Modernist Poetry

Favorite: This is Just to say by William Carlos Williams (is that his real name? Goofy Parents...)
This is my favorite because it reminds me of my sister, my father and I. We have an unfortunate relationship when it comes to the refrigerator. Example: chocolate pastry you bought with your own money at the farmers market. Here's the deal you must eat it with in 2 days or it's anyone grab. My dad counts hours till the foods time is up and is guilty of breaking the treaty put in place by Rae and I when we were around the respective ages of 7 and 9. He often breaks it. Nothing is sacred. Not Birthday cake, nothing you cooked on your own, not the last piece of sourdough when clearly there is nothing else left to eat. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Anyways sometimes he leaves a note... Aud, I just ate last chocolate crisiont. It's fridge life was over. When are you next going to the Farmers market? ..... Jerk. So this poem made me laugh, it was very papa like.
Next Favorite: In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound. It seemed very deep yet easy to understand and descriptive minus words. Strange eh? The few words that are there are perfect for the message it is trying to pass along. Yes, the NYC subways are crowded and each face is different but if you blur your eyes they all become part of the same picture.
Least Favorite: The Red Wheel Barrow By William Carlos Williams. Why? it's stupid. I know it could have been deep but, I don't think the author meant for it to be deep or even cared it's just a red wheel barrow used to feed the chicken who incidentally, are white.

Winter Dreams

Conflict is always there especially in drama. Mrs. Hoskings says in a scene you must always play your two strongest opposites. It make your character interesting. When there is undying love there must be unforgettable hate present also. This adds layers to help complete understanding of the character. This was quite clear in Scott F. Fitzgeralds Winter Dream. Dexter loved her. He loved he with all his soul even as he hated her for tearing him up and datingthe other men he still held on to the hope that she would be there for him, even as he became engaged to Irene, his heart held out for Judy ready to take her back when she came. Her opposites were more complicated she wanted to love infact she did for short periods of time but in all honesty it couldn't let him love her completely. She had to shut him out to save her freedom. She was a free spirit but a one point when she came back to him and asked him to marry her she wanted to be captured and held close. She was tired of being free. The lack of boundaries held back happiness. She was never happy and to be honest, probably never would be. Married to him and with any other poor bloke. She was just meant to drift.

Fitzgerald. Winter Wonderland

Winter Dreams, a classic F. Scott Fitzgerald story. Beauty, intelligence, lost love and humanity all combined to make a witty and frustrating story. This one is of a boy and girl (duh) and the beginings of both of them. He was poorer golf caddy with dreams and she was the rich girl who had everything plus an attitude. He quits and disappears and then they grow up separately only to meet years later. He's 21 and now wealthy and she's 19 with no match for beauty or amount of suitors. They meet and it's love at first sight....sort of. For him at least, she doesn't care. They go off their seperate ways again and he becomes engages only to have her show up and ruin it with talk of love for him. They become engaged then, she leaves. Years later he hears a story of her she is no longer the beautiful captivating woman she once was, just dowdy wife with kids who has an alcoholic husband. He can't believe it. How can she no longer be the exotic person who caught the eye of every man in her sight? A woman like her couldn't just fade away. Then he realizes everyone fades. If everyone is fading then it looks like no one is fading to those in proximmity (hope that makes sense). The story end with him feeling vulnerable as he chases memories. Essentailly the story, pressed the point and cliche "you never forget your first love."
It was astounding and ridiculous though true? I don't know. You decide.

Charlotte's Web Issue: Spiders

Spiders are scary. This past winter I was crushing boxes at the Flower shop where I work and found a Black Widow spider crawling beside my foot. It had a perfect ruby red hourglass upon its back. I'd only seen A Black Widow once before. That time I was wearing flipflops and was around 9? Maybe 10? It scared the living bajeezes out of me (yes, I know bajeezes is not a word). In case you were wondering this time I was wearing my brown Sebago loafers. Thank buddha. There was a dilemma of killing it or letting it survive and kill somepoor unsuspecting dog. So, I got a cup shoved the spider in with a pen and carried the spider outside to the storm drain outside the shop. Where I promptly threw it in and hurried away to check for more black widows. There were none. How does this relate to Charlotte's Web? Well it's a spider story as is Charlotte's Web only... the Charlotte sounded like such a kind spider and her death made me cry. It was interesting how E.B. White gets the audience to care about something they normally wouldn't notice or if they did notice, be very frightened of. That strikes me as similar to the case of Stuart Little. He's a mouse, she's a spider, seriously, isn't that awesome? His ability, I mean? He makes you care only as the best of authors can.

Charlottes Web

Animal cruelty and animals living conditions improving with the turn of the century? Yes, I think so... Today, I'm sure some crazy farmer still kills the runt of the litter of piglets, but in the US and other places I'm sure animal awareness has been raised greatly from the times of the early 1900's. New groups have come to order, in example PETA or Green Peace. Though Green Peace generally focuses on non-domestic animals. Anyways laws against animal cruelty have been passed. Dog fighting is no longer allowed in the US (Michael Vick is a CREEP) and animals that a slaughtered should be slaughtered in a way that is as humane as possible. Quickly, and in a sanitary way. Personally I hate meat and thinking of this is making me feel terrible because every once in awhile a case will show up in the courts of inhumane treatment and slaughter of animals. In farming communities sometimes malicious behavior is ignored and thought of as "everyday." Last month BBC reported a case in Iowa where the Farmers were picking up pigs with cranes to kill them. GAh seriously, This is making me sick but, as I read Charlotte's Web this issue kept coming back into my mind. In the begining when the Father said all of Wilbur brothers and sisters had been sold already. My imediate question was: WHERE? The ham factory? Poor babies.

E.B. WHITE again

Yes, its another E.B. White children's story so, suck it up. I'm enjoying these. This one here, is Charlottes Web. I really enjoyed it and cried for like 3 minutes its so sad. It again brings up the silliness and depression of White. He is a very sad man. What I didn't realize is, how simple the wording of it is. There are no big words, mind you, when I speak and write I sound like a 6th grader. I have a terrible vocabulary. Wilbur, the pig, is the cutest thing in the world. The pictures by Garth Williams are phenominal. He did both Stuart Little, and Charlottes Web. They are pen drawing, consistant with most books in the 1950. You may not have read the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew mystries or Trixie Beldon Stories, well, let me tell you, I drilled those. Pretty much read every single one, two times over. The point is they had the same type of drawings in them. Especailly the originals not the strange 1990's versions.
Aw snap! Connection: Garth Williams also was an ambulance driver in a World War. That make 3 people involved in modernism that were ambulance drivers in a World War E.E. Cummings, Garth Williams, and some one else... I don't think it influenced him as it did the writers though.... They seemed very depressed and he not so much, he always has a very unique and careful eye for shading and detail. Though, that could be a sign of someone with PTSD (post trumatic stress disorder). Often times they becomes neurotic perfectionists.