Word Out Contest: Best Found Poetry
Best Found Poetry Contest – Win an iPad mini!
Anyone can write a poem, but it takes a special type of
creativity to find one!
Found poetry is the art of taking existing documents, and
turning words, sentences or even whole phrases from them into poems. The
sources of found poetry can be anything, from a book to the back of a cereal
box. What makes them exciting is the way in which a poet remixes texts to give
them whole new meanings. You can find some great examples of Found poetry here
at Poets.org so you can see
what we’re talking about.
To enter our contest, submit your very own found poem in the
comment box below. Make sure you include the sources for your poem (you can
have more than one!)
We want you to be as creative as possible, so there aren’t a
lot of rules for this contest. All we’ll say is that:
- You have to be a resident of Toronto to qualify as a winner.
- Provide us with a valid email address when you submit your
entry (don’t worry; it’ll be kept confidential – see below for more details). - You have to submit your entry by 11:59 PM on Sunday August
25 2013 in order to qualify to win the prize!
The prize for our favourite found poem will be a brand sparklin’ new iPad Mini. So get
finding!
Personal information on this form is
collected under the authority of the Public Libraries Act, s.20 (a) and (d) and
will be used to administer the Library's Word Out contest. Questions about the
collection or management of personal information should be directed to Thomas Krzyzanowski Service
Specialist – Web, 789 Yonge Street, 416-393-7519.
123 thoughts on “Word Out Contest: Best Found Poetry”
can u enter more than once?
Uh oh…. I’m terrible at poetry.
how do you submit the poem
Q:
For the sources we include with our submissions(s), how specific should it be?
For example,
if it was from a flyer, can we just submit the name of the store? Should we include the product name? The date we recieved the flyer?
If it’s from a cereal box, should we include the flavour as well as the brand name?
…etc.
Yes!
Submit your poem by entering it as a comment
Hey SmileyFace
You should at least let your reader know what your source material is – for instance, if you use a book, the title of the book; if you use a flyer the name of the store the flyer came from.
Often with found poetry, there’s a significant link between the source material and the found poem, so if you think more detail about your source material will add a layer of meaning to your poem, then include it! Its up to you though.
THE OLD AND THE IMPOTENT
Looking old is something of an achievement
You see an elderly person
Congratulate them on their longevity
Ask the secret of survival
Since so many people die early.
He is the one that is envied
That is desirable,
But,
Is different
DIFFERENT!
Looking old is nothing to envy
Scrape by like the majority of them
Ask them if they long for the capitol
Make the WANT to know the secret
Tell them
Impotence.
Tell them
No one can help
But not admire
Your spirit.
Tell them
May the odds
Be never in your favor.
You are an elderly
You have no use.
Yet,
As long as you can find yourself
You will never starve
You will always live.
Remember,
Your future is on fire
Close your eyes
Because
Fire burns brighter
IN THE DARK!
——————————————-
THE HUNGER GAMES
~PAGES 124-125, CHAPTER 9
~PAGE 52, CHAPTER 4
~PAGE 85, CHAPTER 6
~PAGE 236, CHAPTER 18
MOCKING JAY
~QUOTE “CLOSING MY EYES DOESN’T HELP. FIRE BURNS BRIGHTER IN THE DARKNESS.”
My (Uni)verse
Gaea, Earth Goddess
A crescent moon
Leaving the two we see today in their strange courses
On clear nights, you may see it—
Love and beauty, springtime and flowers,
Musicians and poets
But
Like a badge of blood in the sky
A perfect sphere of celestial fire
Restless and seething
We would also understand
That a summer vacation on Mercury
Would not be
So much fun.
Rearranged excerpts from the reference book Our Universe by Roy A. Gallant, 1980
Great entries to get things started, Chocolate and C.X. Drury!
“The Magical Library/TPL”
-My own Found Poem
Check out the Word out,
Booklist and website.
Read,
And Read,
And Read,
Anything you want;
Cause, the word
Is out
Find your way
Into,
The Toronto Public Library.
Grab a book,
start reading.
Sign up for the reading club sponsored by TD.
Books, Videos, Research and more.
Chat with others, meet new people,
At the Toronto Public Library.
Hobbies, Crafts, and games-
The library offers almost everything.
Do you have an author’s name?
Of course, we will try to find your favourite book.
Here at the Toronto Public Library.
Are you a newcomer?
Do not worry.
We are your friends here at the Toronto Public Library.
By: Monidipa Nath
The End
Sources: Word out Amanda Sun Trading Card and Rearranged words and phrases from the website –http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/
I’m still a little confused about found poetry so i have some questions:
Can the poetry be rhyming or free verse?
Is found poetry basically reflecting a book in a poetic way?
sorry I’m confused, please reply 😀
Hey Adhiba
Found poetry involves taking words or phrases from books and rearranging them to give them new meaning. Think of it as being a bit like cut-and-paste!
Often, a work of found poetry will reflect in some way on the book/source it was taken from. This isn’t a requirement for this contest however.
It can either be rhyming or free verse. Totally up to you.
I hope that helps!
-Library Thomas
Our Principal
You’re the principal of the school
Were the students of the school
You come to guide us
And we come to learn
You’re very honest and true
And you’re not so cruel
You’re so brave and strong
And you’re almost never wrong
You give us great advice
That makes you awesome and nice
You’re so wise
That’s why we love your advice
We try our best
To beat the rest
By listening to you
Who guides us the best
Stop Bullying
Did you know bullying is bad
Cause it makes people sad
Maybe you should face your fears
And they’ll disappear
Stop bullying now
If you don’t know how
Come to me
I’ll make you see
How to be good like me.
I Will Never Forget You
Friends are forever
Day and night
I will never forget you, never
Even if we always fight
I love you with all my heart
Cause you’re my best friend
We can be together
Till the world ends
I will never forget you
No matter where I go
We are friends, so we are two
You’re the mirror to my past and future
Some times are tough
Some days are smooth
But the journey of life is easier
With a friend like you
Your love lights up my heart
Your smile lights up my world
You’re a friend that never gets tired
Of listening to my pointless drama
Over and over again
How can I ever forget you, my super best friend
You’re the most important ingredient
In the recipe of my life
Your friendship is a gift
I enjoy opening everyday
You + Me=Friends Forever
Some friendship come and go
But will our friendship last until we die?
THE DARK BRIGHT
—————
Abandoned
Lost
The past catches up
Darkness grows
No control
No home
No hope
Pain
Suffering
Screams
A myriad glow
DARKNESS!
So Vibrant
So evil
So Dark
So Bright…
—————————————-
(Darkest Light Book- Hiromi Goto-(epilogue))
Hey Monidipa – Sorry for the frustration on trying to post. It looks like typepad’s spam filter nabbed your submission – we’re checking the spam inbox everyday and posting what accidentally lands in the spambox. We’re sorry it happened – this things can be so random and frustrating, we know.
“Springtime”
On the grass there is sweet morning dew,
The crystal water is a light shade of blue.
It is the wonderful season of Spring!
Many birds and animals sing.
There is pitter patter of raindrops on the ground
There are lots of magical, wonderful sounds!
The winds whisper a merry tune,
The beautiful flowers start to bloom.
The days are brighter,
the sky is lighter.
The joyous sounds of children playing can be heard,
Out of a cracked egg comes a baby bird.
It’s time to put the big coats and jackets away!
It’s a sunny, warm, wonderful day!
Spring is a time of rebirth and delight,
This season really feels so bright.
The End.
By Monidipa Nath, 2013
Sources: Ittefaq Newspaper: http://www.nowbdnews1.com/ittefaq/ ,City Paren’t Calender 2013 and the Food Share Fair flyer.
Thank you, it did help! 😀
The bishop’s lesson
He sat across the cluttered table
I knew what was coming
Tick tock, tick tock
Time passed, nothing said
Silence, piercing silence
My patience going down
I was worried
Worried they would sent me away
Far,
Far away
But all the bishop said was
Search for your soul
In the inequities of your life
easy to say
harder to do
oh well, i thought
the bishop might have something worthwhile to say
but i was wrong
………………………………….
“Burned” by Ellen Hopkins
pages 164-166
Hardcore solution for hardcore pain
Fast and effective
Just list the pain
Instant relief
Don’t think it’s true?
Just try it
But beware
Do not exceed
The number 6,
In 24 hrs
After all it is a drug
Advil tablets
…………………..
From the back of
Advil tablet’s bottle
The Oxen by Thomas Hardy
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all on their knees,”
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
“Come; see the oxen kneel,
“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
Hi thanks, I sent 2 more poems. One is called Springtime and one is called Forgotten.
A Better future?
Waiting for them on the other side
Is a place that seems like paradise
For sure less horrible at least
Than the life they lived on this side
It’s the truth they have to bear alone
The border’s the only way
May be this was just a dream
One pinch and they’d wake up to reality
A much better reality
And then they realized
What they’d seen,
Not only hadn’t that been a dream
It was far worse, a living nightmare
…………………………………..
“Abandon” by Meg Cabot
“Forgotten”
Art thou alive?
Flee Miss!
Flee while there’s still air in your lungs!
Blood in your veins
And warmth in your heart!
She will take your life,
a wisp you will be!
No more than a dream.
Nothing but forgotten memories.
Flee this place while your blood still flows.
For the beldame is angry!
Like embers in fire,
the memory still lasts.
She stole our hearts,
she stole our souls.
She will keep you here while the days turn to dust,
While the years pass one after the next,
like the tick tocking of a clock.
There will be nothing but darkness!
Nothing but sorrow and grief!
For you will be,
Forgotten.
By: Monidipa Nath
Sources: The book “Coraline” Pages 94, 116 and 119. Author: P. Craig Russell.
Dictionary
Spread out, not concentrated, wordy, not concise
A variable, versatile, taking many forms
(Make by fitting parts together, build, form)
Any of several wild plants, some with poisonous berries
Walk slowly and idly, delay, waste time
(Something noticeably vigorous or difficult)
31 Oct., the eve of All Saints’ Day
Bounded or characterized by straight lines
(Clever, ingenious, attractive, quaint)
Maintenance in good condition; cost or means of this
Thin, soft material; handkerchief of this
(Skin of shark; smooth dull-surfaced fabric)
Brass instrument like small trumpet, used for sounding signals
Be abundant, be full, swarm; make dirty, pollute, corrupt
(Of or like Satan, devilish, evil)
Great in number, numerous (many people; many a time;
There were many) overgrown with thistles
(Decay, rot, separate into its elements)
Taking a relatively long time to do thing or things
Acting or moving done without speed
(Completed, cooked, socially acceptable (the done thing))
Love:
Established in 1904
Providing 8 Essentials for your daily well-being…
In the beginning:
After perspiring heavily, his passion grew out
And was devoted to concentrated satire poetry,
Applied liberally to all;
Associated with
Warnings:
Avoid contact with her eyes-
If contact occurs, rinse thoroughly with
Recyclable dramatizing.
Conformed; discontinue use if an irritation develops.
If a flame is stirred, caught on fire,
Quickly organize protection for our light love
Temporarily, it is portrayed peasantry…
Regular use of sunlight-like love became
Deep-burning; a conversion of lemon juice to sweetened
A fierce spectrum,
After rigorously tested to ensure premium quality.
Natural, unquenchable and non-artificial,
Is our love now.
INSPIRATIONS:
Quote by Bruce Lee
“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce. But stil only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.
The blurb for the definition of ‘Abbey Theatre’ from “Merriam Webster’s Reader’s Handbook: Your complete guide to literary terms.”
The back of a Yoplait yogurt container
The back of “Life” brand sunscreen
The back of a Staple’s crayon box
The true you
You are still waiting to be found
As you are strangled by pretense
Look neither above nor beneath
Peek deep inside
It kills to know that
You have permission
But you never make arrangements
To own your desires
Your soul has finally escaped
Escaped from its enclosure
You snake your way through the crowd
Waiting to reach where you belong
Across the street
Right over there
You see your true self
………………………………………………
From the news paper article
2 New Brunswick boys killed by python
Words turned into a collage to make the poem 😀
full of fear yet full of hate
what made me become this way? that i am
cold, reserved, unfamiliar with the world that I’m living in
– so brave – to think i am the only one with out feeling
to think a brother could e a s i l y
betray the other
to think i never
received enough love to grow and prosper like
the tall yellow sunflower
add only water and sunlight said the packaging
they don’t say it needs love and care
even if it does
It’s
independant; dauntless;
fearless – more that i had to begin with
Nighttime is my deep abyss no light to be seen
depression, no escape
A jumble of words in my head
too much to express yet no means for expression
where did i go
was there ever a me from the start
what if i was always wrong
I never knew who sent the message
where do i go from here
My found poetry is from a English Writing worksheet I found from Middle School. Our teacher asked us to identify Simple, Compound and Complex sentences. I was surprised when the exercise “I never knew who sent the message” was identified as a complex sentence. To me, it looked so simple, but I guess the structure was more than complex in English grammar.
FEARFUL LOVE
————-
Falling
Swelling
Defying death
Handcuffed and trapped
Guaranteed purity
Guaranteed symptoms
No home
No friends
Stray and lost
Keep out of the reach of children
Death may come
Poison
Pain
One way
Escape or die
Be afraid
Be alarmed
Endless circles
Of death of life come
Sacred and ill
Is o u r f e a r
O u r l o v e
————————————-
1) http://www.drugs.com/sfx/xenical-side-effects.html (Xenical side effect)
2) Waif meaning from dictionary/thesaurus
3) Back of Tylenol extra strength bottle
4) Back of Vaseline Bottle
5) http://www.gogonews.com/posts-Scary+Coffin+Skydive+A+Success-10157.html
I can’t post my poem here
Sorry Chocolate! For some reason your poem got caught in our spam filter (argh!) I’ve released it so it should appear now.
never mind…it came up!
sorry
=)
“NEXT ADVENTURE: EXPLORE THE WORLD OF FOOD”
i Phone 4 high efficiency
Get
An unsalted fondue pot
Features
1/2 cup of olive oil
and
high-resolution retina display,
Old wild sockeye salmon, snow crab-FRESH
“Arrange ourselves attractively-”
“Duet6, 1 100 rpm spin speed automatic!”
…but HIGH SPEED + oil =?
-It’s your
FaceTime video calling…
Savour the megapixel iSight
And the expert performance
BUT NOTHING WORKS LIKE THE ALL NEW 2013 CAMERA-
“BUTTER!!!”
-flying fish. FaceTime. Capture the moment.
Adventure’s so hot; you can’t show them this early in the season.
With iPhone 4, Seafood more
than
ever…
This adventure is SOLD OUT?!
You’ll grab your free waterproof tank and
Now woe comes in contact with eyes= your grand tears distilled by moans,
*Thee weeps..
*0% guarantee
INSPIRATIONS:
-the latest newspaper ad for ‘Next Adventure’, found on https://nextadventure.net/community/ads
-“Hot Anchovy Dip” recipe from the “Nice ‘N Easy Family cookbook; volume 1” (pg 23)
-Highland Farm flyer, Seafood section
-Blurb about Honda Cars 2013
-The Brick flyer, Laundry section
-Future Shop flyer, iPhone 4 section
-Paris’s dialogue, lines 13-18, act 5, scene 3 [Shakespear, Romeo and Juliet]
Um, I also posted a poem but it’s not showing…
OK, it should be appearing now. Sorry about that!
Losing my birds
I watch it fly away and return to its home
It tugs at the stick, beaten by its load
It’s now or never, must give the best
Victorious at last, it flies back to its nest,
To the high pitched screams of the little kings
There they rest, at last in the safety of its wings
Cuddled to sleep, away from the wild storm
I, like a feather lay there watching in my dorm
The sun’s awake, and so am I
Rushing to the window, looking up high
I see the soft, sleek, cordial feathers
The cozy nest shining in the lovely weather
The vivid flowers, leafy branches adding a fling,
Paints the perfect picture of a hot spring
Days fly by, entering breezy fall
One day the birds face strong squalls
Unable to conquer the gusty wind
They strive to fly as they are pinned
Feeble compared to its mighty defender
The once cozy nest threatens to surrender
Is this the end for the little souls?
Or will they fight till they lose control?
I sprint to rescue the little birds in pain
But my sincere attempt goes down the drain
Tears roll down, without a stop
I stare in grief as the birds drop
……………………………………………………………………….
From my little brother’s book about birds “True-false Birds”
The weather network
“It’s spring” by Linda Glaser
Bird search on Wikipedia
How I lost you; title of book by Janet Gutler
A cold grey mist seeps into my bones,
swirls through my lungs,
and penetrates my heart.
It shapes my once ruby red,
vibrant jewel
into an ugly twisted,
block of granite stone.
It blows though me,
creating a dust storm,
choking me,
blinding me,
not allowing me to think.
With things that use to,
help me,
breathe,
laugh,
live.
Is this caused by you?
You who left me,
was I not good enough?
Why..
WHY!!
YOU WERE THE ONE WHO DID THIS!!
CREATED THIS RAGING STORM INSIDE OF ME!!!
BINDING MY LIVINGG SOUL…
and turned it into a living nothing.
Now I wander,
in my own grey desert depleted of life.
How did I lose you?
when I clung so hard to the remaining silk thread?
It slipped when my grip wasn’t tight enough,
and you shot off,
leaving me in my dust,
Or maybe,
just maybe,
I killed it.
I killed the thread,
gripping it too tightly,
I severed our friendship.
I am so sorry
because that is how I lost you.
………………………….
title of book by Janet Gutler
Can we make our found poem using phrases from graffiti?
WHAT IS LOVE?
————–
I never was
Am always be
None ever saw me
Nor ever will
Yet I am the confidence of all
Who live and breathe
It belongs to me
It belongs to you
It makes you feel happy
Or makes you feel b l u e
It will never end until
The day YOU DO
I have a hundred arms
A thousand fingers
For a child I last forever
For an adult I’m gone too fast
Never ahead, ever behind
Yet,
I fly swiftly past
O n c e I shine in splendor
But only once, then no more
For many
I am t o d i e f o r
Day by day, I am lost without being stolen
Before I came
The world was darker, colder
Sometimes rougher, but t r u e
I see you now,
If not now then NEVER
I am red as you see it
And black when you throw it away
I am alive without breath
As cold as Death
I am the pearl in the diamond
WHAT AM I?
(Love)
———————————————-
RESOURCES:
1) I used riddles from: http://www.riddlers.org/riddles/riddles/categoryView/1/page:1
2) Saying ” You are a diamond in a box of pearls”
A No Brain Feat
lead the part
you consider is
the tip
of the subconscious
Rest,
the illuminate is
listening consciously
the
thought is
clear
a chemical
multitude of selves
delve deeply into the
hidden murderer
see into the
uncorrected and
unpublishe d crimes,
alien to us
and yet, somehow,
is us.
every simple confidential
danger responsible,
formed by
synaesthesia,
moves in the conscious mind
consider,
every impulse
a biological secret
As inspired by the prelude to the fiction book “Incognito – The Secret Lives of the Brain” by David Eagleman.
Q. Can we also have a poem-writing contest? That’d be great!
Afterwards
What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?
Francois Rabelais. He was a poet.
And his last words were “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”
That’s why I’m going,
So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.
When did we see each other face-to-face?
Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours.
All the strings inside him broke.
The risen sun too bright in her losing eyes.
Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other,
like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside.
But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in.
The light can get out.
How long is an instant?
Is it one second? Ten?
What is an “instant” death anyway?
The pain of those seconds must have been awful as her heart burst and her lungs collapsed and there was no air and no blood to her brain and only raw panic.
Nothing is instant.
Instant rice takes five minutes, instant pudding an hour.
I doubt that an instant of blinding pain feels particularly instantaneous.
I’m not saying that everything is survivable.
Just that everything except the last thing is.
But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer.
Depression is a side effect of dying.
You have a choice in this world, I believe, about how to tell sad stories,
and we made the funny choice.
There is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.
Thomas Edison’s last words were ‘It’s very beautiful over there’.
I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere,
and I hope it’s beautiful.
Excerpts Used: The Fault in Our Stars- John Green
Paper Towns- John Green
Looking for Alaska- John Green
P.S First time doing this, so I kinda-sorta, don’t know how exactly to do this.
Also an excerpt from An Abundance of Katherines by John Green was used too. 😛
The love powder
Emotionally proven to be the best for delicate love
Sprinkle some on your heart
It will leave you tear free
Your love will be as deep as the ocean
As high as the mountain
As sweet as sugar
As clean as the truth
Warning: for internal use only
Leaves your love feeling healthy, soft and pure
As close as fragrance is to breath,
As close as melody is to lips,
As close as the twists and turns of thought,
As close as arms entwined,
As close as one eye is to the other
Your beloved will stay that close to you.
Infuses love at the top, core and deep down layers of heart
Copyright love powder Inc
…………………………………………………………………….
Back of Johnson baby powder/lotion and Vaseline lotion
Grocery list, book “Ripple” by mandy hubbard
Too good to be true
It was you, wasn’t it?
You who killed my trust
Took me away
Far
Far
Away
Promises were made
Hope had just risen
Love kindled
Eyes dreamt
Smile reappeared
Too good to be true
And it was “too good”
Betrayal
Lies after lies
Trust, no, fake trust
Broken promises
Faded smile
Death of hope
Dreams overruled by
Nightmares
You
Me
Them
And it
Result: Commotion
………………………………………..
“me, him, them and it” by caela carter
The Fair Weathered Friend
Only they need you
Only when they want
Annoying
Provided you get good friendship vibes back
Doesn’t make a good BFF;
You need loyalty and supportiveness
Not all friends are meant to be
Some drift; complement relationships
Think of those friendships as the condiments
Don’t expect that to fill you or satisfy
But from time to time, ain’t it nice?
Maybe the spark of something new
Maybe the satisfaction
Maybe not
Inspired by “How to deal with the fair-weathered friend” blurb in 30 Days to finding and keeping sassy sidekicks and BFFs by Hantman.
Paid exams
arrive late
indicate
required rulers
facsimiles
allotted extra
minimal disruption
time time time
non-transferable changes
automatically not automatically
invigilator
re-enter, not permitted
reasons refunds resources requests royal
letterhead
documentation denied
bring pens, pencils, erasers, rulers
first half, 50%
Next time, arrive early
I used an examination checklist I was required to print out and bring to testing areas.
Paid exams
arrive late
indicate
required rulers
facsimiles
allotted extra
minimal disruption
time time time
non-transferable changes
automatically not automatically
invigilator
re-enter, not permitted
reasons refunds resources requests royal
letterhead
documentation denied
bring pens, pencils, erasers, rulers
first half, 50%
Next time, arrive early
I used the back of an examination checklist. And I took an exam a few days ago.
I’ll try this out 🙂 just curious though- are there ever going to be like, traditional poetry contests? Crossing my fingers one turns up before the end of summer!
Can you add your own phrases too? Or does it all have to be quoted?
(Don’t miss the ‘*’)
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*with the purchase of everything in the store
__________________________________________________________________________________
Inspirations:
-a Shoppers Drug Mart flyer
-an advertisement concerning ‘Markham’s First Exclusive Hotel and Condominium’
Yes, it did.
Thank you!
This is a really great poem, R!
Hee hee, time is always really important- my friend says she keeps one eye on the clock and the other on her paper when she’s completing exams!
Obscurity
Darkness rules her mind
It tears her apart
Clues approach
But fade away
A strange feeling ignites
First soothing, then pain
Gradually it spreads
One at a time
Little by little
She is conquered by pain,
Unbearable pain
Her hands touch the mirror
Slowly a girl appears
She seems trapped behind it
Then it hits her
Was that her reflection?
Memories. A precious thing
Those who have it, don’t care
Those who don’t, crave for it
A thin wall between the truth and the lie,
Yet unbreakable
She steps outside
Disguising her fear
Wanting to know,
Only the truth
Wanting to give light
To the soul that dwells in thick darkness
……………………………………
“The girl who fell from the sky” by Heidi W. Durrow
Typically you only use phrases from the source. I think its fine to use a few of your own phrases too though.
We’re All Brave
It does not do to laugh at the pangs of youth.
They are very terrible because youth has not yet learned that ‘this, too, will pass away’.
It always shocked me when I realized that I wasn’t the only person in the world who thought and felt such strange and awful things
When adults say, “Teenagers think they are invincible” with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are.
I lie to myself all the time.
We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken.
Things were rough all over, but it was better that way.
That way you could tell the other guy was human too.
We’ve got to face the fact.
Our old world has come to an end, Rilla.
Stay gold, Ponyboy.
Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn.
It seemed funny that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one.
Maybe the two worlds we lived in weren’t so different
Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the things you want to see.
Can you see the sunset real good on the West side? You can see it on the East side too.
I heard someone once say that the years from fifteen to nineteen are the best years in a girl’s life.
We think that we are invincible because we are.
We cannot be born, and we cannot die.
Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations.
I wouldn’t want to go back and be the girl I was two years ago not even if I could.
They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing.
But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.
But it will be a better happiness, I think – a happiness we’ve earned.
He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he’d die someday.
And then something invisible snapped insider her, and that which had come together commenced to fall apart.
And now she was a nobody.
No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens.
I keep feeling like everyone wants me to apologize for something.
It will go away… The stuff in your head.
Little by little.
I don’t have anything to apologize for.
Once you realise there’s nothing to be afraid of when you die, there’s nothing else to worry about.
We saw the same sunset.
Found in: Suicide Notes by: Michael Thomas Ford
The Outsiders: S.E Hinton
Divergent: Veronica Roth
Looking for Alaska: John Green
Rilla of Ingleside: L.M Montgomery
Don’t Steal – Words of wisdom from where we do our dirty business
Never steal, it’s never worth it.
Beware! Jesus is watching you.
Don’t hate me,
You might think
I don’t understand you.
Butt
I’m paying for it now.
Found in: Quotes in Public Washrooms from different locations(School, mall, stores, libraries, parks)
Grip on to the happiness
Look for it on purpose, seek and ye shall find
It doesn’t have to follow an established form or make sense
It’s all about the rhythm
It is the feeling of laughing and crying with friends,
Who accept you and your faults
One feeling, one life, one you
Will have you falling in love
With a lust for life and adventure
Time after time
Covers life way more than you expect
Just stay true to your original
Want to hunt more of life?
From the gorgeous to the totally insane
Now you want to hear it, don’t you?
So here ya go:
Happiness, the key to a blessed journey on earth
Life is like an ice cream
Enjoy it before it melts!
…………………………………………………….
Sources:
Wordout website, music category
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Found-Poem
“Life is like an ice-cream, enjoy it before it melts”
-Unknown
Fixed Dinner
The small boy came to fetch me to dinner
In a long, narrow room outfitted with tables down the length of each wall,
supplied by a constant stream of servants
issuing from the archways, laden with trays, trenches and jugs
The rays of early summer’s late sunlight came
through the high, narrow windows;
scones along the walls
below held torches to be lighted as the daylight failed
Banners and tartans hung on the walls, between the windows,
plaids and heraldry or all descriptions splotching the stones with color.
By contrast, most were dressed in shades of grey and brown,
muted tones suited for hiding in the heather.
I could feel curious glances boring into my back.
There seemed little ceremony here as people ate as they pleased
taking their wooden plates and helping themselves to the sheep’s carcass.
The air was loud with conversation
the boy gave me a brief but friendly smile before
snatching the platter out from under me
“Have ye no manners?” I scolded.
“Guests first!”
I used excepts from the novel, Outlander, by Diana Galbadon.
An outlander, according to the dictionary, is “a foreigner or a stranger” – someone like a guest, I can imagine.
In the Shadows
——————–
Lost in the shadows
Deep in that darkness
Wondering
Doubting
Fearing
The night.
Suffocating in my mistakes
Wounds that never show.
Weighted
I cannot surface.
Hand that clutched at emptiness
Now penetrates
And dissipates.
Gain strength
Courage
Confidence.
Nothing to fear after all.
I keep moving on.
——————————-
Sources in order of appearance:
– Lost in the Shadows (Song by The Lost Boys)
– Edgar Allan Poe
– Helen Keller
– Thomas Jefferson
– Carl Jung
– Laurell Hamilton
– Danielle Laporte
– Eleanor Rossevelt
Lost and Found
She woke up
One eye open
One eye still in a dream
The second eye jumped awake
Everything stiffened
but nothing was clear
A warm scream filled her throat
Her brother was
dead
sorry forgot to add the source
The book theif – Markus Zusak
Live and Hope
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live
And a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,
The man who never reads
lives only once
The world is yours for the reading
Words describe my thoughts and what’s hidden in my heart
There are some things your mind has been hiding from you
Words are alive
A little extra wisdom never goes amiss
All I have learned, I learned from books
I am a part of everything that I have read
Each time, it is a different story
You can never visit the same place twice
A book gets fatter everytime you read it
as if something were between the pages every time
Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells…
When you look at the book again
many years later,
you find yourself there.
As if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower
So
Why do I read?
Because eyes are blind
you have to look with the heard
Because
Reading is an escape
Because
Reading is grist
Because
Reading is bliss
I read
To find hope.
Sources:
Excerpts from:
The last little blue envelope – Maureen Johnson
Leven Thumps and the gateway to Foo – Obert Skye
A dance with dragons – George R.R Martin
Inkspell – Cornelia Funke
A tree grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
Shelf Life: Stories by the Book – Gary Paulsen
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcere’s Stone – J.K Rowling
The Little Prine – Antoine de Said Exupery
Quote by Theodore Roosevelt (I am a part of everything that I have read)
I feel bad about My Neck: And other thoughts on Being a Woman
Quote by Abraham Lincoln (All i have learned, I learned from books)
The curse
Tracing the reflection in the water
One touch
That’s all it takes to ruin
Ruin her
Striving for life to be
Normal
But what is normal
Normal as in happy
Normal as in boring, dull
Or normal as in ordinary
The fault in her
Like a curse
Again and again
Waiting
For the moment
To strike
Who is the mighty?
Her or the punishment
Life deserved better
She deserved better
A bond
That is meant to last
For eternity and beyond
Broken
Ties untied
Love turned into hate
All because of the curse
………………………………………………
“Cursed” by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Title: Impossible is nothing.
No human being is born more or less important than any other
Equality must be for all.
There is no such thing as equality for some
That is what Liberty is.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Because it is always our chioce.
Take all all the praise, take all the blame; take all the success, take all the failure;
Be afraid of nothing.
Sources: Wide Awake by David Levithan, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The Rivals by Daisy Whitney, and This is my story by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Some decisions are hard, some are easy, but either way it’s our choices that matter
Humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them. It is our choices, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
We
are
choices.
Sources: Jean-Paul Sartre, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K Rowling, and The Rivals by Daisy Whitney
I do the same thing when I do my Exams, one eye on the clock and the other on my paper.
Call of the Wild ( Buck’s perspective)
while using Jack London’s quotes.
One must master or be mastered
Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law
the primordial law as mercy was taken as a weakness
So that was the way. No fair play. Once down, that was the end of you.
This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist
who portrays the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive,
and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.
I was feeling the sounding of the deeps of my nature,
and of the parts of my nature that were deeper than me,
going back into the womb of Time.
Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as I heard this call,
I felt a deep feeling that was both mysteriously thrilling and luring,
The lure of the forest calling prompted me explore and find value.
There I found wolves through the pale moonlight and glimmering borealis.
There I left camp constantly exploring with the pack,
while the call was tugging at me I grew closer and closer
together with nature. I finally felt a belonging,
and experienced the exhilarating feeling of
Love, genuine passionate love for the first time.
Why isn’t my poem posting, I’ve tried 3 times now?
Laughter: The New Discovery
The only solution to all of life’s problems…. laughter
Laughter is defined to be an expression of merriment
The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious then any cough, sniffle, or sneeze
Laughter is good for health
Laughter is strong medicine for mind and body
Laughter relieves stress and adds joy and zest to life
Laughter protects the heart, boosts immunity, and decreases pain
Laughter strengthens the heart and promotes bonding
Laughter gives the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope
Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free and easy to use
…………..
References:
http://www.helpguide.org/life/humour_laughter_health.htm
http://thesaurus.com
Finally,it worked!
Dream for the sake of dreams
Don’t wait for some distant day to come
Don’t cloud today with the past that can’t be undone
Hold fast to your dreams
As they conceal the harsh reality
A virtual world of your own
A secret, which only you can see
Don’t let your dreams turn into smoke
Disappear like it didn’t exist
You have the power
To make it come true, what you longed for
Awake but not yet awakened
A strange trance, eyes not wanting to open
Just walk down that bridge
And see what awaits you
Hold those little hopes tight
So they don’t flutter away
Through your clutching fingertips
Grasp for the untouchable
Seeking to pull it back into the world of chance
Just T-R-Y
One thing you will realize is that
Dreams really do come true!
………………………………………….
Sources: “The predicteds” by: Christine Seifert
“As I wake” by Elizabeth Scott
Teach yourself,
Understand the feeling of
Melancholy and
Pessimism:
1.Collect Statistical data of
The Prevailing mood of a whole generation.
2.Use the Pythagoras’ theorem to describe
The mal du siècle (discontent) of the
People.
3.Smiplify equations and
4.Figure out the areas of vague yearning was caused by
Comparison of the actual
State of the world with the ideal
State…
5.Write formulae to convert between
World and grief
6. Learn the poets of the
Romantic era who
Refused or were unable to
Adjust to those realities of the world
Are like yourself
= you writing ‘Weltschmerz’
+ a question mark
*****************************************************************
Inspirations:
-a blurb concerning the word ‘weltschmerz’ from “The Merriam Webster’s Complete Guide to Literary Terms”
-the cover of “Complete Mathematics” by Trevor Johnson and Hugh Neill
Sorry, when I posted this poem I put in the wrong e-mail, so my e-mail is actually uzmasharifpatel12@gmail.com and not the other one. umm do I have to post my poem again or is that ok?
No, that’s fine. Thanks for the heads up Uzma.
Secret Home
All the things you want to do
Out of the way but close at hand
For a few moments by yourself
Give peace a room with a view
Life is in full swing
-all in this small space
Often,
It’s the smallest things that matter
A hideaway, not far away
Hand-woven by skilled craftspeople
Plenty of specialized interior fittings
Can take any shape you want
Depends how you put it together
Turn your back on everything
But still stay close
Feel safe
Sink into the velvet seat cushions
Nonchalant simplicity
A sense of balance:
Comfort and classics
Multifunctional magic
Release your mind,
Hang it to air overnight
Let’s celebrate impossible spaces
Led by curiosity
Depending on which direction,
You see different things
No clutter
No sounds
Like well-played orchestras
Nothing that disturbs you
The challenge is to
Come alive
Make me last forever
Taken from the 2014 IKEA Catalogue
Secret Home
All the things you want to do
Out of the way but close at hand
For a few moments by yourself
Give peace a room with a view
Life is in full swing
-all in this small space
Often,
It’s the smallest things that matter
A hideaway, not far away
Hand-woven by skilled craftspeople
Plenty of specialized interior fittings
Can take any shape you want
Depends how you put it together
Turn your back on everything
But still stay close
Feel safe
Sink into the velvet seat cushions
Nonchalant simplicity
A sense of balance:
Comfort and classics
Multifunctional magic
Release your mind,
Hang it to air overnight
Let’s celebrate impossible spaces
Led by curiosity
Depending on which direction,
You see different things
No clutter
No sounds
Like well-played orchestras
Nothing that disturbs you
The challenge is to
Come alive
Make me last forever
Taken from the 2014 IKEA Catalogue
Oops accidentally posted it twice.
Forever is a lie
Nothing lasts forever
Happiness washes way
Sadness leaves a mark
But forever nope
Like waves problems come and go
Problems. I’m pretty sure everyone has them
At least that’s what I tell myself
Likewise solution solves that too
Forever is a lie
All I want to be is free,
free from the world,
On my own,
I want to grasp in my open palms,
The world at once,
To never let go.
To feel like it belongs there
The world
Cruel
Yet Beautiful
Real
Yet seems like a trance
A conspiracy
One life
One dream
One love
Nothings perfect
Wish it had been
Wish life could last forever
Wish every smile could be relived
Wish all the pieces would fall
Into the puzzle of life
Like I said
Forever is a lie
……………………………………
Inspired by “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
― Allen Saunders
Sources: “The fault in our stars” by John Green
Justice Deferred
Constable charged
Second degree murder
Reasonable grounds?
18-year-old Sammy Yatim held a knife
On a crowded streetcar.
Refused to cooperate.
Received:
Eight shots
Was:
Tasered
Over 20 uniformed police officers were present.
Constable granted bail.
The Crown does not believe the killing was intentional.
Constable remains suspended with pay.
Demonstration of “shoot first, ask questions later”.
1) The Globe and Mail: Tuesday, August 20, 2013, Page A1
2) http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/why-did-the-toronto-police-kill-sammy-yatim
3) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/08/20/toronto-yatim-shooting-officer-surrender-court.html
4) http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/08/22/sammy_yatim_shot_eight_times.html
I Will Never Forget You
Friends are forever
Day and night
I will never forget you, never
Even if we always fight
I love you with all my heart
Cause you’re my best friend
We can be together
Till the world ends
I will never forget you
No matter where I go
We are friends, so we are two
You’re the mirror to my past and future
Some times are tough
Some days are smooth
But the journey of life is easier
With a friend like you
Your love lights up my heart
Your smile lights up my world
You’re a friend that never gets tired
Of listening to my pointless drama
Over and over again
How can I ever forget you, my super best friend
You’re the most important ingredient
In the recipe of my life
Your friendship is a gift
I enjoy opening everyday
You + Me=Friends Forever
Some friendship come and go
But will our friendship last until we die?
By:Amaany Mohamed Mehad
I Will Never Forget You
Friends are forever
Day and night
I will never forget you, never
Even if we always fight
I love you with all my heart
Cause you’re my best friend
We can be together
Till the world ends
I will never forget you
No matter where I go
We are friends, so we are two
You’re the mirror to my past and future
Some times are tough
Some days are smooth
But the journey of life is easier
With a friend like you
Your love lights up my heart
Your smile lights up my world
You’re a friend that never gets tired
Of listening to my pointless drama
Over and over again
How can I ever forget you, my super best friend
You’re the most important ingredient
In the recipe of my life
Your friendship is a gift
I enjoy opening everyday
You + Me=Friends Forever
Some friendship come and go
But will our friendship last until we die?
By:Amaany Mohamed Mehad
Sorry, I mistakenly posted the same poem so many times, cause when I first posted it, it didn’t show up.
Elusion
Which is greater?
The number of stars in the sky or the number of pebbles in your wagon?
I smiled.
What a wonderful question.
Well, their job was to ask good questions
Give the Hot Seat its heat
But not mean or hurtful questions
The idea was to make the subject squirm, not roast.
Time sat on Zinkoff’s hand like an elephant.
He thought of a thousand things to say
A thousand other ways this could go
But in the end there can be no answer, only an explanation.
“It’s my happy wagon. It’s about how I feel.
When something makes me happy, I put a pebble in the wagon. If I’m unhappy, I take a pebble out.”
That night we did our homework together at his house. I ducked into his room to check out his happy wagon. There were only two stones in it.
1) “Loser”, by Jerry Spinelli
2) “Stargirl”, by Jerry Spinelli
your always there for me
your the best teacher
that I’ll never forget in the future
your always there for me
that’s why your my special key
your so kind
that I’ll never forget you in my mind
your the best in teaching
that’s why I’m reaching all my goals
you always control me
that’s why I never get a Bee
your a special key
that’s how you remind me of sweet pea
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents
Life © 2012
Noun, plural: lives
Widescreen edition
Rated 18A
Persons younger
Must be accompanied by an adult
The state of being alive as a human being
Not authorized for sale or rental outside the USA
One’s time of existence
Living; not dead
Active; operating
Running time: 112 minutes, full colour
Screenplay by Steve Kloves
“Gripping from start to finish”
Genre: thriller
Golden Globe nomination
Moral ambiguity,
Unforgettable climax
“Fueled with endless invention;
Nothing short of riveting”
Not just a story or picture
But vigour, animation
A grueling battle for glory
Exclusive never-before-seen footage
Includes theatrical trailer
Bonus material not rated
Optional English subtitles
All rights reserved
Any copying or public performance
Strictly prohibited,
May subject offender to civil liability
And severe criminal penalties.
Taken from:
-The first 8 DVD cases on my shelf:
The first 5 Harry Potter films, End of Watch,
The Invasion and We Need To Talk About Kevin
-Oxford dictionary
-Collins Gage dictionary
-Webster’s thesaurus
Let Your Words Roam
I could sit in front of the fire
Feel my heart begin to thaw,
To lighten
I felt so important, so lucky
The right things happen at just the right times
Can’t remember the exact moment
Things got rough
Everyone was after us
Law and pirates
I just take it as a sign that I’m doing
What I’m supposed to do
And this was an unlucky package to be delivering
The ferrymen all told the same tale
Go back
The gods laughed and mocked
They could never understand
It’s the uncertainty that scares people
I prefer the challenge of the unknown
I could sleep
And I could dream
Above the clouds and through the sky
Take refuge in the stars
It took me a while
To realize that they were all around
Stories…
If I was doing this for the compensation,
I would have quit long ago
I like to imagine where I might find myself next
Being a writer
There is a lot to be said,
Not much time
And I can’t see myself doing anything else
Excerpts from Flight Volume Seven
Death
Here is a small fact: You are going to die.
No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow.
I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing in me, no matter my protestations.
Please trust me
I most definitely can be cheerful.
I can be amiable, agreeable, affable.
And that’s only the A’s.
Just don’t ask me to be nice.
Nice has nothing to do with me.
Does this worry you? I urge you – don’t be afraid.
I’m nothing if not fair.
I am haunted by humans.
Still, they have one thing that I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.
They would each greet me like their last true friend, with bones like smoke and their souls trailing behind.
But, a human doesn’t have a heart like mine.
The human heart is like a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place in the right time.
The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst.
I see their ugly and I see their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.
Come with me and I’ll tell you a story.
I’ll show you something.
Are you ready?
I urge you – don’t be afraid.
The fun begins.
There were people everywhere on the city street, but the stranger could not have been more alone if it were empty.
He paced.
He wrestled with his tie.
Several times he fell.
A very bad sign.
A voiceless human.
No words. Nothing.
He is afraid.
He is dead.
The man was dead.
Could he smell my breath?
Could he hear my cursed circular heartbeat, revolving like the crime it is in my deathly chest?
The time was right.
I walked in, loosened his soul, and carried it gently away.
The man’s soul was in my arms.
Silence.
The crowd did what crowds do – they stood.
No one expects these things.
As I made my way through, each person stood and played with the quietness of it.
It was a small concoction of disjointed hand movements, muffled sentences, self-conscious turns.
There were no people on the street anymore.
They were rumours carrying bags.
If nothing else, it alleviated the pain of simply watching.
The pain of watching them.
I jostled free.
Sources:
“No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow.”
Euripides
and The book thief by markus zusak
By the way, if you didn’t figure it out (though i gave it away in the title) this poem is narrated by death itself!
They transcend human reason,
The questions subject the mind to confusion,
The fault of the sphere of cognition,
Questions that transcend the region of experience
Although, cruelly are given meaning from experience
Contradiction drives the mind to its descent ,
Our intellectual sovereignty crumbles,
The legitimacy of our philosophies challenged,
Refusing the oppression of dogmatism,
The mind instead chooses the fruitless labors of confusion,
And so it is subjected to an eternal penance,
By the fault of its own being.
Source material: Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
Short-comings of reason
They transcend human reason,
The questions subject the mind to confusion,
The fault of the sphere of cognition,
Questions that transcend the region of experience
Although, cruelly are given meaning from experience
Contradiction drives the mind to its descent ,
Our intellectual sovereignty crumbles,
The legitimacy of our philosophies challenged,
Refusing the oppression of dogmatism,
The mind instead chooses the fruitless labors of confusion,
And so it is subjected to an eternal penance,
By the fault of its own being.
Short-comings of reason
They transcend human reason,
The questions subject the mind to confusion,
The fault of the sphere of cognition,
Questions that transcend the region of experience
Although, cruelly are given meaning from experience
Contradiction drives the mind to its descent ,
Our intellectual sovereignty crumbles,
The legitimacy of our philosophies challenged,
Refusing the oppression of dogmatism,
The mind instead chooses the fruitless labors of confusion,
And so it is subjected to an eternal penance,
By the fault of its own being.
Source material; Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
Sorry to repost, I forgot to mention the title then the source material
There will come a time when all of us are dead.
All of us.
There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything.
There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you.
Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught.
Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever.
There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after.
And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it.
The marks humans leave are too often scars
We too often love things and use people, when we should be using things and loving people.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
Friendships multiply joys and divide grieves.
Grief does not change you, it reveals you.
Without pain, how could we know joy?
This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the world is not a wish-granting factory.
Source: Excerpts from The Fault in our stars by john green
Most of the books you’ve ever read is just a different combination of the same 26 letters.
Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book
Books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal
What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years.
When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.
Reading is grist. Reading is bliss.
The reader read to everyone – they all saw visions.
The reader did not.
The reader only saw the mechanics of the words – their bodies stranded on the paper, beaten down for her to walk on.
The reader read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies; the man who never reads lives only one.
A book is a friend.
You can never have too many.
Sources/Excerpts from:
1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
2. The Fault in our Stars by John green
3. Carl Sagan
4. Nora Ephron
5. Gary Paulsen, Shelf Life: Stories by the book
6. Annie Dillard, The living
7. Christopher Morley
8. George R.R Martin, A dance with dragons
Twisted
A row of glass jars
The hammock where I nap
Old photographs
Vines of jasmine
Bombs explode
like thunder
Gunfire falls
like rain
Not that far away
I need time
to finish this riddle
It doesn’t make sense
until
it does
Maybe I can jump rope
after dark, I think
But I heard
the sirens scream
The war is coming
closer to home
I follow him to the back garden
He holds out his pinky
and stares
until I extend mine
and we hook.
I hold his hand
He doesn’t resist
He smiles huge,
so certain of himself.
Lines from Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out & Back Again
Hey guys, my most recent found poem under the name of Rho seems to be missing, should I re-post it? Thanks!
Nevermind, I just refreshed the page and there it was! 🙂
Dauntless Initiation
Run.
Run.
Your feet are pounding.
Your heart is beating.
You see train tracks.
Lights flickering, horns blaring.
You must jump.
The train never stops.
One.
Two.
Three.
You are in.
The wind pounds against your cheek.
Back against the train car.
The cityscape is blurred.
You must jump.
Again.
One.
Two.
Three.
You are out.
On a roof.
Now jump.
From seven stories up.
Pull off your sweater.
Get ready.
Run.
Run.
And jump.
Into nothingness.
You are selfish.
You are brave.
You are dauntless.
Sources Used
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Chapter 6 (pages 48 to 60)
Quote on page 47 “I am selfish. I am brave.”- Tris
Dauntless Initiation
Run.
Run.
Your feet are pounding.
Your heart is beating.
You see train tracks.
Lights flickering, horns blaring.
You must jump.
The train never stops.
One.
Two.
Three.
You are in.
The wind pounds against your cheek.
Back against the train car.
The cityscape is blurred.
You must jump.
Again.
One.
Two.
Three.
You are out.
On a roof.
Now jump.
From seven stories up.
Pull off your sweater.
Get ready.
Run.
Run.
And jump.
Into nothingness.
You are selfish.
You are brave.
You are dauntless.
Sources Used
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Chapter 6 (pages 48 to 60)
Quote on page 47 “I am selfish. I am brave.”- Tris
Sorry I posted twice… thought it didn’t work the first time
No problem, Thank you!
This is a truth
that applies to the human race,
yet to no particular race of men:
You never really understand a person,
until you consider things from his point of view,
climb inside of his skin,
and walk around in it.
One thing that doesn’t abide,
by majority rule;
a person’s conscience.
It was times like these
When;
you rarely win,
only children weep,
the dead bury the dead,
one does not love breathing,
and there’s just one kind of folks:
folks.
I don’t pretend to understand,
Why reasonable people,
go stark raving mad,
simply because they’re still human;
that the one place,
where a man ought to get a square deal,
is in a courtroom,
be he any color of the rainbow.
It was times like these,
That,
food comes with death,
flowers with sickness,
and little things in between;
two soap dolls,
a broken watch and chain,
a pair of good-luck pennies,
and our lives.
It made me sad.
Yet delete the adjectives,
and I’d have the facts;
it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.
to kill a mocking bird
He had come a long way,
raised himself up out of nothing,
right out of the gutter,
to this blue lawn,
a fine appearing gentlemanly young man.
The old island here
flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes
with vanished trees
that once pandered in whispers
the last and greatest of human dreams.
His single dream,
his green light,
sat] at the end of Daisy’s dock,
just across the bay.
He paid a high price
for living too long
with this single dream;
he lost the old warm world.
The green light,
the orgastic future
recedes before him, eludes him.
No matter, he says,
tomorrow I will run faster,
stretch out my arms farther.
And one fine morning…
But Daisy tumbled short of his dreams
because of the vitality of his illusion.
With every word, she was drawing
further
and further
into herself.
So he gave up;
He no longer cared.
I’ve been working on this found poem ever since the contest was posted! I worked really, really hard! All words/phrases/sentences were extracted from the sources listed below! Please enjoy!
White
My breath escapes my blue lips
My boots crunch as they carefully trace a trail
In the powdery opalescent snow
Where this path leads, I do not know.
My rifle begins to slip through my fingers
My vision grows weary of the whiteness
The silent cannons still spit smoke
My shoulders droop and my eyes betray me
My knees bend and I surrender to gravity.
I fall.
I see myself surrounded by my comrades,
Alone together.
The snow had disappeared
We are in a tightly packed room
Being propelled in the sky.
We ride higher and higher in the air
There is no sound
But the wind
Being whipped by the routers.
I remember this.
This is all I heard for a long time
Until the explosion.
We were hit.
I awaken.
BANG! BANG!
Gunshots ring in exchange
BANG! BANG!
My heart quickens as I regain consciousness
There is crossfire overhead,
So, I remain the earth’s companion.
In the distance, I see a faint figure
Friend or foe, I cannot decipher,
Waving a white cloth
Tied to a stick
Growing smaller.
The sound of bullets dies out
Everything seems ostensibly at peace.
Now may be my only chance to escape.
With an armistice of emotion,
I struggle to get on my feet
And I run
Not knowing where.
I am suddenly hit by a force
Knocking me into white oblivion
I float slowly towards the earth
I feel my warm sticky life flow from my chest,
Incarnadining the surrounding snow.
A frenzy of confusion overthrows me,
Bombarding my soul.
Yet, all is quiet on the Western Front,
A deafening silence.
Like smoke escaping from a barrel,
I follow my breath higher and higher into the air
Following the ghost of life
As it disappears
Into the whiteness.
Sources:
1)Macbeth
2)All Quiet on the Western Front
3)The Kite Runner
4)A Game of Thrones
5)http://www.ottawacitizen.com/homes/Antiques+Discovering+piece+living+history/8821768/story.html
Analysis:
In today’s day and age, the most renowned war poems are notorious for their realistic representation of the events that transpired. I decided to use a free verse writing style because it does not have any specific pattern, which means the reader does not know what to expect. This is similar to a soldier’s mentality during wartime because they do not know what will happen next. The poem has an ongoing theme of obscurity, confusion, and death. Since this is a narrative poem, the use of literary terms is essential to the effectiveness of the storyline. From the first few stanzas, the reader realizes that this poem revolves around a soldier, struggling to find his way and being bombarded with mixed emotions and nostalgia. The poem starts off with sharp and intense imagery. This allows the reader to visualize the story and be transported into the battlefield. Alliteration is also a frequently used poetic device in this poem. The alliteration of P’s, C’s, W’s, S’s and T’s trigger the auditory senses, bringing to mind the desolate and cacophonous setting. Moreover, the use of onomatopoeia keeps the reader interested and alert. The flashbacks establish an expository and a firm backbone for the storyline. Whiteness is ubiquitous in this poem. Moreover, the colour white is used to represent peace, supernaturalism, obscurity and at times, death. There are many references to other colours which extremely enhance the imagery. This poem takes place in the Western Front, as indicated by the eponymous allusion. Moreover, this allusion establishes the time and setting of the story. The Western Front was located in northeastern France and played a major role in World War I. When closely analyzed, this poem is abundant with military and war-related vocabulary. The appropriate diction strengthens the cohesiveness of the poem. The oxymorons contribute to the obscure and uncertain atmosphere by providing shrewd insight. Some may argue that the poem is ironic since the soldier avoids death in the helicopter, however later on; he dies on the ground while watching his final breaths soar to great heights. Last but not least, the use of metaphors, similes, and personification infinitely increase the realness of the poem and take imagery to a whole new level of effectiveness. The literary devices aforementioned strive to consolidate the different stanzas into one poem and effectively convey the different themes and ideas presented in the poem.
Recipe for Disaster
As I sit under
My blue canopy,
I have a burning desire,
to create a new recipe.
First a dash of cocoa,
then a cup of milk.
Mm, look at that!
It’s as smooth as silk
Of course we need chili pepper,
for lots of spice.
Then comes sugar,
Something sweet and nice.
Now what do I,
Want to do?
Of course I know!
Turn it into stew!
I need buck loads
And buck loads of water
So much of it
That it could be a pool for an otter
Now in goes turkey,
chicken and ham.
Lots of fragrant meat,
all for the fam.
People will be clamoring
All over with need.
This is a recipe for disaster,
it is indeed.
………………….
Recipe for disaster, book by Maureen Fergus
Pandemonium
Misty fog fills the room,
The music, the rhythm pounding,
Like a steady, external heartbeat,
Filling the room with its overpowering presence.
People fly past,
A whirl of swishing colourful fabric,
Vibrant against black suits in the night.
Alone among the crowd,
A girl stands alone.
White dress standing out in the darkness,
The light of an angel, descending from heaven.
The boys eyes sharpen,
Focusing on the girl,
Like a hunter, stalking his prey.
His lips curl back,
Imagining the sweet taste of her death.
He weaves through the crowd,
Following her to a cold and empty room,
Dark and cool as an eerie crypt.
His eyes dance,
As though filled with the fiery flames of hell.
So consumed by his thoughts,
His cruel fantasies and desires,
He is unaware,
That he too, is being followed.
Sourced from “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” pg.2-4
Haha this is so cute! 🙂 Your cookies must be a recipe for disaster! Everyone wants them!!!
“Mankind”
Many years ago, I had a dream.
I had a dream that the pen was mightier than the sword.
The ballot was stronger than the bullet.
And that all people were treated equally.
Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything.
So ask not what the world can do for you;
Ask what you can do for the world.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Give me liberty or give me death!
Read my lips!
Tear down this wall!
The time for change has come!
No man is an island.
Bring back life, liberty and happiness to this Earth,
So it will not perish in the greedy hands of mankind!
Bring back peace, love and acceptance.
For without these,
Humankind will decease.
The danger is growing,
Are the fires of hell a-glowing?
Yes!
The danger must be growing,
For the people keep on crying
For help, for liberty, and for love.
What has mankind become?
Only when the power of love overcomes the love of power,
the world will know peace.
So we must learn from yesterday,
live today,
and hope for tomorrow!
By: Monidipa Nath
Sources: Dan Gutman – Mayor Hubble is in Trouble! , the Willy Wonka movie, and some rearranged quotes.
Love + Life = You
There may be days when you feel blue
things aren’t the way you had desired
challenges will come in the path
like obstacles they will interfere
but don’t let these little thorns
prick you, hurt you, take control of you
changes will add colors to your life
dim or vivid
it is up to you to accept them.
Kindness will feel like hate
Sugar will taste like poison
But don’t let love vanish
when we are prosperous, we overlook love
When we feel important, we forget love
Only with time do we realize the importance of love.
Why wait that long?
Don’t discrete it, make love a part of life
Cherish each moment
Let self respect soar high
nothing is impossible
the word itself says
I’m possible!
………………………………………
Sources:
“Nothing is impossible; the word itself says I’m possible”
-Audrey Hepburn
http://academictips.org/blogs/moral-tale-helpless-love/
all eyes; be silent
Somewhere
the blue begins
the way across
you find yourself moving
severely
after the architect’s pattern,
lighted; human.
Strike out
flat
towards the sea
aware of a change of heart
horizon
staining at the rim
coming out of the darkness to meet you
In the morning, wake to the taste of snow
enter the penumbra
Albanian mountains
cracked crowns
of desolate and repudiating stone
Nipped off while red hot
allowed to cool
an antarctic of lava
Enter Greece as one might enter a dark crystal;
form
becomes irregular, refracted
swallow islands
wherever you look
trembling curtain
decieves
May offer you
in manners or lore
offers you something harder
discovery of yourself
-The Tempest
-The Vintage Time by Lawrence Durrell
Defining the Second Self
Millions impact individuals and society
missing personal projections lie, deep seated,
in self, rationality and emotion.
An ethnographic study assembled
adolescents, the casual, several groups of adults
thus armed with a set of rich hackers
in scattered writings
conclusions would do well
to clear “The Second Self”
Children serve a mirroring – a sign
in other realms of experience, illuminating divergences
to be alive?
to speak about movement
Psychologically, “It thinks”…
“Can the computer can cheat?”
given shrewd characterizations
“‘ordinary’ machines don’t have a family.
They have a maker”
-Review of the Second Self: Computers and The human spirit by Howard Garner
-By Sherry Turkle
Nice poem Marco!
What am I?
I cover the water
I shape valleys
I fall from the sky during a hail storm
I can change forms, just heat me
I reduce inflammation
If you want to stay warm
Don’t Touch Me!
I melt at any temperature above 0 degrees Celsius
I cover about 10% of the world
Add cream after me
And you’ll find yourself drooling
You can live around me
But not in me
You can stand on me,
Don’t worry you won’t drown!
I have 4 basic types
Cube, cracked, shaved and block
Cold drinks are incomplete without me
At times you’ll see through me
At times you won’t
The titanic surely hates me
I’m unique
different from others of my kind
……………………………
Facts about ice from the internet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice
Soooooo long……..BUT great job bro!
I peer down Park Avenue
watching people move about their daily lives
I feel neither alien nor at home.
Every corner reflecting an understanding yet defunct familiarity.
How many feel dead inside?
If any are on the verge of losing something huge.
If they already have.
My reel. The lived in story.
I see it all so perfectly.
And suddenly, it is clear to me why I won’t force his hand.
The images never escaped the “what if”
Those scenes will unfold while I am left on the sidelines
Stories such as mine don’t have to be “described” –
One hand gripping the rocks,
ears listening to the shuffle of pebbles
The taste of danger drying the roots of my tongue
I feel it in my bones –
The arcade of sun-stunned, musky smell of the riverbank.
The special aura of voice blowing over the powdery touch of the baking earth
We are not clocks; we are people
Hanging in the air is a depthless mobile
Unraveling the mystery keeps me young in the nimble mind
-Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin
-The In-ness of Things by Paul Darcy Boles
Great poems everyone! Contest ends at midnight, so get your entries in soon!
Enjoy! 🙂
In this kingdom far far away
Where blessedness should conquer
Where happy endings outweigh
Where villains spread dismay
I’m feeling gloomy
I feel empty as a drum
Without her by my side
I have nothing but rum
Buried near the seaside
Waiting, until my feelings subside
She was born into royalty
With jewelries, maidens and queens
While I inherit poverty
Growing barley, sorghum and beans
Wishing this is just a bad daydream
I always find her in my reverie
Everything seems so great
Living in happiness, her and me
To the horizon of delight we walked straight
Close enough, I thought she was my fate
But in truth, she already has a prince
The one who will hold her tight
Even in her dreams
The one who’ll caress her every night
And protect her with all his might
I want to love her forever
Yet, she’s not mine
Never was
Never am
And she will never ever be
Works Cited:
Romeo & Juliet
The Notebook
A Walk to Remember
The Fault in Our Stars
Family Feuding
Look at me.
You thought you owned me and you didn’t.
That’s why you want me
To witness you winning.
It wasn’t a son you needed
It was a soldier.
I was too gentle
Too emphatic
You loved me for those things
But the very things you loved about me made me no use to you.
Not anymore.
I don’t want to kill you. But I will.
In fact, I have regretted not killing you every day since I let you go.
How many more have to die before I do what I should have done?
Do you have any last words?
“City of Glass” by Cassandra Clare
Hello Monidipa, I read that Dan Gutman book a few years ago. You are so creative. Good luck.