Haunting Past

Loud bangs and screams echo in his head as if he is still storming the beaches of Normandy.  His horrifying past haunts him to this day.  Ever since the war he has been working in my old rusty body shop, smoking himself to death.  Someone suddenly drops a tool, and it bounces off the hard, concrete floor.  He scurries his way from underneath the automobile he was currently repairing.  Everyone in the shop stares at him in fear, as he works his way toward the bench, and sits down in a careful matter.  The boots on his feet are torn and battered, as they have been cut with a machete several times.  His shirt is covered in dust like it had been hidden in a cave for years.  His moustache is a grey patch, symbolizing he was a tough sergeant in the war.  The cigarette in between his fingers is the burned land of France after the war was over. Last of all, his haunted eyes staring into nothing, the color of the blood stained beaches in Normandy.  Everyone in the shop quietly waits for him to calm down, while he just sits there, staring into nothing.

Letter to Santa

Bryant Valverde

Naughty Lane

December 16, 2011

Mr. Santa Claus

North Pole,

Candy Cane Lane

         

I have been so naughty, like extremely naughty.  All year I have been doing naughty activities that are way too inappropriate to mention. 

I should not receive any presents this year.    Wait, maybe one.  Could you get me a comb to stick in my thick, black, curly hair?  Hey, why don’t you cook me some food, you chef.  I would be very happy if you gave me some food, a taco, or something Mexican.  If you don’t, I will hack into your savings account, embezzle you of your colossal fortune, and buy my own taco’s.  So what’s up Santa, if that is your real name?  I just wanted to write this letter to inform you of what’s coming.  If you don’t abide by my commands, I will break you.  Watch your back buddy.  Peace.   

A Consequential Generation

Cell phones are “rude, period,” Pamela Eyring states in the Maclean’s Magazine article written by Anne Kingston.  The passage illustrates the unsettling fact that using cell phones while present with people is impolite and disrespectful.    “Most people said they’d rather see someone pick their nose than use a mobile device in front of them.”  The passage describes that mobile devices are not only ill-mannered but also that “it’s an addiction,” “one that puts personal and business relationships at risk.”  These mobile devices can be hazardous.  The police have “targeted distracted drivers, charging more than 2,000 people, with one woman so preoccupied with her cell she didn’t even notice the sirens flagging her down.”

          Technology is in fact overruling our society, and people constantly rely on its use.  It is true, that “we’re losing our ability to relate face to face,” and that people are using mobile devices as an alternative to real social interactions.  People are completely oblivious that it can be rude to use these devices in some situations, but however in other circumstances, when you are not socially involved with other people, it can be appropriate.  It would not be suitable to eliminate cell phones considering they are essential for some people, but to provide a better understanding to people, and generate awareness that cell phones can be immoral based on the circumstances.

The Pockets of my Mind

The woman in front of me in the line

Turned to dust

As she became mine

I am the stop sign of reality

I played Icarus

I played the sun

I can become

Anyone

The sun is crazy

Icarus is dead

Everything is spinning

 Inside my head

I can fly

I can swim

I can dive to the depths of the deepest ocean

I am disconnected from humanity

My friends live

My friends die

I swear I can survive

I am the green light of insanity

They won’t stop ticking

These clocks

Everything is trapped

Inside the old box

This is over

But I shall never mend

For the clocks in my head

Never end

This confession meant nothing

For I am merely

Rifling through the pockets of my mind…

No Fairy Tale

                                             No Fairy Tale                                   Neal Tougas

“Amazingly, the pounding heart is not always an idiot; some inner wisdom or instinct seems to guide many people to the right choice, and one they might never have made cognitively.” “Puce fairy book,” by Alice Major, and “Forget Prince Charming,” by June Callwood both explore the difficulties in relationships.  Alice explains how woman should not have to live up to the stereotype that men have created for woman today.  June elaborates on how challenging relationships can be and the difficulty in finding a life long partner.  Alice would respect most of the grandmother’s advice on relationships that she guides her granddaughters with. 

             “Puce fairy book” uses fairy tale allusions to explore the realistic imperfection of relationships.  She explains that “he wanted Rapunzal waiting in a tower,” but “[her] hair would never grow long enough.”  She shows that she will not “[cut] off [her] toe,” in other words, go out of her way to match the expectations of someone who “might have been the one true prince.” 

            June shows in “Forget Prince Charming,” that complications in relationships are completely unavoidable by stating that “no human relationship is friction-free.”  She names different methods in which lovers can attempt to develop a more sustainable relationship such as: “honesty…compromising… punctuality.” 

Alice would respect most of June’s advice she gives her granddaughters considering they both notably outline the hardships one must overcome while dealing with relationships and that it still can never be perfect.  Alice would not agree on June’s statement of compromising.  Alice wants men to lower their expectations for woman, while June shows that “all long term couplings survive on a mutual ability to compromise.”  Alice would agree with most of June’s advice though, because they both have similar ideas on couples and they both accept the fact that many hardships come with love.

Alice’s allusions to fairy tails are very similar to June’s idea of the reality of imperfection in relationships.  Alice would agree with most of June’s advice given to her granddaughters.  Through “Puce fairy book,” by Alice Major, and “Forget Prince Charming,” by June Callwood, the harsh reality of love is revealed, and proved “that [it] is no fairy tail.”

Waiting for the Worms

                  Waiting For the Worms   by Pink Floyd               Neal Tougas

Ooooh, you cannot reach me now
Ooooh, no matter how you try
Goodbye, cruel world, it's over
Walk on by.

Sitting in a bunker
Here Behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come
In perfect isolation
Here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come

(Megaphone: Will the audience convene at one fifteen
outside Brixton Town Hall where we will be...)
Waiting (to cut out the deadwood).
Waiting (to clean up the city).
Waiting (to follow the worms).
Waiting (to put on a black shirt).
Waiting (to weed out the weaklings).
Waiting (to smash in their windows and kick in their doors)
Waiting (for the final solution to strengthen the strain).
Waiting to follow the worms.
Waiting (to turn on the showers and fire the ovens).
Waiting (for the queens and the coons and the Reds and the Jews).
Waiting (to follow the worms).
Would you like to see
(backgr: Would you like to see us rule again, my friend?)
Britannia rule again, my friend?
All you have to do is follow the worms.
Would you like to send
(backgr: Would you like to send them home again, my friend?)
Our colored cousins home again, my friend?
All you need to do is follow the worms.

        “The Wall” album was never about the poetry, rather than the message and the story.  However, there is poetry involved in every song, even if it is not intended.  “Waiting for the Worms,” by Pink Floyd, has many forms of poetry.  "The Worms" mentioned in the title, symbolizing the government, or his state of mind, and following it will create madness.  Figurative language is used in the first line where it says “You cannot reach me now.”  “Behind my wall” is a clear example of a metaphor.  It is a metaphoric wall built by his own depression to isolate himself from society.  The mood in this song, like most of the wall, is very dark.  This song is open, and angry.  The first person point of view is narrated by the fictional characters perspective, "Pink."  When he mentions "Britannia," he is using an allusion to the ancient term that refers to Great Britain.  "Waiting" is used at the beginning of almost every line to create parallel structure.  "Turn on the showers and fire the ovens," is a rascist allusion that is refering to the murdering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.  You may not recognize many poetry terms when you listen to music, but it appears more than you think. 

Letter to Harvard

I’ve travelled around the world in a straight line, with only a rope, and a blow up doll.  I’ve won a fight against Bruce Lee. I’ve lived with the dinosaurs, and died with the dinosaurs.  I’ve won a gold medal in the Olympics, twice.  I’ve smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins.  I am the most characterized person in the world.

Kids love me.  Parents love me.  Even Hitler loved me.  Cats love me.  Dogs love me.  If you search for the definition of the word love in a dictionary, a picture of my face will appear.  The elderly love me.  Teachers love me.  When people see me, they cry of happiness.  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad loves me.  I am the most lovable person in the world.

I discovered the Tan Law for Mathematics.  Albert Einstein is my father.  I make him look like a joke.  I work at a college as a janitor.  I feel like I'm smarter than most of the people who go there. Sometimes I see an equation written on a blackboard, I just figure it out.  I have graduated from high school, three times, before the age of seven.  I am the smartest person in the world.

I've painted the Mona Lisa with my eyes closed, and only a crayon.  I’ve been told by Bob Dylan that I am inspiring.  I created The Beatles.  I came up with the lyrics for “Stairway to Heaven.”   I am the most creative person in the world.

I am the absolute greatest person in the world.

            I have done everything there is to do on this earth, except attend University.