Voyage
BY CARMEN TAFOLLA
I was the fourth ship.
Behind Niña, Pinta, Santa María,
Lost at sea while watching a seagull,
Following the wind and sunset skies,
While the others set their charts.
I was the fourth ship.
Breathing in salt and flying with clouds,
Sailing moonbreezes and starvision nights,
Rolling into the wave and savoring its lull,
While the others pointed their prows.
I was the fourth ship.
Playfully in love with the sea,
Eternally entwined with the sky,
Forever vowed to my voyage,
While the others shouted “Land.”
Reflection:
This poem drew me in because of its format. The sentence, “I was the fourth ship,” was formatted weirdly, like it was repeated in the first sentence for each stanza and it was the one sentence that wasn’t aligned to all the other lines. The repetition of this line showed that there’s more emphasis on it making it stand out and make me believe there’s more meaning. I wonder why the poet decided to include how he/she was the fourth ship because the poem is about a voyage, so I’m curious about why the number matters. Why was this so important to the poet to include?
Here and There
BY EMILY GROSHOLZ
What will I miss when I’m gone?
The squeak of the wheelbarrow’s wheel,
Grace note that strikes with every slow
Revolution, and then the hushed, rusty
Answer in triplets from the invisible
Bird in the lackluster maples.
Branches, weeds, last autumn’s leavings
Raked from the moss-eaten pads, beds,
Borders, still untrimmed hedges.
Also the silent pale blue bells
Of my half dozen borage, ringed,
Self-seeded from the woods.
Daylilies my mother liked to set
Roadside in June. Pale Greek anemones
She never traveled far enough
To find wild, as I did once or twice, but
Maybe I’ll bring her some, if over there
Windflowers blow beside a cloudy sea.
Reflection:
The quote, “Bird in the lackluster maples,” because I love the flow of the sentence. I love how the poet is descriptive in saying where the bird was but in such a simple sentence. The bird is described as sitting in lackluster maples, which is dull maples, which makes you think because usually, my thoughts are that maples aren’t dull but it adds a perspective and image of the scene. I loved how the poet also described different scenes so vividly because another line said, “Windflowers blow beside a cloudy sea,” which was an interesting choice of words because usually sea’s are thought of as clear in a way, but it’s described as cloudy here. This could maybe mean the water is dirty in some way.
Meeting Point
BY LOUIS MACNEICE
Time was away and somewhere else,
There were two glasses and two chairs
And two people with the one pulse
(Somebody stopped the moving stairs):
Time was away and somewhere else.
And they were neither up nor down;
The stream’s music did not stop
Flowing through heather, limpid brown,
Although they sat in a coffee shop
And they were neither up nor down.
The bell was silent in the air
Holding its inverted poise—
Between the clang and clang a flower,
A brazen calyx of no noise:
The bell was silent in the air.
The camels crossed the miles of sand
That stretched around the cups and plates;
The desert was their own, they planned
To portion out the stars and dates:
The camels crossed the miles of sand.
Time was away and somewhere else.
The waiter did not come, the clock
Forgot them and the radio waltz
Came out like water from a rock:
Time was away and somewhere else.
Her fingers flicked away the ash
That bloomed again in tropic trees:
Not caring if the markets crash
When they had forests such as these,
Her fingers flicked away the ash.
God or whatever means the Good
Be praised that time can stop like this,
That what the heart has understood
Can verify in the body’s peace
God or whatever means the Good.
Time was away and she was here
And life no longer what it was,
The bell was silent in the air
And all the room one glow because
Time was away and she was here.
Reflection:
In the poem, it describes how time was once there and then it was away as if it let which is an interesting type of words to use as in time being human since time can’t literally walk away. It describes someone’s life before they passed in a vivid way and then it says how still and silent the rooms she used to be in are now, but in a descriptive way that makes the reader feel as though they were in the room with her.
Bessie Dreaming Bear
BY MARNIE WALSH
we all went to town one day
went to a store
bought you new shoes
red high heels
aint seen you since
Reflection:
This poem is a very short poem that is only five lines in length, but it has a deeper meaning. It describes a time when the poet and maybe a significant other went to a store and the poet bought them new shoes. After she leaves the last line powerful because she says, “aint seen you since,” leaving the reader inferencing that the person used the poet for their money only and once they got what they needed they left.
The Rebuttal
BY JOHN LEE CLARK
Guide, passion, catch what
Hath no speech. Unknown
Joys, power, and meditation’s
Unfolding sky. Feeling draws
Heart and wildering language
Still without speech to
Mind. Philosophy fails to
Sway this future child.
Reflection:
Honestly, this poem was kind of confusing for me at first and I had to reread it several times to actually get an interpretation of understanding. My interpretation of the poem is that a child who is so innocent and pure is throughout time given so many different teaching, lessons, and philosophy, which most of the time they begin to adapt to. The final line states “Philosophy fails to Sway this future child,” and I think it means that there are still always those few that go beyond and are more curious to learn so the past wisdom someone has taughten them hasn’t even phased them yet.
Ode to Teachers
BY PAT MORA
I remember
the first day,
how I looked down,
hoping you wouldn’t see
me,
and when I glanced up,
I saw your smile
shining like a soft light
from deep inside you.
“I’m listening,” you encourage us.
“Come on!
Join our conversation,
let us hear your neon certainties,
thorny doubts, tangled angers,”
but for weeks I hid inside.
I read and reread your notes
praising
my writing,
and you whispered,
“We need you
and your stories
and questions
that like a fresh path
will take us to new vistas.”
Slowly, your faith grew
into my courage
and for you—
instead of handing you
a note or apple or flowers—
I raised my hand.
I carry your smile
and faith inside like I carry
my dog’s face,
my sister’s laugh,
creamy melodies,
the softness of sunrise,
steady blessings of stars,
autumn smell of gingerbread,
the security of a sweater on a chilly day.
Reflection:
I love how in this poem Pat Mora is describing the positive qualities of how her teacher impacts her and how there’s a “good side” to the teacher calling her out in class. Many times in school now many teens talk about how they hate when their teacher calls on them when their hand isn’t up or how bad teachers are, but they are forgetting the meaning behind it: we want to hear your voice and your way of thinking because everyone has different perspectives based on their past. I also love the last stanza because of its description about how instead of saying she keeps her teacher’s smile close at heart she describes it as something she keeps inside by listing other happy moments in her life.
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