Wednesday Action List: 2.23

1. First, a blog post; title it "2.23 Diction Exercise." On your own, using the prose excerpt on the other side of the passage you observed with a partner on Monday, do the following:

(a) List the 8-10 words that strike you as most representative of the passage's diction.

(b) Characterize each of the four elements of diction, listing at least two adjectives to describe each element.

Be creative with how you describe each element. For example, if the language is concrete, you might, depending on the language, describe it as "crunchy," "bold," or even "brittle." You get to decide.

(c) Draft a full claim that uses 2-3 of the adjectives you came up with and then completing the right side using the class tone sheet.

2. At the end of the exercise, browse our class blogs and read at least 8 claims. Pick the claim that you think sounds the most original and forceful and leave a comment to this post with the name of the blog where you found it.

3. Compose either a reading log, a personal post, or a comment for a poem from the past week. Or all three.

"Otherwise," Jane Kenyon

At Poetry 180.

Martha Collins, "Lines."

At Poetry 180.

Londen's Poem: "Mother to Son"

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Langston Hughes

Tuesday's Poem: "Once Upon a Time"

Tuesday's Poem: "Once Upon a Time"

Comments here. The poem should be in your poetry journals.

Why no chords? Why the white keys? Why the Mediterranean?

Tuesday Action List 2.15.11

Today is an open comment day for our class blog: you can comment on any poem or poems we have read from the entire semester so far. After today, comments will be restricted to poems posted within the last week and all older poems will be "closed" to comments.

So, make sure you understand the comment rubric and get commenting.

Other options today:

* Make a reading log post.

* Read my last post on my blog about an awkward Facebook experience I had recently and then make a personal post about your most awkward or interesting fb or online story.

* Browse any of the linked online sources for poetry to find a poem to recite to class, and then claim a day on the class calendar.

Have fun.

"Animals, " by Frank O'Hara

ANIMALS
          
          
    Have you forgotten what we were like then
    when we were still first rate
    and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth

    it's no use worrying about Time
    but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
    and turned some sharp corners

    the whole pasture looked like our meal
    we didn't need speedometers
    we could manage cocktails out of ice and water

    I wouldn't want to be faster
    or greener than now if you were with me O you
    were the best of all my days
 
                       
    [1950]

Why "an apple in its mouth"?
Why are the corners described as "sharp"?
Why "cocktails out of ice and water?"
What it the deal with "Time" here?
Does it matter to the poem that O'Hara was gay?
Who do you think he is talking to?