Tag: poems

The Imitation Poetry assignment is a series of poems that I annotated and imitated (the format/style it was written in). When writing the imitations of these poems, we thought about the poetic structure the author used, their word choices, and the significance of that topic to the author. The 5 poems are I wrote below are only just the original 5, but with my own twist/personal experiences substituted instead. 4 of the poems are “normal” poems and are what you normally expect a poem to look and sound like. The 5th poem, however, is a two-voice poem and takes you through 2 different author’s viewpoints on the same topic at once. This allows the readers to compare and contrast the experiences and tone of the authors and understand why using two-voice poetry enhanced the poem.

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“If I were in Charge of the World”

Annotation – ‘If I were in Charge of the World’:

 

Poem – ‘If I were Brave’:

If I were brave,
I’d climb Mount Everest,
travel to Egypt,
let myself fall from the highest roller coaster,
and get lost in the Grand Canyon.

If I were brave,
there’d be no failure,
or what ifs,
and life would be more than just existence.

If I were brave,
you wouldn’t have regrets.
You wouldn’t have separate.
You wouldn’t have boundaries.
Or “I’m not good enoughs”.
We would all be enough.

If I were brave,
then someone who has worked so hard to be rid of who they are,
then someone who sails across seas in search of a better future,
then a dreamer,
can be brave
(too).

 

Photostory – ‘If I were Brave’:

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“Where I’m From”

Annotation – ‘Where I’m From’:

 

Poem – ‘Where I’m From’:

I am from glue sticks,
from Elmer’s and the untwisted caps.
I am from the broken fountain
(constant, alluring,
it sounded like silence).
I am from the flowering citrus,
the California redwood
whose shadow kept me cool on the unbearingly hot summer days.

I’m from airports and laser tag,
from America and Taiwan.
I’m from the “Then what happened”
and the “Go look at the stars.”,
from the death trap window and the magic door.
I’m from dreaded Sunday mornings
with hidden books
and a ten commandments poster.

I’m from Valley Oak Park and Arden Dimick Library,
cherry icees and black beanbags.
From the personality my brother lost to the expectations,
the silence my mom kept to save her charade.

Over the Pacific Ocean, the plane wavered,
lights flickered,
illuminating shadows of doubt,
wondering what would’ve turned out different.

I am from those moments.
Roots dug before they grew,
fallen oranges from the flowers.

 

Photostory – ‘Where I’m From’:

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“Ode to Family Photographs”

Annotation ‘Ode to Family Photographs’:

 

Poem – ‘Ode to Memories’:
This is the white frame, and these are the smiles.
This is the laminated cover, and this is the old style.
The colors seem to fade over time.

This is a word, the first you ever said,
and this is the bullfighting pen of a bed.
The jokes seem to lose their hilarity.

This is my half of a friendship necklace.
This is the concert ticket from out night of being reckless.
The spark of excitement simmers down.

This is a memory of my life,
and the fuzziness returning just as soon as I remember.
The details are lost but aren’t they supposed to return.

This is our first dance,
and this is a broken lightsaber.
This is my brother dressed in layers upon layers,
ready to push his sled down.

I forget as soon as I remember.
The details of events are jumbled.
Nothing seems to make sense.

But memories are all we have left to hold on to.
What else can we do but grasp tightly onto your past
when pictures don’t serve you justice.
My memory is the only thing that will remember you.

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“Sick” – List Poems

Annotation – ‘Sick’:

 

Poem – ‘A Vast Library’:
When you walk through the doors,

When you walk through the doors,
and the air conditioning roars,
you start your journey.
Start to see.
Be free.

Wander the aisles,
scan through bookshelves,
search awhile
and find cookbooks,
schoolbooks,
hymnbooks,
scrapbooks,
guidebooks,
textbooks.
On the lookout.

Wondering where the blue book
that you read beside the brook
was misfiled.

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“Lunch Rooms” – Two-Voice Poems

Annotation – ‘Lunch Rooms’:

 

Two-Voice Poem Audio – ‘Fruits’ Paula and Yvonne:

 

Two-Voice Poem – ‘Fruits’ Paula and Yvonne: