretty poke fun bird

To pretty bird bird pretty bird bird pretty pretty pretty

Too busy fantasizing

to poke fun at permanently preening pretty bird

My vanity is insanity unless it helps get you off

What a treat hosting eyes between my thighs

They will spend equal time begging to share bed with me

Condemning mediocrity

How does one achieve complexity when all she was ever taught to be was basic

Pigeon man wants pretty bird to pretty bird

Until pretty bird fulfills ideas of prettiness

Then shes too pretty pretty bird bird paralyzing and preened

Look at my long clean coat

At my pretty pretty bid pretty pink legs

Track me cross sky highway

Take a picture I beg you

Take a picture pretty bird pretty bird

My left side is my best side

I have a best side

I have a better half

I am a half

Pretty cus they want a pretty bird bird

I grew up on a diet of bread crumbs catalog clippings and sidewalk cracks

How do you expect anything else

Pretty sure i know what im talking about

Pretty sure

pretty sure

Maybe not

Sorry sorry sorry sorry

Can i ask a question

Sorry sorrry

May i may i

Pretty bird used to sing

Baby bird used to sing

Baby bird was pretty bird before pretty bird learned to pretty

And baby bird could compose whole symphonies

Acute intricacies melodies capturing vacies poetry

But the reviews came in

and they prefered apology

So she shrank

learned to make herself small enough

to nearly fit back in her eggshell

to tip toe atop eggshells

expanded flight just long enough

for pigeon men to track her cross sky highway

but still she sang too loud

so they caged her up

for her pretty pretty bird bird long clean coat

for her pretty pretty bird pretty pink legs

and they said sing pretty lady sing

but I forgot how

so I said

pretty pretty bird bird look at my long clean coat

at my pretty pretty bird pretty pink legs

but they were bored of me

Random Clubber Guy:

Accident Report in the Tall, Tall Weeds - Ada Limon

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. I still feel like the best way to experience most poetry is to read it out loud to your friends, but maybe you (on the other side of this screen) could read it out loud to yourself!

Have a fantastic day. 😼

Selena Gomez 7th

I am a die hard fan for deep poetry, seeing everything unfold the more and more you get into it, or even the ones that just put it all out.

This poetry happens to be one that puts it all out there. This shows paranoia by her talking about how there will never be someone who will love her. Her mind has been corrupted into thinking of the bad in the world of love.

catsarecoolaswatermelon 7th Pd.

I’m not best at poetry; nothing could get me to understand the hardest poetry or even analyze what it was saying so at times it Was hard for me to enjoy the meaning of the poem. A poem I analyzed last year in Mr. Wilson‘s English II class last year was invisible string by Taylor Swift, and that was one of very few poems that I actually could analyze. This song/poem is about how a hypothetical string is always tying the narrator to a man she loves, and no matter the circumstanc, place, or time, she always seems to be tied to him.

Swift incorporates magical realism, fabulation, and hyperreality. Swift also uses different literary styles from previous writers; one I found was Dr. Seuss‘ “One fish two fish red fish blue fish, where Swift uses colors and simple phrases to describe her memories like “green was the color of the grass”, “teal was the color of your shirt”, and “bad was the blood”. Swift‘s use of fabulation and magical realism is conveyed through her reasoning behind why she is always going to back to how she is connected to her true love. The Invisible string is tying them together. You can also find in her song that she incorporates different lyrics from her previous songs.

Here‘s the official music video:

CyberSurfer 4th:

I have never been too fond of poetry, however I do have some experience trying to understand them. I love to listen to song lyrics from some of my favorite bands, and have dove deep into the words to find the meaning. This poem by John Ashbery does intrigue me, although it is not my favorite genre of literature. "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" is quintessential metafiction, a very profound characteristic of postmodern writing. Ashbery alludes to the fact that language cannot be fully deciphered since it is always changing, even when spoken in plain verbiage. Because language's meaning changes depending on how the reader interprets it, Ashbery invites readers to read poems with open and playful minds. He speaks directly about the poem to the reader to make his point. *Breaks 4th Wall*

Crystal Shanda-Leer 3rd

I’m not the biggest fan of poetry. Sometimes it’s just very hard for me to understand and analyze. This one, however, was just very sweet. It has a sense of magical realism in the way it explains that they will always find each other in this world and the next.

John Smith, 7th: My favorite poetry comes from songs. My favorite poem is called Anoche by Arca.

It's a Spanish poem about loosing a lover. Here's the full poem in Spanish:

Anoche te soñé Tu figura y tus brazos Anoche te añoré Aunque no te he conocido aún

A solas te sané Las heridas de las guerras que has luchado Anoche yo te amé Y tú me dejaste trizas

Anoche yo soñé Nuestra muerte simultánea Anoche yo lloré De felicidad, qué extraño me sentí

Que el amor me haya lavado Que tu sangre calentó

Quejido de mis entrañas Anoche yo te soñé Aunque tú seas real o imaginario

Anoche yo sonreía Al pensar que eras posible Me basta con saber Me basta con saber

Here's the English translation:

Last night i dreamed of you

Your figure and your arms

I missed you last night

Even though I haven't met you yet

Alone I healed you

The wounds of the wars you've fought

Last night i loved you

And you left me in pieces

Last night i dreamed

Our simultaneous death

Last night i cried

Of happiness, how strange I felt

That love has washed me

that your blood heated

groan of my insides

Last night I dreamed of you

Even if you are real or imaginary

last night i smiled

thinking that you were possible

it is enough for me to know

it is enough for me to know

Every time I listen to her sing these words, it brings me to tears. Such a beautiful song.

I'm not a huge poetry fan, but one poem that spoke to mean and a problem I deal with is "Sanctuary" By Jean Valentine. It speaks on the topic of insecurity's in a beautiful and meaningful way. A lot of people like me struggle with are own insecurity's and straggle with trying to deal with them. In the poem it says,

"Drown out. Not make a house, out of my own words.

To be quiet in

another throat; other eyes; listen for what it is like there. What

word. What silence. Allowing. Uncertain: to drift, in the

restlessness … Repose. To run like water—

I just think the way he described being insecure is beautiful. The poem has elements of paranoia because no one being insecure is a roller coaster and no one knows what there gana be insecure about at that moment.

Bentley&Scout 7th

I liked this poem because of all the detail and deeper meaning that is happening. In the postmodernism world, it is known at maximalism. He uses metaphors to compare life with a bird and a field. He states great points and opinions that readers will be able to connect to.

porcifan234 p3

The poem, in the book Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur really struck me. It is so short, but shows the fragmentation of yourself that comes with staying in relationships that are not good for you- friendships or actual relationships. The fact that they hurt each other over and over are like little cracks spreading across glass and demonstrate fragmentation perfectly, I think.

Steve Rogers 5th

The poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost, depicts the fluctuating manner of nature. Frost concludes his poem with intertextuality. He refers to the Garden of Eden, the biblical earthly paradise, that was soiled by the first man and woman, the same way nature can be soiled in an instant. Frost's intentions with this allusion is to compare the ever-changing earth to the place where nature began expulsion.

Anonymoussmile05 p.5

The poem "Points of View" by Ishmael Reed uses an obvious element of poioumena while discussing the two different points of view from two different sets of people. However, the conflict and turning point of this poetry is in the last line. It is an attention grabber, because it makes you think and you're left wondering what the bear really thinks. Ishmael focuses so much on what others think, but not the bear itself.

Silent Shark 6th

I have only recently discovered the work of Susan Howe and WOW I was definitely missing out! She has a common theme of referencing spiritual realms/objects in search for meaning in life. I can see lots of magical undertones that I love. This little snippet is one of my favorites that I have found from her poem That This.

Here is the link to the full poem! https://poets.org/poem/that-this

Legolas 3rd

This poem isn’t postmodern but it still touches me nonetheless. It is referred to as the “First they came…” poem, and there are many different forms, some with four stanzas and others with five. What touches me most is that all the lines have an arrogant air to them, but the last is regretful. I find that you can apply this poem to anything really.

2ndThing, 5th period

Look: hear me out, dang it.

When I say the word "Bridgerton" by Julia Quinn, I'm met with either googly eyes of loyal fans or groans of people about to vomit. push allllll of that aside and just hear me out.

"What is it, truly, to admire a woman? To look at her and feel inspiration. To delight in her beauty. So much so that all your defenses crumble, that you would willingly take on any pain, any burden for her." - Benedict Bridgerton

When I read this poem for the first time, I thought "cute" and nothing of it. Until,

“Words of flattery are beautiful and sweet. But they are also hollow, unless accompanied by action.” - Lord Anthony Bridgerton

I had never reflected more from a poem before. Yes, these words are stripped from a romance novel but I don't believe that should discount the honesty in these lines. I began to reflect on do my words properly reflect my actions? Do my compliments prove kind or manipulative deep-down? Words are some of the most beautiful things man has ever created, however it's easy for them to become hollow when not backed-up properly. Effort is what proves words to be honest, and everyone could do with a little more effort and a little more honesty.

Tamika Flynn 6th

When it comes to poetry I usually struggle to lend an ear, but when I do it is often about the experiences of people of different cultures in the U.S. I find these kinds of works interesting because they are relatable, and I enjoy hearing about people who come from different diasporas and groups. For example, one of Margaret Walker's poems, Sorrow Home describes how she feels that the South is her home despite what others may say.

Kachan 6th

In my life I have read and written many poems but "Say Hi To The Mouthless" by an anonymous writer stood out to me a couple of years back. It is simply written and minimalistic but it evoked so much emotion inside of me and made me realize that so many people are alone in this world, even when they have people surrounding them who care for them, the only company they have is themselves.

Say Hi To The mouthless

I Sat there on the wall

talking out my feelings,

No one cared one bit of it at all.

Telling my life to the mouthless,

Waiting for it to say

But it's soundless,

I can chatter all I want,

hoping it grows ears

so it can lend me one.

Never did it utter a sound,

Still hoped one day it would

But I've sat too long,

Too many nights as the owls do,

Waiting for illusions to become a reality.

Oh, how it stares in sympathy,

I wish for once

It'll talk to make me some company.

How disappointing,

So long I sat there

In the cold white creasing ground

Taking it out on the mouthless

For remaining shut,

Yet I remained sitting there,

Telling my life to the mouthless,

Who's earless,

And more or less

a side of me.

Gretel pd. 3

The poem “Death, Be Not Proud” is about the idea that death only rests the mortal body and can never destroy the immortal soul. When I first read this it really connected to me because I had never thought of death in that way before and it made me think of it as a good thing.

King Midas 3rd

It's a simple example, but it teaches a valuable lesson about clinging to your dreams no matter what. Langston Hughes, whose poem 'Dreams,' in a short and beautiful form, invites readers to hold fast to their dreams, is a poet with a similar message. Let's take a closer look at the poem and see what Hughes was attempting to say.

the_freckle_face 7th

One of my favorite poems, "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman tells the story of a ship and crew who have just returned from a long voyage, but the captain is dead and the right hand man is mourning his death. Whitman uses intertextuality to tell the story of the death of Abraham Lincoln, the idea of losing a leader that had done so much, someone that you cared for or looked up to. This poem is beautiful, Whitman is able to make you feel sad or feel any emotion he wants you to.

Darrel Barrel 2nd

I enjoy the poem “The Stronger” by Sandra Lim. The way she personifies both love and her internal battle is greatly impactful. Lim opens the poem by showing how she has let her guard down through love. She reflects on when she “talk[s] through your hat,” insinuating that she is deeply lost in confusion she is talking utter nonsense.