Poetry

Discuss your favorite books, stories and other literary matters here. Recommend reading material to other forum users. What's on your bookshelf?
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Jody Barsch*
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Poetry

Post by Jody Barsch* » Dec 6th 2003, 2:16 am

I love this poem!! and always love to hear what others see in it. (I think there is a reasonable connection to be made to MSCl.) What meaning do you make of it?

For Julia, in the Deep Water

The instructor we hire
Because she does not love you
Leads you into the deep water,
The deep end        
Where the water is darker -
Her open, encouraging arms
That never get nearer
Are merciless for your sake.

You will dream this water always        
Where nothing draws nearer,
Wasting your valuable breath
You will scream for your mother -
Only your mother is drowning        
Forever in the deep end.        
She is doing nothing,        
She never did anything harder.        
And I am beside her.        

I am beside her in this imagination.        
We are waiting        
Where the water is darker. You are over your head,        
Screaming, you are learning        
Your way toward us,        
You are learning how        
In the helpless water        
It is with our skill        
We live in what kills us.        

John Morris, 1980
Sometimes I write a little MSCL fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1039807/Jody-Barsch
Also, after multiple V. Mars reiterations, and finally a Deadwood movie, still wishing for some continuation of The Riches !

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Jody Barsch*
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Location: Los Angeles
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Another coming of age poem

Post by Jody Barsch* » Dec 6th 2003, 2:44 am

This one is pretty straight-forward, but I like it. I do not know the real story behind this poem, but it appears in Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower,

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Chops"
because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
and his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write it more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
And the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in at bed at night
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it.

Once on a paper torn form his notebook
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
And his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
And the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at three A.M. he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
and he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen.
Sometimes I write a little MSCL fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1039807/Jody-Barsch
Also, after multiple V. Mars reiterations, and finally a Deadwood movie, still wishing for some continuation of The Riches !

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emmie
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Post by emmie » Apr 14th 2004, 1:14 pm

I really love The Perks of Being a Wallflower. it is one of my favorite books. it's one of the few books I've read that has real heart and soul. you fall in love with the characters and feel their pain and happiness.


emmie

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