Poetry from the Self-Professed Non-Poet

When he started his 7^th reading intervention program, this young man confessed to having this particular literary genre as his least favorite. He said it was intimidating. He said that he could not possibly ever really like it – much less write in its style.

You would understand, then – what a pleasant (self) discovery this has been for him.

What follows are some of his works for this trimester.

This first one strictly adheres to the structure of the English or Shakespearean Sonnet, down to the rhyme scheme and the 5 iambic feet in each line.

OPPORTUNITY LOST

                       

They always make noise inside the classroom,

Wanting to see the teacher lose control

They think it’s a game, I think they presume,

And they always, and always reach their goal.

Playing video games all day long, winning,

One game after another, winning all.

Non-stop gaming, rather than living.

They go with the motto: I win them all.

Looking at another persons paper,

They avoid getting caught, and they succeed.

Also avoiding the sight of the teacher,

They get the answers, the answers they need.

The short-cut to winning they always choose

Though they do not know, in the end they lose.

The following reflects a passion for perfection, in more ways than one. This is very much evidenced by the meticulous care and detailed attention given to construct the central image of this, his very first Concrete Poem. The resulting chaos and confusion displayed by his final output also seem to inadvertently mirror this young man’s own befuddlement, as he – with his youthful idealism and patriotic pride – tries to make sense of this tragedy that he has just witnessed.

Last, but most certainly not the least, is this young man’s series of poems, all following the 5-7-5 syllabic pattern of the Japanese Haiku. Since, in formatting for his final output, this young poet decided to play with his font and color choices – he now claims a new and original form, putting together Haiku and Concrete Poetry. He has decided to call this form the HAIKRETE. J

This fifteen year-old who, from now on, shall be referred to by his nom de plume: CIPHER – not only writes poetry (something he swears he is not good at, even when faced with amazing examples proving otherwise) – he is also now beginning to appreciate this literary genre, as he reads Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Cipher of course juggles his reading with his other pursuits like his academics, playing the guitar, listening to heavy metal, and playing air soft. 

A TKAM Book Review

This writing task given was to write a book review of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.”  Since the content of his essay is already substantial, the main guidance given Vince is for organization of thought.

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            “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel written by Harper Lee. It was published in the year 1960. This is a story of innocence being destroyed by the horrors of the real world. The plot revolves around a girl named Scout Finch who does not know the truths about life. She watches the trial of a man named Tom Robinson and realizes that the world is not “perfect”. Arthur Radley, a recluse, saves Scout from being attacked. She realizes that he is not a bad person; she finds out that he’s just afraid of the outside world. 

            The title, To Kill a Mockingbird, makes readers think. Before the first part of the book ends, Atticus Finch mentions: “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit e’m, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mocking bird.” The mockingbird symbolizes the innocence of people and the good things they do. Despite their good deeds, others still do cruel things to them. That’s why inflicting harm on someone who has done something good “is like killing a mockingbird.”

            The characters are effective in their development in a way that each and every one of them symbolizes something. For instance, Atticus symbolizes moral righteousness because he is fair with both the black and white people. He is also a good father. He allows his children to do things they want but he gives them some limitations. For example, he forbids them to bother Boo Radley. On the other hand, Bob Ewell symbolizes moral degradation. He is a racist and does not care about his children. For example, he beat up his daughter, Mayella Ewell, because she tempted a Negro.

            The lesson of the story is that everybody has the right to be treated as human beings. For example, in Maycomb, the black people are shunned and cast aside in a corner where they all live. They are not allowed to live anywhere near the whitew, vote, and fall in love with a white person. Another example, Arthur Radley is treated as someone who is not human because he is a recluse. People make rumors about him and the children (Scout, Jem, and Dill) try to make him come out of his house. These rumors (rumors that he is not normal) are proven wrong when he came out of his house to save Scout and Jem. I believe that people deserve to be treated equally because we are not any different. We are all still human beings, the only thing different about people is their skin color and personality, but we are all human beings.

            I would recommend this book. This book is recommended this to people who would want to become lawyers because it teaches them on how to be fair. For example, Atticus Finch, the central character of part 2, defends Tom Robinson as best as he can even if he is a black man. I would give this book a rating of 9/10 because of the inspiration I got from Atticus. Another is there are some really funny parts in the book. The only bad thing in the book is the really complex vocabulary and the slow pace of part one.

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Vince is a fifteen year-old student who has expressed his eagerness to write essays and narratives. He dreams of becoming a lawyer – after serving as a teacher in his alma mater. He is currently a student in an all-boys school, a guitarist in a band, and an avid air soft player.

Treasure Hunt

This writing exercise was given to Vince at the tail end of his 6^th program. This activity served as a platform for his creative expression. It also served as a challenge to his cleverness in weaving randomly chosen words into his story. Most importantly, it served as an exercise in following the prescribed structure in writing narratives.

The words Vince was supposed to use were:

spectacular, received, arrogant, tentacle and squander

(the word ‘arrogant’ was overlooked)

This written output is at its raw form, as it has not undergone any editing or revisions. A reading of this material would show this student’s rich imagination, creativity and ingenuity. This work would be revisited in his next program; the editing would focus on the mechanical aspects of writing, like following punctuation rules.

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Treasure Hunt

Price was a treasure hunter and explorer. He found spectacular gold bars in a wrecked ship under the sea and a giant stone statue of a kraken with broken tentacles in a deserted island. He has received a lot of rewards from exploring new lands.

          He set out on a journey to explore an area where people disappear after they wander into it. 

          It was an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There were immense jungles, wild life, and its beaches stretch for ten kilometers. The beaches were deserted.

          Price, along with his friend Maxwell and a few more explorers arrived in the beach. They brought fifteen motor boats that contained thirty men, food, supplies, weapons and tents. 

          “Beautiful,” Price said.

          “Well, let’s get this over with.” Maxwell said. “We will set up camp here, by the beach.”

          The men finished setting up camp after an hour. The tents were all organized in an orderly fashion, empty crates were discarded, and Price, Maxwell and a few men were rounded up.

          “We’re going to explore the jungles,” Price said to the people who were not selected for the excursion. “Do not squander our good resources. We will be back in two hours.”

          Maxwell waved his hand, Price entered the jungle, and so did Maxwell and the few men. They all walked in a straight line, watching out for any strange movements in the jungle. So far, it was clear.

          After some time of walking, some of the men suddenly disappeared. The only people that were left were Price, Maxwell and three other companions.

          Suddenly, natives burst out of the bushes and attacked them. Two the of the other companions shot at them but were hit by poisoned arrows and soon they were dead. Price, Maxwell, and the last companion were quickly tied up to a wooden pole and were brought to a small village. There were children playing with sticks, men with weapons dancing around a fire and women were cooking food.

          Maxwell chuckled, “This explains a lot.”

          “No wonder why people disappear.” Price said. Suddenly, the last companion was brought somewhere else. “Where are they taking him?”

          The last one screamed for help, but they could not do anything. Soon, he was gone.

          “If I could only reach up my radio.” Price said. The poles were placed upright on the ground. Then a man with a hat with feathers came out of a hut and muttered something in a language that the two cold not understand.

          Maxwell noticed something inside of the hut that was shinning. “Price, I think I see something inside of the hut.”

          The chieftain waved his hand and everyone was silent. The people stopped dancing around the fire, the children stopped playing with the wooden sticks and the women stopped cooking. Maxwell pulled out a small knife from his long sleeve shirt and started cutting on the rope.

          He was able to cut lose. He pulled out a pistol from the holster on his thigh and shot some of the natives. The natives ran away in panic. He cut the rope on his feet and also Price’s

          “Thank.” Price said rubbing his wrist. “Let’s get out of here, Maxwell.”

          They two just ran of their lives out of the jungle. The natives were screeching and firing their arrows at them. Suddenly, a whole army of natives started coming out of bushes. They were shooting their arrows, throwing their spears and chasing them.

          They were running when suddenly Maxwell was hit by an arrow.

          “No!” Price shouted in distaste. He tried to help him up be Maxwell shook his head.

          “Nah its fine, Price. Just leave, now!” With that, Price said a farewell and ran quickly arrived at the beach.

          A man walked up to Price while he was walking to a motor boat, “Where are the others, sir?”

          “We have to leave, now!”

          Suddenly, the natives appeared on the tree line. The explorer and his men ran toward the boats, left the tents and supplies. Soon they were out of the island. They could only hear a faint screech then it soon faded.

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Vince is a fifteen year-old student who has expressed his eagerness to write essays and narratives. He dreams of becoming a lawyer – after serving as a teacher in his alma mater. He is currently a student in an all-boys school, a guitarist in a band, and an avid air soft player.