Poetry Critique

The Dead
by Susan Mitchell

At night the dead come down to the river to drink.
They unburden themselves of their fears,
their worries for us. They take out the old photographs.
They pat the lines in our hands and tell our futures,
which are cracked and yellow.
Some dead find their way to our houses.
They go up to the attics.
They read the letters they sent us, insatiable
for signs of their love.
They tell each other stories.
They make so much noise
they wake us
as they did when we were children and they stayed up
drinking all night in the kitchen.

2. When I read a poem, if I can't begin to see meaning in it by the end, I USUALLY don't like. I fear that that makes me sound as if I'm afraid to try to look deeper, but I hope it doesn't. It's not that I can't find meaning in things, it's just that i prefer to enjoy poetry more than work at it. With this poem, definitely thought I had a solid meaning for it, until the last three lines. After reading it a few more times and thinking it over, I think I have it... sort of. In this poem, I enjoy the emotion that the dead have: the longing and wondering sense of depressed nostalgia.

3. I don't like the title. The poem talks about a sort of life in death, or ghosts. "The Dead" sounds so resolute and so definite, that I don't think it fits the meaning of the poem. The dead in the poem live on in the people that remember them, but the title feels like it's almost a slap in the face to anyone that takes the time to reminisce about their passed loved ones, saying 'they're dead, stop thinking about them!'

4. One thing that Mitchell does is use "they" many times to refer to the dead. Everything that the dead do is together. This could mean a couple of things. It could mean that in death, the dead happy to have company to share memories eternally with. It could also mean, in the more stereotypical sense, that the dead wonder the Earth in packs, sad, lonely, and almost haunting. These are two ways to look at only the use of "they," but once one takes the entire poem into consideration, it is clear that the first viewpoint is correct. The only other poetic device that I can find isn't that great. It's to say that Mitchell uses personification with the dead giving them alive-like life. I'm not sure if this passes though, because the dead are humans, they just aren't alive.

5. The tone of the poem is content. It isn't happy, but it isn't unhappy either. We instinctively associate sadness with death, but this poem gives the feeling that the dead enjoy their lifelessness by remembering life. The reader get's this feeling because Mitchell is describing the dead doing joyous activities such as sharing memories and photographs and drinking all night long. The tone doesn't get past content because the dead are still dead.

V for Vendetta

My favorite movie is V For Vendetta. Out of all my entire history with this film, only one person has told me that they didn't like it. I can't tell you why I like it so, but it is the best movie ever. At the risk of sounding giddy, this film, in my eyes, is perfect. There is nothing that I think they should've done different;y to make it better as a whole. Hugo Weaving (V) returns to the days of Oedipus and delivers a one of a kind performance with nothing but his voice. The beauty and rigidy of V shows an extreme that all of us contain to some degree, but drive it inward for the fear of its power. A perfect display of this is Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman). She is completely normal for every reason other than the fact that she was in the right place at the right time. Her life became clear and true. This movie is fantastic. If I could say more, i would, but I must go.

Farewell

Titles

Behind the Curtain and the Crowd

It Takes Balls

A Cutting Light

Behind the Curtain and the Crowd

Jugheads Youth Juggling Co. is an after-school juggling program that kids from grades three through twelve participate in. There is a club everyday after school, each one being a certain skill level and age group. For instance, Elite Club on Tuesday afternoons and if one wishes to be an Elite member, they must be able to achieve certain juggling standards, such as five balls to 50 catches and 100 throws with six club passing. The most prestigious club is the Ultimate Club, in which you will find the best of the best Jugheads. For most of the school year, each club comes up with an original theme with which to develop a 7 to 8 minute routine or act in JuggleJam, which is the climax of every Jughead's year. For JuggleJam 10 last May, the Wednesday Rec. Club used the theme of Pixar and Disney movies. It might seem excessive to spend the better part of the school year for each club to work on only eight minutes of the show, but as of Fall '08, there are 146 members of Jugheads. You try getting that many kids to stand still for eight minutes, let alone choreograph an intricate juggling routine! Along with these group routines, there are what we call Specialty Acts. These routines are put together by any number of Jugheads that want to create a routine on their own and perform it in JuggleJam. The most common forms of these acts are solos or duets. It is a very competitive process to be accepted into a JuggleJam with a Specialty Act, because each act must tryout and by accepted by a panel of judges. With so much work put into only one two and a half hour show, a JuggleJam is without a doubt the best taste of true juggling that most people would ever see in their lives.

Discovery

Ahoy world,

Ajax is the name
Poetry is my game
A bombardier of sound and thought
Spilling wisdom 'til the world's been taught

Unfortunately, my parents were not avant garde enough to name me Ajax 17 years ago. No, instead they decided on Brett. Although Brett is of a mild manor, there is a universe of creative ways to pimp the ordinary. That is why I love poetry. A poet takes the lives of all that are dull and turns them into a tornado of question and complication. I prefer shorter works of writing, for so much can be said by so few words. Onthe other hand, I do love a good story. One that twists and turns on itself. One with characters that are impossible to hate, even when their actions are of the devil's errands.

Also, I love movies. This is why I want to become a screenwriter. There is no better combination for a logophile/cinemaphile to pursue than something that encourages and pushes both passions.

So, the two things that I want to do in this blog is write poetry and critique movies. There will be some films that I love and others that aren't so hot. I hope my poetry will be versatile for you. That is that and that is all.