Through the reading of this collection of poems I have learned that there is no one way to write a poem, poems can be written about anything and poetry has the ability to convey emotion that no other form of writing possesses.
The Meaning of Simplicity
I found this poem to be rather poignant, leaving me with much to think about. I really loved the lines "Every word is a doorway to a meeting, one often cancelled, and that's when a word is true: when it insists on the meeting." It is truly beautiful, something that needs to read out loud, and I am still at this point trying to make sense of it all. To me it means that words invite the opportunity to be discussed and lingered on. Words should be spoken about and appreciated in ways that they currently are not. That, after all, is what we are supposed to do when we read poetry: be with the words. This poem gave me a lens to read the rest of the poems with; an eye for a meeting with a word.
The Question Mark
This poem is simple yet intriguing. I have never questioned the idea of a question mark, but this poet evoked that questioning. The question mark is personified through these words, leaving the reader to empathize with it. This would be a fun poem to use with students because it makes them really think about small things, and may inspire some poems of a similar idea: writing about a period, a letter, a number. Questions to me can be stressful because they are the unknown. Unknown things, questions, lead me to wonder and hope and dream, all things a poet should do.
Monkeys
I love the view evoked in this poem; that who are we to decide monkeys don't talk because we can't understand them. The reverse of that is introduced, when speaking about how the monkeys are probably unaware of what we are saying, and may feel similarly. This poem is useful to really delve into the idea of questioning the status quo. Why is it that cars drive on the right side of the street? Why can't we understand other animals? There are so many questions that could be asked and pondered in the form of poetry. I think this author is trying to get readers to understand that our perspective isn't the only one, and we need to consider others. This widened perspective helps us to be more understanding people.
"A dream never flies away but it can be destroyed or eaten."
This is just one line of the poem Why There Are No Cats in the Forest, but it was the line that stuck out to be the most. I looked at it in isolation and at first thought of it as a negative thing, looking at the words eaten and destroyed. Upon second look I found the positive, dreams are not something that just become out of our reach suddenly, we have to work at not accomplishing them. It is a line that inspires me to think more about how my dreams aren't just leaving me beyond my control.
The Sky is Vast
I was drawn to this poem because it appears to me like a small story. But this poem does not just detail the events of the tiny cloud, but helps readers to learn a lesson. When reading this poem I learn the lesson of "two is better than one", or something along those lines. Alone, the tiny cloud is scared, but when merged with it's mother it is happy and safe. Merging together with others can help you to be strong and beat even the hardest tasks. This poem allows this message to be conveyed in a very lovely and lighthearted way.
Under This Sky
I love this poem because it is comparing two very different places to one another, yet showing how similar they can be. They might have their intense differences but life and love and dreams can be found in both of them. Despite how different people may think they are from others, there is truly not that much difference in life. We may have "fancier" things or "nicer" things, but when it comes down to it at the end of the day we are all people who are longing for the same thing in life: love.
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