Final Draft of Poem

Andy Goldsworthy sculpture

what has the power to create something so beautiful

also has the power to destroy it

pulling together something to make it complete

but then pulling it back apart over time

like a tide rushing over sand

the golden sun melting delicate ice

creation and destruction tie together something more beautiful as anything else.

Poetry Reading Response

“It’s easy sitting in the sun / to forget cold exists / let alone envelopes / the lives of people”, Nikki Giovanni writes in her poem, “Photography”. I love this line because it is so true. In warm weather do we think of cold harsh winters? We naturally are so caught up in the moment that we don’t think of how lucky we are. The author portrays life as a camera to show the readers to value or “capture” the beauties of life while you have them. This poem also shows the readers to think on the bright side and see both parts of life (look outside the ‘camera’ frame) : the bad and the good.

This poem made me realize that we forget one feeling when we are feeling the opposite. For example, you might be feeling sad because you got a bad grade but you don’t think of the other great grades you have gotten. You focus on the bad things.  However,  when you think about it, maybe this grade that you got could be considered a good grade for somebody else. “it’s easy sitting in the sun /  to forget the ice and ravages / of winter yet / there are those who would have / no other season”. This line shows the readers that not only you don’t think of the future bad weather but you don’t think on the bright side of the weather. It could be somebody else’s favorite season so there must be something good about it. I think Giovanni is trying to tell us to look on the bright side of the bad parts of life even if you (at first) don’t see any good in it.

I thought it was interesting how Nikki Giovanni portrayed life as a camera. The film is the heart, and the eye is the camera. I interpreted this as a way to show the readers to question their perspectives or look outside the camera frame. “watching the red sun bleed / into the ocean / one thinks of the beauty that fire brings”,she writes. This teaches a very good moral. Bleeding and fire are not peaceful or beautiful but Giovanni turns both of these things into something to admire the beauty of.

This message is something many people (including myself) should learn because there are others who really want the things you have. Don’t take advantage of your luxuries but capture the things you enjoy, as well as see the beautiful sides of things that may not seem beautiful at first.  

RR Teen Angst? Naaah...

Ned Vizzini grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and eventually became a famous author when he published his journals kept through high school which exposed his life to the public. However, these books aren’t amusing just because he shares all his life stories, but because he is flaunting the brutally honest truth of what it is like to be a teenager. This story is completely relatable and I found that reading this book prepared me for the future and even allowed me to make connections to my current life.

Ned introduces himself as a child who has been socially awkward, tied up in video games, and lonely most of his life. As the story goes on, he expands his high school life and makes friends- even gets a girlfriend. Vizzini also shares his experience in getting into high school (which is what we are going through now), and college as well. Personally I can relate to how Vizzini feels during the high school admissions process and growing up. Being horrified of high school, and his daily struggles with normal teenage boy issues: girls, grades, getting introduced to new people and things. Ned wasn’t the most popular guy in school, he knew it, and underestimated himself at times. We can all relate to that- thinking people are better than we are. Ned gets over this but before he builds up his confidence, he is put through awkward and painful situations.

In other books or movies about growing up it seems all welcoming and fun, but Ned introduces the side of being a teenager that is bittersweet. Although it was a harsh description and course of events, it was good to hear the truth- no matter what it was. Not over exaggerated- but of course not boring- Ned Vizzini portrayed the life of a teenage boy growing up to be successful, in spite of the chances he repeatedly missed several times in his life.

Unfortunately, Ned Vizzini has just committed suicide. It’s hard to think about this event because he let us into his life and showed how life is brutally hard at times, yet giving us strength to go on with ours as he did himself. Its awfully coincidental that as I read his book, explored his life, he was planning on ending it. I was fascinated at how he chose to show his life and how he went through so many lost battles yet still was comfortable and caring enough to share it with the world, preparing us for the not so easy path that lays ahead. I wish he knew how much we all admire his confidence and his literature. He really taught me many lessons about how to handle situations or what is the right or wrong thing to do. This book was educational and inspirational, as well as fascinating.